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I was interested in the reference in this remembrance to " JIM
Stewart in his "
> Church, where the provost is clearly drawn from Chadwickian life".
Does anyone on list by chance have the titles of these?
Thanks,
jbw
John B. Wickstrom
Department of History
> -----Original Message-----
> From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christopher Crockett
> Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 12:04 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [M-R] Henry Chadwick Obit
>
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> one of those famous Guardian Obits, written by Somebody or Other.
>
>
> "He had no relish at all for conflict, even for the gentlemanly blood sport of
> academic controversy. His learned work is notably short on open war with other
> scholars, even where it is advancing new and potentially controversial
> conclusions. The fastidiousness made some of his professional life very hard.
>
> "...In 1969, however, he paid the price of having won the trust and affection
> of his college when he was appointed dean of
>
> "No one could replace Henry and no one will. The Anglican church no longer
> shows so clearly the same combination of rootedness in the early Christian
> tradition and unfussy, prayerful pragmatism, and the ecumenical scene is
> pretty wintry with less room for the distinctive genius of another Chadwick.
> But the work done stays done, and it is there to utilise in more hospitable
> times."
>
> c
>
>
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/19/religion
>
> The Guardian, Thursday June 19, 2008
>
> Obituary
>
> Henry Chadwick
>
> He was a leading Anglican scholar and strove for ecumenicalism
>
> Rowan Williams
>
> 'The Anglican church," it was said, "may not have a Pope, but it does have
> Henry Chadwick." Nothing could better illustrate the unique position held for
> many years by this aristocrat among Anglican scholars, who has died aged 87.
> His erudition was legendary, in practically all areas of the study of late
> antiquity, but it was also deployed to memorable effect in the work of the
> Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission.
>
> Many sensed that the more recent history of Anglican-Roman Catholic relations
> was a source of some sadness to him. He had little love either for radical
> fashions in theology or for the fierce neoconservatism characteristic of some
> parts of the Roman Catholic church in recent decades. He represented that
> earlier and more hopeful phase, begun and aborted in the 1920s at
the
> conversations (named after the French spelling of the Belgian city
of
> where they were held), where Anglicans and Roman Catholics discovered
> unexpected common ground in the study of the fathers of the church and in a
> deep but unobtrusive liturgical piety.
>
> In that first spring of ecumenicalism exchange, continental Catholic scholars
> came to regard Armitage Robinson, dean of Wells, as the summation of
> everything admirable in Anglican devotion and learning. In that respect, Henry
> was undoubtedly Robinson's heir. It often seemed that, at any major ecumenical
> gathering, some representative of a foreign communion would sudddenly wax
> eloquent about what Henry was and represented. And, as a devout savant of the
> kind he was, he might be said at times to have reminded Anglicanism of its
> better self.
>
> He once proclaimed ecumenism "a good cause to die for", and was certainly
> deeply committed to finding consensus - not by coining a conveniently vague
> formula, but by a real excavation of common first principles. On matters where
> this seemed utterly elusive - such as the debates over women's ordination - he
> felt, I think, impotent and frustrated. He had no relish at all for conflict,
> even for the gentlemanly blood sport of academic controversy. His learned work
> is notably short on open war with other scholars, even where it is advancing
> new and potentially controversial conclusions. The fastidiousness made some of
> his professional life very hard.
>
> Henry was born in
> father, John, was a leading barrister; his elder brother, Owen, became an
> authority on ecclesiastical history. Educated as a king's scholar
at
> Henry became a music scholar at
> lifelong passion for music in general and church music in particular - while
> also studying divinity at Ridley Hall.
>
> He graduated in 1941 and became a fellow of Queens' College,
> 1946 following a short spell as assistant master at
>
> regius chair of divinity at
> for 10 years.
>
> Henry had already established himself in the field with a superb translation
> of an early work of Christian apologetic, Origen's Contra Celsum (1953), and
> had assumed the editorship of the Journal of Theological Studies (1954-85).
> More books, and a steady stream of papers, followed his move to
> including works on Sextus and St Hippolytus.
>
> In 1969, however, he paid the price of having won the trust and affection of
> his college when he was appointed dean of
> dried up, and Henry became a venerated figure on a wider stage, presiding with
> inimitable grace and dignity in his cathedral. But the college went through
> some contentious and bad-tempered times, and he was much worn down by the
> storms of donnish ego that swirl around every Oxbridge institution. He
> suffered, too, from the last relics of old-style anti-clericalism in Christ
> Church. Altogether these cannot be said to have been happy years, though in
> 1976 he produced a widely admired study of the little-known early Christian
> figure and heretic, Priscillian of Avila.
>
> His move back to
> which he occupied until 1983, was clearly a relief. In
> were as popular as ever with a new generation of undergraduates, and still
> more substantial research saw the light of day. When in 1987 he was persuaded
> out of retirement to become master of Peterhouse,
> did something to redeem the memories of running a college. He was more
> manifestly at home than he had been in the deanship, and was universally seen
> to have steered this college into calm waters by the time he left the post in
> 1993.
>
> Henry was a profoundly shy and private man for all the generous hospitality
> that he and his wife Margaret "Peggy" Browning, a constant, "lively,
> intelligent and warm-hearted support" whom he married in 1945, offered in all
> their various homes. The dislike of confrontation could lead not only to the
> almost incredibly judicious and Olympian style of conversation (beautifully
> and affectionately caught by JIM Stewart in his "
> Church, where the provost is clearly drawn from Chadwickian life), but at
> times to a real unwillingness to express commitments - on matters of learned
> detail, on issues in contemporary theology, on public affairs - and some found
> this tantalising, to say the least. Yet its positive fruit was shown in the
> results of the Anglican-Roman Catholic conversations, where his hugely
> resourceful reticence somehow drew out possibilities of reconciliation.
>
> Many (sometimes surprising) names from all over the globe will bear witness to
> his unfailing kindness to, and encouragement of, younger scholars. The innate
> shyness behind the massive and majestic public and academic presence meant
> that there was never a "school" of Chadwick disciples. But, if anything, this
> meant that his mark was more widely imprinted.
>
> No one could replace Henry and no one will. The Anglican church no longer
> shows so clearly the same combination of rootedness in the early Christian
> tradition and unfussy, prayerful pragmatism, and the ecumenical scene is
> pretty wintry with less room for the distinctive genius of another Chadwick.
> But the work done stays done, and it is there to utilise in more hospitable
> times.
>
> But, meanwhile, there can be no doubt that Henry will be remembered as one of
> the most influential and admired Anglicans of the century, in church and
> academy alike.
>
> He is survived by Peggy and their three daughters, Priscilla, Hilary and
> Juliet.
>
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