Robert Runcie-H

By Humphrey Carpenter

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0340571071
• ISBN13: 9780340571071
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
• Length: 401 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 50.0" x 25.0"

Customer Reviews

Unconventional, indiscreet, entertaining.....and undeserved

When Humphrey Carpenter's authorized biography of Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991, was published a year ago in England it produced a firestorm. Outraged cries of betrayal were aimed at both author and subject, and Lord Runcie was called everything from "blabbermouth" to "worthy successor to Judas Iscariot". Runcie himself disowned the biography, adding in a postscript: "I have done my best to die before this book is published." The controversy stems from both the book's unconventional style and the author's unrestrained use of confidences. As a well-known biographer and son of an Anglican bishop, Carpenter seemed an ideal choice to write the Archbishop's biography. He had Runcie's complete cooperation, and armed with a tape recorder he spent five years recording conversations with Runcie, his wife, family members, friends and professional colleagues. The result is a non-linear progression through Runcie's life and career based almost wholly on taped material gathered by the author. This material is quoted verbatim, often in a kind of Q & A format, then stitched together with commentary by the author. The end product is chatty, indiscreet, and highly readable, but not, I think, either kind or fair to Lord Runcie. His horror when he read the manuscript for the first time can only be imagined; he had no idea that his remarks on subjects floated before him by Carpenter-the Royal Family, homosexuality in theological colleges and among clergy, internal divisions in the Established Church, Mrs. Thatcher's Government-would turn up word for word in print. The reason for Runcie's failure to ask for veto power over the final manuscript remains a mystery; the consequences will haunt him for the remainder of his life. Robert Runcie became Archbishop of Canterbury shortly after Margaret Thatcher took office as Prime Minister, and notable events of the decade in which he presided over the Anglican Communion included the marriage of Charles and Diana, the Falklands War, the movement for the ordination of women, the Crockford's Preface affair, and the Terry Waite saga. Each is examined in detail, sprinkled with tidbits of insider gossip, and all of it makes facinating reading. It is not the "solemn, weighty official biography" that Lord Runcie had hoped for; that will come later, and Carpenter's book will be an important source for a future biographer. But for now, this volume will serve as an entertaining, idiosyncratic introduction to the life and times of the 102nd Archbishop of Canterbury. -adapted from a lengthier review published in The Living Church early this year.