Henry Chadwick (23 June 1920 – 17 June 2008) was a British academic, theologian and Church of England priest. A former dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford – and as such, head of Christ Church, Oxford – he also served as master of Peterhouse, Cambridge.
A leading historian of the early church, Chadwick was appointed Regius Professor at both the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He was a noted supporter of improved relations with the Catholic Church, and a leading member of the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission. An accomplished musician, having studied music to degree level, he took a leading part in the revision and updating of hymnals widely used within Anglicanism, chairing the board of the publisher Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd. for 20 years.
Family and early life
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.
Academic career
Cambridge
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.