William Ralph Inge KCVO FBA (/ˈɪŋ/;[1] 6 June 1860 – 26 February 1954) was an English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and dean of St Paul's Cathedral.

In 1879, he went on to King's College, Cambridge, where he won a number of prizes including the Chancellor's Medal, as well as taking firsts in both parts of the Classical Tripos.

He is best known for his works on Plotinus[7] and neoplatonic philosophy, and on Christian mysticism, but also wrote on general topics of life and current politics.

[3] Inge was a strong proponent of the spiritual type of religion—"that autonomous faith which rests upon experience and individual inspiration"—as opposed to one of coercive authority.

He was nicknamed 'The Gloomy Dean' because of his pessimistic views in his Romanes Lecture of 1920, "The Idea of Progress"[8] and in his Evening Standard articles.

In his Romanes Lecture he said that although mankind's accumulated experience and wonderful discoveries had great value, they did not constitute real progress in human nature itself.

[12] He supported the publishing of Maurice Parmelee's[13] book, The New Gymnosophy: Nudity and the Modern Life,[14] and was critical of town councillors who were insisting that bathers wear full bathing costumes.

[7] Inge spent his later life at Brightwell Manor in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire, where he died on 26 February 1954, aged 93, five years after his wife.

[7] The following bibliography is a selection taken mainly from Adam Fox's biography Dean Inge and his biographical sketch in Crockford's Clerical Directory.