Launch of the Volume ‘A History of Christianity in Wales’
11.05.2022
A special evening held in the Old Hall on Lampeter campus, (Tuesday, 10th May 2022), saw the launch of the volume ‘A History of Christianity in Wales,’ written by Professor Emeritus D. Densil Morgan, Professor Barry Lewis, David Ceri Jones and Professor Emerita Madeleine Gray.
‘A History of Christianity in Wales’ was published by the University of Wales Press and written as a consequence of a sense that there was no single composite volume available which described, analysed and introduced Christianity in Wales, from the days of St David to the present.
Christianity in its Catholic, Protestant and Nonconformist forms, has played an enormous role in the history of Wales and in the defining and shaping of Welsh identity over the past two thousand years. Yet for many in contemporary Wales, the story of the development of Christianity in their country remains little known. While the history of Christianity in Wales has been a subject of perennial interest for Welsh historians, much of their work has been highly specialised and not always accessible to a general audience.
Drawing on the expertise of four leading historians of the Welsh Christian tradition, this volume is specifically designed for the general reader, and those beginning their exploration of Wales’s Christian past.
For David Ceri Jones, the intention of the book is so that,
“new historians are able to pose new questions about Christianity in Wales, and to inspire a new generation of the historians of Christians in Wales.”
Professor Barry Lewis wrote the first chapters on the earliest days of Christianity including the Age of the Saints, Professor Madeleine Gray on the Middle Ages, David Ceri Jones on the early modern period including the Protest Reformation and the Methodist Revival, and Professor D. Densil Morgan on the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The launch was held on Lampeter campus under the guidance of the Provost Gwilym Dyfri Jones. The audience was welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor Medwin Hughes DL, and Professor D. Densil Morgan, Professor Madeleine Gray and David Ceri Jones contributed to the discussion.
Professor D. Densil Morgan said:
“It is a great honour to be one of the authors of this volume, and we are glad that we are able to launch it as a part of the bicentenary celebrations of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.”
Also during the launch, Bishop J Wyn Evans, Honorary Fellow at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, shared his vision with the audience of establishing regular seminars on the History of Christianity on the University campus as a means of further investigating all aspects of the history of the Faith in Wales. He added:
“It is important that we are able to share our vision and extend our vision. Of course, the Lampeter campus is a special place when we think about the history of Christianity in Wales. When we remember the intention of Bishop Thomas Burgess, the founder of the Lampeter campus, of providing an affordable education for people who were unable to afford to study in the Universities of the time, holding the seminars will be an appropriate development and a natural development of the bicentenary as a symbol and permanent expression of what is important about this bicentenary, and the contribution of this University not only to Christianity in Wales, but to contemporary Wales, and the Wales of the future over the next two hundred years.”
Gwilym Dyfri Jones, Provost of the Lampeter and Carmarthen Campuses said:
“Holding seminars on the History of Christianity on Lampeter campus offers a celebration and legacy of what has already been established here, and I’m certain that there will be great interest across the higher education sector in Wales in supporting such an exciting vision.”
‘A History of Christianity in Wales’ is available to buy in local bookshops, and on the website of the University of Wales Press
Further Information
Lowri Thomas, Principal Communications and PR Officer
07449 998476
