GORE, CHARLES English bishop, was born in 1853, the 3rd son of the Hon. Charles Alexander Gore, brother of the 4th earl of Arran. His mother was a daughter of the 4th earl of Bessborough. He was educated at Harrow and at Balliol college, Oxford, and was elected fellow of Trinity college in He was vice-principal (1880-83) of the theological college at Cuddesdon, and librarian of Pusey Library . Gore exercised a wide influence over undergraduates and the younger clergy, and under his influence the "Oxford Movement" under went a change which to the survivors of the old school of Trac tarians seemed to involve a break with its basic principles. "Pusey ism" had based itself on authority and tradition, and repudiated any compromise with the modern critical and liberalizing spirit. Gore, starting from the same basis of faith and authority, set himself the task of reconciling the principle of authority in re ligion with that of scientific authority by attempting to define their respective spheres of influence. In 1889 he published two works, The Church and the Ministry, a vindication of the prin ciple of Apostolic Succession in the episcopate against the Pres byterians and other Protestant bodies; and Roman Catholic Claims, a defence of the Anglican Church and Anglican orders against the Roman Catholics.
So far his published views had been in consonance with those of the older Tractarians. But in 1890 there appeared under his editor ship Lux Mundi, a series of essays by different writers, being an attempt "to succour a distressed faith by endeavouring to bring the Christian Creed into its right relation to the modern growth of knowledge, scientific, historic, critical ; and to modern problems of politics and ethics." Gore himself contributed an essay on "The Holy Spirit and Inspiration." The book produced a profound effect far beyond the borders of the English Church, and the High Church movement developed thenceforth on "Modernist" rather than Tractarian lines.
In 1891 Gore delivered the Bampton lectures before the uni versity. He chose for his subject the Incarnation, developing the doctrine, the enunciation of which in Lux Mundi had caused so much heart-searching. This is an attempt to explain how it came that Christ, though incarnate God, could be in error, e.g., in his citations from the Old Testament. He interpreted St. Paul's say ing (2 Phil. ii. 7) that Christ "emptied himself and took upon him the form of a servant" (Eavrov EKFYwo'eV ,uoperlv hoUAOU Xaj3ov) as meaning that Christ, on his incarnation, became subject to all human limitations, and had, so far as his life on earth was concerned, stripped himself of all the attributes of the Godhead, including the Divine omniscience, the Divine nature being, as it were, hidden under the human.' In 1893 Dr. Gore resigned his principalship and became vicar of Radley, a small parish near Oxford. In 1894 he became canon of Westminster. Here he gained commanding influence as a preacher and in 1898 was appointed one of the court chaplains. In 1902 he became bishop of Worcester and in 1905 was installed bishop of Birmingham, a new see, the creation of which had been mainly due to his efforts. While adhering rigidly to his views on the divine institution of episcopacy, Dr. Gore cultivated friendly relations with the ministers of other denominations, and advocated co-operation with them in all matters when agreement was pos sible. In social questions he became one of the leaders of the group of High Churchmen known, somewhat loosely, as Christian Socialists. He worked actively against the sweating system, pleaded for European intervention in Macedonia, and was a keen supporter of the Licensing Bill of 1908. In 1892 he founded the clerical fraternity known as the Community of the Resurrection. Its members are priests, who are bound by the obligation of celi bacy, live under a common rule and with a common purse. Their work is pastoral, evangelistic, literary and educational. In 1898 the House of the Resurrection at Mirfield, near Huddersfield, becatne the centre of the community; in 1903 a college for train ing candidates for orders was established there, and in the same year a branch house, for missionary work, was set up in Johannes burg in South Africa.
From 1911 to 1919 Dr. Gore was bishop of Oxford; he then resigned and settled in London. Dr. Gore's works include The Incarnation (Bampton Lectures, 1891) ; The Creed of the Chris tian ; The Body of Christ Owl); The New Theology and the Old Religion (1908) ; Orders and Unity (191o); The Question of Divorce 0910; The Religion of the Church (1916) ; Belief in God (1921) ; The Holy Spirit and the Church (1924) ; Can We Then Believe? (1926) ; and expositions of The Sermon on the Mount (1896), Ephesians (1898), Romans (1899) The Epistles of St. John (1920). Dr. Gore died Jan. 17, 1932.