Leslie Dixon Weatherhead
(
1893 – 1976 ) was an English Christian
theologian in the liberal Protestant tradition. Weatherhead was noted for his preaching ministry at
City Temple in London and for his books, including The Will of God, The Christian
Agnostic, and Psychology, Religion, and Healing.
Weatherhead was born in London in 1893. He trained for the Methodist Ministry at Richmond Theological College, in south-west London. The First World War cut short his training, and he became Methodist Minister at Farnham, Surrey, in September 1915. After serving in India, Manchester, and Leeds, Weatherhead was called to be Minister of the City Temple, a Congregational Church on Holborn Viaduct in London. He served there from 1936 until his retirement in 1960. From 1930 till 1939, Weatherhead was a member of Dr Frank Buchman's Oxford Group and wrote several books reflecting the group's values, including Discipleship and The Will of God. He often symbolized the "head" of the Oxford Group London.
His book This is the Victory was first printed in 1940 (preface dated November 1940) and reprinted in March 1942. In the space of time between these two editions, the City Temple was "gutted by fire from incendiary bombs dropped from enemy aeroplanes". He was able to continue his ministry thanks to the nearby St Sepulchre-without-Newgate church. After the war, Weatherhead raised the funds to rebuild the City Temple, largely from John D. Rockefeller*. The City Temple stands to this day and is now a congregation of the United Reformed Church.
Weatherhead served as President of the Methodist conference in 1953. The re-built City Temple was opened in the presence of the Queen Mother in 1958. In 1960, Weatherhead retired to live at Bexhill-on-Sea. He died in 1976.
The three books of his sermons which Weatherhead considered his best were That Immortal Sea, Over His Own Signature and Key Next Door.
In the summary chapter of The Christian Agnostic, Weatherhead stated what he
believed in a sort of twelve-part creed:
1. God2. Christ
3. Holy Spirit
4. Church
5. Bible
6. Providence
7. Prayer
8. Faith
9. Sin
10. Soul
11. Eternity
12. Heaven
Weatherhead served two substantial Methodist churches, in
Manchester and the famous Brunswick Church in Leeds where his successor was
W.E. Sangster (William E.
Sangster 1900-1960) (Classic Sermon Manuscripts by Great Preachers of the Past), a true gospel-preaching Methodist.
Weatherhead
drew crowds wherever he
preached. He did this even with a rather unattractive highly-pitched voice.
What was his secret? He always appealed strongly to the emotions — he was a
"feeling" preacher and would use the proverbial tearjerker. He loved language
and could turn a phrase but was always forthright if not blunt. He had a great
sense of humor and after his preaching at St. Giles in Edinburgh it was said
that it was "the first time they had laughed in St. Giles." His language was quite
free and had to be edited for publication. He delighted in the loud laconic
whisper. But above all, he genuinely cared for people. He could embrace a crowd
of people.
Weatherhead wrote many books, including:
·
After Death: A Popular Statement of
the Modern Christian View of Life Beyond the Grave
(1923).
·
The Afterworld of the Poets: The
Contribution of Victorian Poets to the Development of the Idea of Immortality
(1929).
·
The Transforming Friendship: A Book
about Jesus and Ourselves (1929).
·
Jesus and Ourselves: A Sequel to The
Transforming Friendship (1930).
·
The Presence of Jesus
(1930).
·
The Mastery of Sex Through Psychology
and Religion (1931).
·
His Life and Ours: The Significance
for Us of the Life of Jesus (1932).
·
Pain and Providence
(1932).
·
Discipleship
(1934)
·
How Can I Find God?
(1934).
·
Psychology and Life
(1934).
·
Why Do Men Suffer?
(1935).
·
It Happened in Palestine
(1936).
·
A Shepherd Remembers: A Devotional
Study of the Twenty-third Psalm (1937).
·
The Eternal Voice
(1939).
·
The Mystery of Pain
(1939).
·
Thinking Aloud
in War-Time: An Attempt to see the Present Situation in the Light of the
Christian Faith (1939).
·
This Is the Victory
(1940).
·
Psychology in the Service of the Soul
(1941).
·
Personalities of the Passion
(1942).
·
In Quest Of A Kingdom
(1944).
·
The Will of God
(1944).
·
A Plain Man Looks at the Cross
(1945).
·
Holy Land
(1948).
·
The Resurrection and the Life
(1948).
·
When the Lamp Flickers: Radiant
Answers to Life's More Perplexing Questions (1948).
·
That Immortal Sea: A Book of Sermons
(1953).
·
Over His Own Signature: A Devotional
Study of Christ's Pictures of Himself and of Their Relevance to Our Lives Today
(1955).
·
Prescription for Anxiety
(1956).
·
A Private House of Prayer
(1958).
·
The Resurrection of Christ in the
Light of Modern Science and Psychical Research
(1959).
·
Key Next Door and Other City Temple
Sermons (1960).
·
Salute To a
Sufferer: An Attempt to Offer the Plain Man a Christian Philosophy of Suffering (1962).
·
Wounded Spirits: Case Histories of
Spiritual and Physical Healing (1962).
·
Time for God
(1967).
·
Life Begins at Death: Replies to
Questions Put by Norman French (1969).
·
The Busy Man's Old Testament
(1971).
"The only power that can
exorcise the demons of savagery and fear which, haunt mankind today is the
rebirth of Christian conviction that the world belongs to the God of truth and
love, that the souls of men are precious in His sight, that spiritual values
are real, that righteousness and peace are attainable because they are rooted
in the eternal goodness." Canon F. R.
Barry
Leslie D(ixon) Weatherhead ~ Thinking Aloud in War - Time ( 1940 )
PRAYER AND DUNKIRK By CANON F. R. BARRY, D.S.O.
Leslie D(ixon) Weatherhead ~ Thinking Aloud in War - Time ( 1940 )
PRAYER AND DUNKIRK By CANON F. R. BARRY, D.S.O.
In
a fearless address to a large congregation in St. Paul's Cathedral last
evening, Canon F. R. Barry, of West- minster
Abbey, deplored the tendency of the ... [more]
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