Eugenics and the Approval of Birth Control at the 1930 Lambeth Conference

Following the vote in favour of birth control at the 1930 Lambeth Conference, the Church of England became the first major Christian denomination explicitly to condone the use of birth control. This paper argues that the bishop of Winchester, Theodore Woods, was the previously unheralded principal a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Moeller, Andrew (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 2024
In: The journal of ecclesiastical history
Year: 2024, Volume: 75, Issue: 1, Pages: 96-115
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Woods, Theodore 1874-1932 / Lambethkonferenz / Sexual ethics / Contraception / Eugenics / Geschichte 1930
IxTheo Classification:KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KDE Anglican Church
NBE Anthropology
NCF Sexual ethics
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Summary:Following the vote in favour of birth control at the 1930 Lambeth Conference, the Church of England became the first major Christian denomination explicitly to condone the use of birth control. This paper argues that the bishop of Winchester, Theodore Woods, was the previously unheralded principal actor responsible for reversing the position of the Church. Woods was convinced that the Church needed to ‘modernise’ its position in order to secure a receptive audience for its higher-ordered teachings on marriage, sex and especially procreation. In turn, he hoped to bring about an increased birthrate amongst the eugenically ‘desirable’ English middle and upper classes.
ISSN:1469-7637
Contains:Enthalten in: The journal of ecclesiastical history
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S002204692300060X