Stephen Lowe was, until his retirement in July 2009, the suffragan Bishop of Hulme in the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, Link Bishop for Namibia and Chair of the Urban Bishops Panel. Whilst retaining these roles, he was released from all pastoral oversight in the diocese in order to concentrate on his 2006 appointment as the Church of England's first Bishop for Urban Life and Faith, promoting and disseminating the conclusions of the Faithful Cities report.[1]
Lowe is noted for his comments on the hymn I Vow to Thee, My Country in August 2004, when he called for its first verse to be removed from Church of England services, calling it "totally heretical".[2] He believed it placed national loyalties above religious ones and encouraged racism and an unquestioning support of governments. His words sparked a debate on the wider implications of the hymn.[3] [4] He has also defended the Church's review of its shares in Caterpillar Inc. and other companies used in the occupied territories by Israel,[5] and the Church's planned sale of Jacob And His Twelve Sons by Francisco de Zurbarán.[6] More recently, he has become noted as a supporter of Archbishop Rowan Williams in the media controversy over Williams' remarks on sharia law, calling the media treatment of Williams "disgraceful" and a "knee-jerk" reaction in interviews on Newsnight and Radio 4 on 8 February and an appearance on Question Time on 14 February 2008.[7][8] In June 2008 a report commissioned by Lowe, Moral, But No Compass - Church, Government And The Future of Welfare, by Francis Davis and Elizabath Paulhus was the lead story in The Times and has subsequently been the subject of two House of Lords debates. In June 2009 his book, What Makes a Good City? Public Theology and the Urban Church (which Lowe had co-authored with the theologian Elaine Graham), was published by Darton, Longman and Todd.
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| Preceded by Michael Paton |
Archdeacon of Sheffield 1988–1999 |
Succeeded by Richard Blackburn |
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