Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, 1815–81, English clergyman and author. As a student at Rugby he was influenced by the liberal views of Thomas Arnold. In 1838 he was elected a fellow of University College, Oxford. He became tutor and select preacher at Oxford and a recognized leader of Broad Church theology. He was strongly opposed to the agitation in the university against R. D. Hampden, although he urged leniency toward the Tractarians who were attacking Hampden (see Oxford movement). Stanley was made canon of Canterbury (1851), regius professor of ecclesiastical history at Oxford (1856), and canon of Christ Church (1858). Installed as dean of Westminster in 1864, he strove for the adoption of Broad Church policies. His inclusion of Christian ministers of all faiths among speakers from his pulpit and especially an invitation to some nonconformists to partake in the Holy Communion brought him into disfavor in circles of strict conformity. His voluminous writings include several volumes of ecclesiastical history, The Life and Correspondence of Dr. Arnold (1844), Historical Memorials of Canterbury (1855), and Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey (1868).
See R. E. Prothero and G. G. Bradley, The Life and Correspondence of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1893); A. V. Baillie and H. Bolitho, A Victorian Dean (1930).
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