Leslie Houlden

James Leslie Houlden (1 March 1929 – 3 December 2022) was a British

Houlden was active behind the scenes of the Church of England. From 1969 to 1976, he was a member of its Liturgical Commission and its Doctrine Commission. He was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England from 1980 to 1990.^[3]

Views

Houlden was a

Houlden was himself an unashamed liberal and many of his conclusions about the Bible were alarming to traditionalists. He said that the New Testament evidence about the

St Paul's ethical judgments were, he asserted, addressed to particular first-century situations and were not therefore to be universalised.

— Obituary in The Telegraph^[4]

Houlden never married.[4]

Houlden died on 3 December 2022, at the age of 93.^[4] His funeral was held at St Mary's Church, Temple Balsall, on 21 December 2022.^{[5] [6]}

Honours

In 1994, a Festschrift was published for him, titled "Resurrection: Essays in Honour of Leslie Houlden".^[7]

Selected works

• Houlden, J. L. (1977). Paul's Letters from Prison: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians. Philadelphia:
  ISBN 978-0664213473
  .
• Houlden, Leslie (1977). "The Creed of Experience". In Hick, John (ed.). The Myth of God Incarnate. London: SCM Press.
• Houlden, Leslie (1982). What Did the First Christians Believe?. Guildford:
  ISBN 978-0718825157
  .
• ISBN 978-0334002949
  .
• Houlden, Leslie, ed. (1991). Austin Farrer: The Essential Sermons. London:
  ISBN 978-0281044641
  .
• ISBN 978-0415064477
  .
• Houlden, Leslie, ed. (2003). Jesus in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara:
  ISBN 978-1576078563
  .
• Houlden, Leslie, ed. (2005). Jesus: The Complete Guide. London:
  ISBN 978-0826480118
  .
• Houlden, Leslie (2007). Decoding Early Christianity: Truth and Legend in the Early Church. Westport:
  ISBN 978-1846450181
  .