Ian Ker

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}

{{Short description|English Catholic priest (1942–2022)}}

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| alt = A black-and-white image of a young priest with short cropped hair in front of a bookshelf

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| religion = Catholic

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| birth_name = Ian Turnbull Ker

| birth_date = {{birth date|1942|8|30|df=y}}

| birth_place = Uttarakhand, British Raj{{cite web |title=Father Ian Ker obituary |website=The Times & The Sunday Times |date=7 December 2022 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/father-ian-ker-obituary-k3739wr0r |access-date=29 December 2024}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|11|5|1942|8|30|df=y}}

| death_place = Gloucester, United Kingdom

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Ian Turnbull Ker (30 August 1942 – 5 November 2022){{cite web|title=Ker, I. T. (Ian Turnbull)|url=https://lccn.loc.gov/n84007046|website=Library of Congress Authorities|accessdate=15 October 2016}}{{cite web | url=https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/11/06/in-memoriam-ian-ker-1942-2022/| title=In Memoriam: Ian Ker (1942-2022)|date=November 6, 2022}} was an English Catholic priest, a former Anglican and a scholar and author.{{cite web | url=https://chnetwork.org/journey-home/fr-ian-ker-former-anglican-the-journey-home-05-19-2003/ | title=Fr. Ian Ker: Former Anglican|website=The Coming Home Network International|date=19 May 2003}} He was generally regarded as the world's authority on John Henry Newman, on whom he published more than twenty books.{{cite book|last=Ker|first=Ian|title=John Henry Newman: A biography|year=1990|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780192827050|url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199596591.do#.UQR49KUipEQ}}{{cite web|title=Oxford University Press|url=http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199596591.do#.UQRcv6UipEQ}}{{cite web|title=Book Review "John Henry Newman: A biography"|url=http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/literary-criticism/15980962/cardinal-newman-churchman-humanitarian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230828/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/literary-criticism/15980962/cardinal-newman-churchman-humanitarian|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 March 2016}}

Ker taught theology at the University of Oxford, where he was a senior research fellow at Blackfriars, Oxford,{{cite web |title=Faculty of Theology, Oxford |url=http://www.theology.ox.ac.uk/people/staff-list/dr-ian-ker |access-date=26 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024230028/http://www.theology.ox.ac.uk/people/staff-list/dr-ian-ker.html |archive-date=24 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} and a member of the Faculty of Theology. He taught both English literature and theology at universities in the UK and USA. Ker was regarded as the leading authority on Saint John Henry Newman, on whom he published the universally acknowledged definitive biography. He was the author of The Catholic Revival in English Literature 1845–1961, Mere Catholicism, and G.K. Chesterton: A Biography. On this last book, the late Christopher Hitchens reviewed that "Professor Ker's spirited and double-barreled attempt at a rehabilitation" of Chesterton "is enjoyable in its own right."{{cite web|last1=Hitchens|first1=Christopher|title=The Reactionary: the Charming, Sinister G.K. Chesterton|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/03/the-reactionary/308889/|website=www.theatlantic.com|publisher=The Atlantic Monthly|accessdate=9 May 2015}}

Ker died on 5 November 2022, in Gloucester, at the age of 80.{{cite web |last1=Short |first1=Edward |title=In Memoriam: Ian Ker (1942–2022) |url=https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/11/06/in-memoriam-ian-ker-1942-2022/|website=Catholic World Report|date=6 November 2022|access-date=13 November 2022}}