Owen Chadwick

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

FRSE FBA
Born
William Owen Chadwick

(1916-05-20)20 May 1916
Bromley, England
Died17 July 2015(2015-07-17) (aged 99)
Cambridge, England
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge, St John's College, Cambridge

William Owen Chadwick

, and served from 1956 to 1983.

In his obituaries, Chadwick was described as "one of the great religious historians of our time" by The Independent,[2] and as "one of the most remarkable men of letters of the 20th century" by The Guardian.[3]

Early life and education

Owen Chadwick
SchoolTonbridge School
UniversityUniversity of Cambridge, Selwyn College, Cambridge, St John's College, Cambridge
Rugby union career
Position(s) Hooker
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1936–1938
Cambridge University
()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1936
British Isles XV

Chadwick was born in

British Ambassador to Romania.[4]

His eldest brother was sent to

British Lions team in their third trip to Argentina.[1] Although no caps were awarded on this tour, Chadwick did play in the one match against the full Argentina side, playing in his favoured position of hooker in a 23–0 victory.[7] The British team won all ten of its matches. During the 1937/38 season, Chadwick played for invitational touring side, the Barbarians.[8]

Chadwick graduated with a First in History in 1938. Having been influenced by Martin Charlesworth and Martin Niemöller in 1938, he took a First in theology at Cambridge in 1939. He then attended Cuddesdon College (a theological college) and was ordained to the diaconate and priesthood of the Church of England in 1940 and 1941, respectively.

He served as a curate at St John's Church in Huddersfield for two years and was then chaplain of Wellington College in Berkshire until the end of the Second World War.[9]

He also played rugby during the war, for Blackheath, and for an England team that played against New Zealand.

Cambridge career

After the war, he was made chaplain and Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1947, and then Dean of Chapel. He became a university theology lecturer in 1949 and published his first book on the 5th-century monk John Cassian in 1950.

In 1958 he was named

vice-chancellor from 1969 to 1971, he guided Cambridge through turbulent times in the late 1960s, including the Garden House riot
in 1970. He was also elected president of Cambridge University RFC in 1973.

In the 1960s and 1970s, he was suggested as a potential

disestablishment
.

He was

Oxford University in 1975–76, and Ford Lecturer in English History at Oxford in 1980–81. He retired as Regius Professor and master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, in 1983. He had become a fellow of the British Academy in 1962, and was its president from 1981 to 1985. He was also a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery from 1978 to 1994, and was chancellor of the University of East Anglia
from 1984 to 1994.

Owen Chadwick served as a member of the

Historical Manuscripts Commission for a period prior to 1992.[10]

Selwyn College, Cambridge

Chadwick was elected

Hermes Club
.

Books

Chadwick wrote about such issues as the formation of the

Lord Acton; about the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century; about the Church of England in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and about the secularisation of Europe in thought and culture. He participated in the debate[clarification needed] about the role of Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust during World War II
.

With his brother, Henry, Chadwick edited the Oxford History of the Christian Church (1981-2010), to which he contributed three of its twelve volumes: "The Popes and European Revolution" (1980); "A History of the Popes 1830–1914" (1998); and "The Early Reformation on the Continent" (2003). Chadwick was awarded the Wolfson History Prize in 1981.

Owen Chadwick was also General Editor of the Penguin (formerly Pelican) History of the Church, to which he contributed the third volume (The Reformation), the seventh (The Christian Church in the Cold War, 1992) and the last two chapters of the sixth ("A History of Christian Missions", second edition 1986). His brother Henry wrote the first volume in the series (The Early Church, 1967).

Among Chadwick's other books are:[11]

  • John Cassian: A Study in Primitive Monasticism (1950)
  • The Founding of Cuddesdon (1954)
  • From Bossuet to Newman (1957)
  • The Sayings of the Fathers (1958)
  • Mackenzie’s Grave (1959) (on a bishop sent to the Zambesi in the 19th century)
  • Victorian Miniature (1960) (based on parallel diaries of the squire and parson at Ketteringham in Norfolk covering several decades of the early 19th century)
  • The Victorian Church (in two volumes, 1966 and 1970)
  • The Secularization of the European Mind in the 19th Century (1975) (based on his Gifford Lectures in 1973–74)
  • Newman (in the OUP's "Past Masters" series; 1983)
  • Hensley Henson: A study in the Friction between Church and State (1983)
  • A History of Christianity (1995)
  • The Early Reformation on the Continent (2001)[12]

Honours

Chadwick was appointed

accolade and so remained styled as "The Revd Owen Chadwick" rather than "Sir Owen Chadwick".[14] He was appointed to the Order of Merit (OM) on 11 November 1983.[15] A memorial to him and his brother was unveiled at Westminster Abbey on 2 February 2018.[16]

Personal life

Chadwick married Ruth Hallward in 1949; she died before him, in January 2015. He was survived by two sons and two daughters.[17] Chadwick died at the age of 99 on 17 July 2015.[3]

After retiring, Chadwick lived with his wife in Newnham, in Cambridge, but also spent time in Cley next the Sea in Norfolk, where he was priest in charge.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ a b Owen Chadwick rugby profile ESPN Scrum.com
  2. ^ Obituary, The Independent, 23 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b The Rev Owen Chadwick obituary, The Guardian, 19 July 2015 (updated 20 July 2015).
  4. ^ PHS (9 July 1969). "The Times Diary—Chadwick favourite for Dean, OAPs in TV licence rumpus, Holiday Inns here to stay". News. The Times. No. 57607. London. col D, p. 10.
  5. ^ The Reverend Professor Owen Chadwick, OM – obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 20 July 1915
  6. ^ Marshall, Howard; Jordon, J.P. (1951). Oxford v Cambridge, The Story of the University Rugby Match. London: Clerke & Cockeran. p. 252.
  7. ^ "La Unión de Rugby del Río de la Plata". UAR.com. 1937. Retrieved 20 March 2011.[permanent dead link]
  8. .
  9. ^ "Owen Chadwick RIP". sel.cam.ac.uk.
  10. ^ "No. 52987". The London Gazette. 10 July 1992. p. 11676.
  11. ^ The Revd Professor W Owen Chadwick, St John's College, Cambridge
  12. ^ Methuen, Charlotte. The Journal of Theological Studies, NEW SERIES, 54, no. 1 (2003): 388-91. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23969057.
  13. ^ "No. 48837". The London Gazette. 30 December 1981. p. 8.
  14. British Monarchy
    . Retrieved 25 June 2008
  15. ^ "No. 49543". The London Gazette. 18 November 1983. p. 15251.
  16. ^ "Memorial to Chadwick brothers dedicated | Westminster Abbey".
  17. ^ Grimes, William (23 July 2015). "Owen Chadwick, Eminent Historian of Christianity, Dies at 99". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2015.

Further reading

  • Worden, Blair, Derek Beales, and Geoffrey Best, eds. History, Society and the Churches: Essays in Honour of Owen Chadwick. (1985).

External links

Academic offices
Preceded by Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Cambridge
1958–1968
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Regius Professor of Modern History, Cambridge

1968–1982
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge

1956–1983
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge

1969–1971
Succeeded by
Preceded by Chancellor of the University of East Anglia
1984–1994
Succeeded by