On 14 July the church remembers John Keble Priest, Poet, Theologian, founder member of the Oxford Movement, Tractarian, 1833-1866.

But who was John Keble?

In later years John Henry Newman declared that it was the sermon on ‘National Apostasy’, which John Keble preached at the opening of the Oxford Assizes on 14 July 1833 that marked the real beginning of what came to be known as the Oxford Movement.

Born into a clergy family in 1792, John Keble proved an able scholar at Oxford and at the age of 19 he was elected Fellow of Oriel College. Ordained deacon in 1815 he initially worked as a tutor at Oriel but resigned in 1823 in favour of parish work, acting as his father’s curate in Gloucestershire.

It was in this period of his life that he composed the poems which were published as The Christian Year. Its popularity was shown by going through almost fifty editions during Keble’s lifetime and many of the poems were transformed into hymns. The best known, New every morning and Blest are the pure in heart, remain a staple of many modern hymn books. His work was recognized by his election as Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1831.

Keble’s natural conservatism found an echo with many in the 1830s who were unnerved by the reforms being carried out in both Church and State by the reforming Whig government. Keble used the opportunity of the 1833 Assize Sermon to protest against the Church being subordinate to a Parliament that was no longer exclusively Anglican.

His views struck a chord in clerical circles in deeply conservative Oxford. Although Keble wrote nine of the Tracts for the Times and engaged in written debate, he was essentially a scholarly parish priest who preferred to eschew both controversy and limelight. In 1836 he returned to parish life at Hursley, near Winchester.

He sought to revive sacramental confession in the Church not just to quieten consciences but as an aid to more effective pastoral work, considering that, ‘we go on working in the dark … until the rule of systematic confession is revived in our church’. Naturally he was much sought after as a confessor and spiritual director. When, in 1846, Dr Pusey made his first sacramental confession, it was to Keble: ‘I cannot doubt but that through your ministry and the power of the keys, I have received the grace of God, as I know not that I ever did before.’

He died in 1866 and four years later Keble College was founded at Oxford as his memorial. Only, O Lord, in thy dear love Fit us for perfect rest above; And help us, this and every day, To live more nearly as we pray.

A Prayer

Father of the eternal Word,
in whose encompassing love
all things in peace and order move:
grant that, as your servant John Keble
adored you in all creation,
so we may have a humble heart of love
for the mysteries of your Church
and know your love to be new every morning,
in Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Extract from ‘Saints on Earth: A biographical companion to Common Worship’ by John H Darch and Stuart K Burns