Henry Chadwick

Chadwick worked between 1920 and 2008 across theologian, church historian, historian, university teacher and Anglican priest and 5 further recorded occupations. This article rests on 46 published texts, 1 digitised documents and 36 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Henry Chadwick studied at Eton College, Magdalene College and St Hugh's School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is Church of England, theology and Early Christianity. Positions recorded include Dean of Christ Church and Master of Peterhouse. Distinctions recorded are Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order, Dr.

• Honorific Prefix — The Very Reverend • Name — Henry Chadwick • Born — 23 June 1920 • Birthplace — Bromley, Kent, England • Died — 17 June 2008 • Place of death — Oxford, England • Occupation — Academic and Anglican priest • Education — Eton College • Alma Mater — * Magdalene College, Cambridge • Ridley Hall, Cambridge • Workplaces — * Queens' College, Cambridge • University of Oxford • University of St Andrews • Christ Church, Oxford • Magdalene College, Cambridge • Peterhouse, Cambridge • Title — Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Born in Bromley, Kent, Chadwick was the son of a barrister (who died when Chadwick was five) and a music-loving mother. He had a number of accomplished siblings: Sir John Chadwick served as the British Ambassador to Romania, and the Revd William Owen Chadwick and his other brother also became priests. Despite this, it was one of his sisters whom Chadwick would later describe as "the brightest of us all." Chadwick was educated at Eton College, where he became a King's Scholar. Although he did not show much aptitude as a Grecian, his lifelong love of music made its first appearance and resulted in his receiving organ lessons from Henry Ley. After leaving Eton, he went to Magdalene College, Cambridge, on a music scholarship, and was expected to make music his career. A highlight of his undergraduate musical career was playing a two piano arrangement of Chabrier's España with Boris Ord, then organist of King's College, Cambridge. However, Chadwick chose to further his interest in Evangelical Christianity, which had existed from his school days. He graduated in 1941 and began his theological training in 1942, at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, being ordained deacon by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in Canterbury Cathedral, in 1943 and priest by the Bishop of Dover in 1944. He served a curacy at the Evangelical parish of Emmanuel, Croydon, arriving towards the end of the Second World War, as Croydon was attacked by German V-weapons, which provided a difficult pastoral challenge. From there, he became an assistant master at Wellington College. He married Margaret "Peggy" Browning in 1945, and they had three daughters.

Chadwick became a Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge, with his appointment as chaplain in 1946, and in 1950 advanced to the position of dean. His rising academic reputation was confirmed in 1953 with the publication of a project which had occupied him since the days of his curacy—his new translation of Origen's Contra Celsum, with introduction and notes. He had by now made himself an expert in Patristic Greek; only an inexactness in philology marking his earlier abandonment of Greek for music. Also in 1953 he was appointed co-editor (with Hedley Sparks) of the Journal of Theological Studies and continued editing it until 1985. He held the university appointment of Hulsean Lecturer from 1954 to 1956.

• Illustration — Tom Quad at Christ Church, Oxford, where Chadwick and his family lived during his time at Christ Church Chadwick moved to Oxford in 1959, to take up the position of Regius Professor of Divinity (and with it the associated canonry at Christ Church Cathedral) at the relatively young age of 39. He was named a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) soon after, and in 1962 Gifford Lecturer at the University of St Andrews lecturing on Authority in the Early Church. He gave a second series of lectures in 1963–64, on Authority in Christian Theology. 1963 also saw him appointed to an early Anglican inquiry into the issues surrounding the ordination of women. In the 1960s, along with scholars like E. R. Dodds, Peter Brown, and John Matthews, Chadwick helped make Oxford a centre in the developing study of Late Antiquity. He clarified the classical philosophical roots of Christian thinkers from Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria to Augustine of Hippo, and set about raising academic standards within the theology department—in particular making the degree of Doctor of Divinity (DD) into a genuine research degree, as opposed to an honorary award made to senior clerics who had produced a volume of sermons. 1967 saw the publication of his most widely read work, The Early Church, published under the Pelican imprint of Penguin Books. He was disappointed that he was allowed to include so few footnotes in the original publication, and correspondingly delighted when the publishers of a German edition requested additional notes for their translation. That same year he was appointed to a Church of England doctrine commission investigating "The place of the Articles in the Anglican tradition and the question of Subscription and Assent to them", which produced its report in July 1968 ready for that year's Lambeth Conference. The report ultimately led to changes in the doctrinal affirmations required of Church of England clergy at their ordination or on taking up new appointments. In 1968 he was appointed a vice-president of the British Academy. • Illustration — Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, of which Chadwick was dean for ten years In 1969, Chadwick was appointed Dean of Christ Church, uniquely a dual role as a cathedral dean and head of a college. This period was not entirely happy; a scholarly ability to see all sides of a question, along with an ingrained desire not to upset his colleagues, sometimes made it hard for him to make a quick or firm decision. However, during his time as Dean the college benefited from a continued programme of renovation with internal changes that provided more student accommodation. The position gave Chadwick the chance to influence the musical direction of the cathedral. In The Independent newspaper, obituary writer Andrew Louth notes that at the retirement of Sydney Watson as organist, when he and Chadwick played piano duets together Chadwick's technique was the equal of Watson's. The new organist, Simon Preston, had ambitious plans for improving musical standards, and Chadwick was pleased to be able to support these, not least by raising funds for a new organ. Chadwick also found time to contribute to the administration of the wider university, serving on the Hebdomadal Council, as a Delegate of Oxford University Press, as one of the curators of the Bodleian, and as Pro-Vice-Chancellor 1974–75. It was during this period that he began to participate in the discussions of the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC); he was a member of the commission 1969–1981 and again 1983–1990. his early Evangelical sympathies having been tempered over time, helped by his friendship with Edward Yarnold, Master of Campion Hall. He was a master of the Anglican approach of producing statements capable of a range of interpretations to enable common ground to be reached; this worked well for simpler historical differences, but did not always impress the Roman Catholic members of the commission when it came to questions of ecclesiology and church authority. He was also able to use his historical background to put forward summaries of early church positions on a variety of subjects, and he had a true desire to establish consensus on the basis of the principles revealed by this research. Although his scholarly output suffered from the pressures on his time, he was editor of Oxford Early Christian Texts (from 1970), and was able to work on two major monographs, Priscillian of Avila: the occult and the charismatic in the early Church (published 1976) and Boethius: the consolations of music, logic, theology and philosophy (published 1981). The second of these in particular allowing him to draw on the full range of his interests.

In 1979, Chadwick resigned the deanship, returning to Cambridge to take up the Regius Chair of Divinity. Additionally, he became a Syndic of Cambridge University Press, a Fellow of Magdalene, and was installed as an honorary canon of Ely Cathedral. He gained a reputation as a popular lecturer in Cambridge, and between 1982 and 1983 gave the Sarum Lectures in Oxford, for which his subject was Augustine of Hippo. Edited, these lectures became the basis for his 1986 book, Augustine. He retired from the professorship in 1983 and settled in Oxford. After four years in retirement, he received an unexpected invitation to become Master of Peterhouse in 1987, thus becoming the first person in over four centuries to lead a college at both Oxford and Cambridge. Chadwick's second appointment as head of a college proved a happier experience than his first. The college had been experiencing some problems following the admission of the first female students, to which some fellows were implacably opposed, making their displeasure known at High Table. Chadwick insisted on civility, which coupled with the retirement of some of the fellows, ensured an improvement in the atmosphere within the college. This continued after his second retirement (again to Oxford) in 1993. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours. In 1991 he published a new translation of Augustine's Confessions, with extensive notes revealing Augustine's debt to Plotinus. Chadwick also edited Oxford Early Christian Studies (from 1990). With his brother Owen, he edited The Oxford History of the Christian Church (12 vols., 1981–2010). His own volumes in this series were The Church in Ancient Society: from Galilee to Gregory the Great (2001) and East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church: From Apostolic Times until the Council of Florence (2005). His final work was to have been on Photios I of Constantinople, research for which covered many of his interests, particularly classical learning and Christianity, and ecumenism. Some of his material on the topic was published in East and West. He was also an Editorial Advisor of Dionysius. He died in Oxford on 17 June 2008.

Henry Chadwick was born on 23 June 1920 in Bromley. Chadwick held the nationality of United Kingdom. Chadwick was educated at Eton College, Magdalene College and St Hugh's School. Chadwick worked as theologian, church historian, historian and university teacher, and the authority record catalogues a further 6 occupations under the same name, among them Anglican priest, writer, musician, Anglican theologian, patristic scholar and parson. Chadwick worked in English. Chadwick died on 17 June 2008 in Oxford. Chadwick is buried at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.

Chadwick published over 125 books, monographs, articles etc. Mentioned in obituaries as being particularly notable are: • Origen: Contra Celsum (1953) • Lessing's Theological Writings (Selected and Translated, Stanford University Press, 1957) • Early Christian Thought and The Classical Tradition: Studies in Justin, Clement, and Origen (Oxford, 1966) • Priscillian of Avila: The Occult and the Charismatic in the Early Church (1976) • Augustine (Past Masters, Oxford, 1986) • Saint Augustine: Confessions (Translation, introduction, notes. Oxford, 1991) • The Early Church (The Penguin History of the Church, 1967 revised 1993) • Augustine: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2001) • The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great (Oxford History of the Christian Church, 2001) • East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church (History of the Christian Church, 2003)