J Ernest Davey Society

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J Ernest Davey Society

The J Ernest Davey Society has been established to promote interest in the work and thinking of this great Irish Presbyterian theologian.

07/11/2021

The launch of the JE Davey book in First Church Belfast on Friday night was a great success. The church was as full as COVID restrictions permitted and the minister, Rev Simon Henning and Property Steward, Des McKeown, made sure that there was a warm welcome for everyone. Matt Geer at the organ gave an inspirational start to the event and the conversation about the book - “Religious Experience: its nature, validity, forms and problems” - with the BBC’s William Crawley was a most interesting, enjoyable and stimulating one. The feedback has been really positive and we sold all of the paperbacks and a substantial number of the hardbacks that we had brought. Those who attended also got cards telling them about The J Ernest Davey Society and we will follow up on this too. All in all a really encouraging book launch and a most enjoyable evening bringing a significant number of thoughtful and committed people together to think about faith and spirituality. Thanks to Natasha at the bookstall but most especially thanks to the amazing Eva Grosman who did so much to make the event a success with her ideas, her energy, her network and her sheer hard work. She brings excitement and success to so many projects, including this one. Thank you so much, Eva. You are a marvel and a force of nature. Thanks also to all who came, asked questions and came to chat afterwards. I will shortly post a link to a recording of the event for any who are interested, as well as to where you can purchase the book.

26/10/2021

The official launch of the new JE Davey book is on Friday 5th November - that is just next week - in 1st Belfast Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street - a most appropriate and historic place. COVID precautions will be in place so if you would like to attend, please register with Eventbrite - https://tinyurl.com/jedavey - as with most public events in Northern Ireland at present there are limits on the numbers.

16/09/2021

As you can see, the first copies of J Ernest Davey's remarkable book "Religious Experience; its nature, validity, forms and problems" have arrived! He wrote it just before he died in December 1960 but until now only a few chapters were available for private circulation. In my Foreword to the book I explain some of the reasons why I believe it has been kept 'under the radar' for so long. It is a very important contribution to taking religious thinking forward, but when you read it you will quickly appreciate why fundamentalists were so opposed to him, and why in the increasingly contentious atmosphere of Northern Ireland in the 1960s even some of his friends were anxious about promoting his ideas. My friend, Paul Gilmore, obtained the manuscript, which had been typed up on an old manual typewriter more than sixty years ago, and with handwritten amendments from Davey himself. It has been a labour of love on my part over the past couple of years to painstakingly digitize it and prepare it for publication. I was also very grateful to the Davey family for their permission to publish it and to the Farmington Trust for their financial assistance. The e-book and paperback editions are now available on Amazon and the hardback edition should be published at the end of this month, after which it will also be available in bookshops. If this is an area of life that interests you, why not get yourself a copy -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Religious-Experience-nature-validity-problems/dp/1802271856/ref=sr_1_1?crid=40PNH5D43Z1V&dchild=1&keywords=religious+experience%2C+davey&qid=1631828843&qsid=257-7122892-1968537&s=books&sr=1-1&sres=1802271856%2CB095BV8L81%2CB07DGLBBYJ&srpt=ABIS_BOOK

09/04/2021

Professor Davey, as Moderator of the General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in Ireland greeting Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on their first State Visit to Northern Ireland.1953.

10/02/2021

Not long before he died in December 1960, Ernest Davey completed the script for a book on "Religious Experience - its nature, validity, forms and problems." While some of the chapters were printed for private circulation in 1964, the book as a whole was never published. We intend to put that right in 2021. Lord Alderdice is working with ARTIS (Europe) Ltd to digitize and publish it this year and, as he will set out in the foreword, it remains surprisingly topical.

09/01/2021

INSPIRATION

Your talk about divine inspiration
is somewhat misguided and absurd;
a wholly uninspiring limitation
of inspiration, as just the written word.
I formed both earth and heaven,
I stooped to conquer by human birth;
I forgive what you determine unforgiven,
in human potential I see human worth.
Your talk about divine inspiration,
statutes limited, authoritarian and doctrinaire,
affords little hope or mitigation
of human potential, pilgrimage, and prayer.
I formed both earth and heaven:
open your eyes and really look
at all that I have inspired, and given.
You might just need a bigger book!

9 January 2021

01/01/2021

One hundred years ago, a very bright young Irish Presbyterian theologian gave the 1921 Carey Lectures and in 1923 they were published as The Changing Vesture of the Faith. The book review in The Irish Presbyterian was glowing and, as you can see from the initial paragraph below the reviewer expresses the opinion that it would likely make J Ernest Davey's name a household word. Within a few short years it and his other lectures did just that, but not in the way the reviewer expected. He was taken to a heresy trial by the fundamentalists of the Church and although he was acquitted the trial resonated down the decades and now the successors of those fundamentalists have taken over the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The insights of Professor Davey are anathema to them, and unknown to many more liberal Christians who have now left the Church. If we want to discover where the origins of the sentiments of Ian Paisley and Donald Trump are to be found, we will discover them in the perspectives of those who pilloried J Ernest Davey. Some of those who share the views of Davey and do not accept those of his detractors will during this centenary year ensure that his insights can be a foundation for further developments in faith and understanding and you will find the links from time to time on this page.

05/12/2020

J Ernest Davey’s academic mortar board and two pamphlets of public lectures given in 1917/1918 just after he took up his post as Professor of Church History at Assembly’s College in Belfast. The first pamphlet is called “The Church and the Gospel” and consists of two lectures - one given at the opening of the College session on 23 October 1917 and another at the end of the session on 11 April 1918. The other pamphlet was published in 1918 by the Synod of Belfast and consists of an address delivered before the Synod on the subject “Renunciation and Consecration: The Two Ways”. I found them inspiring and intend to publish them on this site soon.

Address

41 Rosemary Street
Belfast
BT1 1QB

Website

http://www.jernestdavey.org/

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