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Regius Professor of Divinity

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

The Regius Professorships of Divinity are amongst the oldest professorships at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. A third chair existed for a period at Trinity College Dublin.

The Oxford and Cambridge chairs were founded by Henry VIII. The chair at Cambridge originally had a stipend of £40 per year (which is still paid to the incumbent by Trinity College), later increased by James I with the rectory of Somersham, Cambridgeshire.{{Citation needed|date=June 2013}}

Professors at Oxford

  • Richard Smyth, DD, Fellow of Merton, and Principal of St Alban Hall (1535){{citation needed|date=July 2022}}
  • Peter Martyr, DD, of the University of Padua, Canon of Christ Church (1548)
  • Richard Smyth again; Canon of Christ Church (1554)
  • Juan de Villagarcia, known as Joannes Fraterculus (a Spanish Dominican), BD, Divinity Reader of Magdalen College (1556)
  • Richard Smyth again (1559)
  • Lawrence Humphrey, MA, Fellow, afterwards President, of Magdalen; DD (1560)
  • Thomas Holland, DD, Fellow of Balliol; Rector of Exeter (1589)
  • Robert Abbot, DD, Master of Balliol; afterwards Bishop of Salisbury (1612)
  • John Prideaux, DD, Rector of Exeter; afterwards Bishop of Worcester (1615)
  • Robert Sanderson, DD, sometime Fellow of Lincoln (1642)
  • Robert Crosse, BD, Fellow of Lincoln (1648)
  • Joshua Hoyle, DD, Master of University (1648)
  • John Conant, DD, Rector of Exeter (1654)
  • Robert Sanderson, DD, restored; afterwards Bishop of Lincoln (1660)
  • William Creed, DD, sometime Fellow of St John's (1661)
  • Richard Allestree, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1663)
  • William Jane, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1680)
  • John Potter, DD, Fellow of Lincoln; Bishop of Oxford; afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury (1707)
  • George Rye, DD, sometime Fellow of Oriel; Archdeacon of Oxford (1737)
  • John Fanshawe, DD, Student of Christ Church, and Regius Professor of Greek (1741)
  • Edward Bentham, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1763)
  • Benjamin Wheeler, DD, Fellow of Magdalen (1776)
  • John Randolph, DD, Student of Christ Church, Professor of Poetry, and Regius Professor of Greek; Bishop of London; afterwards Bishop of Bangor, then of London (1783){{Cite ODNB|id=23120|title=Randolph, John}}
  • Charles Henry Hall, DD, Canon of Christ Church; afterwards Dean (1807)
  • William Howley, DD, Canon of Christ Church; afterwards Bishop of London, Archbishop of Canterbury (1809)
  • William Van Mildert, DD, Queen's; afterwards Bishop of Llandaff and Dean of St Paul's, Bishop of Durham (1813)
  • Frodsham Hodson, DD, Principal of Brasenose (1820)
  • Charles Lloyd, Student of Christ Church; Bishop of Oxford (1822)
  • Edward Burton, DD, Student of Christ Church (1829)
  • Renn Dickson Hampden, DD, Principal of St Mary Hall; afterwards Bishop of Hereford (1836)
  • William Jacobson, MA, Vice-Principal of Magdalen Hall and Public Orator, sometime Fellow of Exeter; DD, afterwards Bishop of Chester (1848)
  • Robert Payne Smith, MA, Pembroke; DD; afterwards Dean of Canterbury (1865)
  • James Bowling Mozley, BD, sometime Fellow of Magdalen; DD (1871)
  • William Ince, MA, Fellow of Exeter; DD; Canon of Christ Church (1878)
  • Henry Scott Holland, MA, Hon DLitt, sometime Student of Christ Church; DD; Canon of Christ Church (1911)
  • Arthur Cayley Headlam, DD, sometime Fellow of All Souls; Canon of Christ Church (1918)
  • Henry Leighton Goudge, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1923)
  • Oliver Chase Quick, MA, Canon of Christ Church; afterwards DD (1939)
  • Leonard Hodgson, DD, Canon of Christ Church (1944)
  • Henry Chadwick, DD, Canon of Christ Church (MusB, DD Cantab.; Hon DD Glas) (1959)
  • Maurice Wiles, DD, Canon of Christ Church (BD, MA Cantab.) (1970)
  • Keith Ward, BLitt, MA, DD, Canon of Christ Church (BA Wales; MA Cantab.; DD Oxon.; DD Cantab.; HonDD Glas) (1991)
  • Marilyn McCord Adams, AB Illinois; PhD Cornell; ThM Princeton Theological Seminary; Canon of Christ Church (2004)
  • Graham Ward Canon of Christ Church (MA, PhD Cantab.) (2012–2024)
  • Andrew Paul Davison, Canon of Christ Church (2024–present){{London Gazette|issue=64530|page=19142 | date=2 October 2024 }}

(Sources: Oxford Historical Register 1200-1900 and supplements; and the Oxford University Calendar)

Professors at Cambridge

=Official coat of arms=

According to a grant of 1590, the office of Regius Professor of "Devinity" at Cambridge has a coat of arms with the following blazon:A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (1909), pp. 587-588.

{{Infobox COA wide

|image = Regius Professor Divinity (Cantab).svg

|escutcheon = Gules, on a cross ermine, between four doves argent, a book of the first, the leaves or, charged in the midst with the Greek letter θ (Theta) sable.

|crest = On a wreath "silver and gules," a dove volant argent, with an olive-branch vert in his beak.

|mantling = Gules, double argent.

|}}

Professors at Dublin

The Regius Professor of Divinity at Trinity College Dublin was established in 1607 as the "Professor of Theological Controversies". The endowment was increased in 1674 by letters patent of Charles II. The title "Regius Professor" was specified in 1761 by letters patent of George III.{{cite book|last=MacDonnell|first=Hercules Henry Graves|title=Chartæ et statuta collegii Sacrosanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis reginæ Elizabethæ juxta Dublin. [Edited by H. H. G. Mac Donnell.]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwdeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA147|access-date=23 March 2017|year=1844|publisher=M.H. Gill|language=la|page=147}} The School of Divinity was founded in the late 18th century with the Regius Professor as its head.[https://archive.org/stream/trinitycollegedu00dixouoft#page/186 Dixon 1902, p.186] The School's link to the Church of Ireland was controversial after the Irish Church Act 1869 disestablished the church and the University of Dublin Tests Act 1873 allowed non-Anglican fellows. The debate became dormant after 1911 letters patent altered the School's governance.{{cite web|url=https://www.ireland.anglican.org/news/6606/the-foundation-and-development-of|title=Church of Ireland Divinity Hostel – A Summary of RCBL MS1043|last=Hanily|first=Sean|date=1 October 2016|work=Archive of the Month|publisher=Church of Ireland|access-date=22 March 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.tcd.ie/registrar/assets/documents/statutes/64-Appendices_Divinity_School_CouncilPDF[67.2KB].pdf |title=Appendix 1 – Divinity School Council Prefatory Note|last=Webb|first=David|year=1993|work=Consolidated Statutes|publisher=Trinity College Dublin|access-date=22 March 2017}} It reignited in the 1960s, after which vacancies in the School of Divinity went unfilled, including the Regius Professorship in 1982.{{cite web|url=http://www.reform-ireland.org/ArticleDetails/3|title=The Gospel and CITC; A brief historical survey.|date=1 December 2004|publisher=Reform Ireland|access-date=22 March 2017}} The School of Divinity was replaced in 1978–81 by a non-denominational School of Hebrew, Biblical and Theological Studies (renamed the Department of Religions and Theology in 2004) although the statutes mandating a School and Regius Professor of Divinity remain unrepealed.{{cite web|url=http://www.tcd.ie/Religions_Theology/about/|title=About Us|work=Department of Religions and Theology|publisher=Trinity College Dublin|access-date=22 March 2017}}

Professors were:{{cite book|title=The Dublin University Calendar|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6m0tAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA247|year=1867|pages=247–249|chapter=Regius Professor of Divinity}}

=Professors of Divinity=

  • 1: 1591– (Luke Challoner){{cite book|url=http://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi/documents/16581/page/441088 |title=Report |author=Commissioners to inquire into certain matters relating to the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin |series=Command papers |date=1878 |publisher=HMSO |location=Dublin |volume=C.2045 |page=6|access-date=23 March 2017}}
  • 2: 1607–21 James Ussher{{cite DNB|wstitle=Ussher, James|volume=58|first=Alexander|last= Gordon}}
  • 3: 1621–23 (Samuel Ward)
  • 4: 1623–48 Joshua Hoyle[https://archive.org/stream/trinitycollegedu00dixouoft#page/186 Dixon 1902, p.24]
  • 5: 1662–70 Richard Lingard
  • 6: 1670–78 Michael Ward
  • 7: 1678–92 William Palliser
  • 8: 1693–99 George Browne
  • 9: 1699– Owen Lloyd
  • 10: 1714– Richard Baldwin
  • 11: 1722– Claudius Gilbert
  • 12: 1743– Henry Clarke
  • 13: 1746– John Pellisier
  • 14: 1753– John Lawson
  • 15: 1759– Brabazon Disney

=Regius Professors of Divinity=

  • 15: 1761– Brabazon Disney
  • 16: 1790–1819 James Drought
  • 17: 1819–29 Richard Graves, D.D. Dean of ArdaghCurry, William, jun. The picture of Dublin: or, Stranger's guide to the Irish metropolis 1835- Page 34 "The Divinity School consists of the Regius Professor of Divinity, and Archbishop King's Lecturer, each of whom has his assistants."Dublin University magazine: a literary and political journal 1841- Volume 17 - Page 634 "The whole Works of Richard Graves, D.D. late Dean of Ardagh, and Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Dublin, now first collected, with a Memoir of his Life and Writings, by his son, Richard Hastings Graves, D.D., Rector of Brigown ..."
  • 18: 1829–50 Charles Richard ElringtonThe Dublin university magazine 1834 - Volume 4 - Page 352 "C. R. ELRINGTON, Regius Professor of Divinity."The Irish Archaeological Society - Irish Archaeological Society 1841- Volume 1 - Page 118 "Rev. Charles R. Elrington, D.D., M.R.I.A., Regius Professor of Divinity, Dublin."
  • 19: 1850–62 Joseph Henderson Singer
  • 20: 1852–66 Samuel Butcher{{Cite book |last1=Howard |first1=Joseph Jackson |last2=Crisp |first2=Frederick Arthur |title=Visitation of Ireland |volume=II |page=[https://archive.org/details/visitationofirel02howa/page/69 69] |publisher=Privately printed |year=1898 |name-list-style=amp |url=https://archive.org/details/visitationofirel02howa }}
  • 21: 1866–88 George Salmon
  • 22: 1888–1917 John Gwynn{{cite web |url= http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2013_09_19_archive.html |title=The Revd Professor RM Gwynn (1877-1962) |first=Patrick |last=Comerford |work=patrickcomerford.com |date=19 September 2013 |access-date=5 October 2013}}
  • 23: 1917–30 Alan Hugh McNeile{{cite web|url=https://www.tcd.ie/tcbs/about/|title=About|work=Trinity Centre for Biblical Studies|publisher=Trinity College Dublin|access-date=22 March 2017}}
  • 24: 1930–35 Newport John Davis White{{cite web|url=https://www.tcd.ie/assets/documents/calendar/part1_prizes_and_other_awards.pdf#page=33 |format=PDF|title=Prizes and other Awards|work=Calendar 2006–07|publisher=Trinity College Dublin|pages=Newport White Prize |no-pp=y|quote=This prize was founded in 1935 by a gift from N. J. D. White, Regius Professor of Divinity 1930–35 |access-date=22 March 2017}}
  • 25: 1935–57 John Ernest Leonard Oulton{{cite news|url=http://www.trinitynewsarchive.ie/pdf/04-08.pdf#page=2|title=Obituary: John Ernest Leonard Oulton|date=7 February 1957|work=Trinity News|publisher=Trinity College Dublin|page=2|access-date=23 March 2017}}{{cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/news/academic-who-modernised-the-study-of-theology-at-trinity-1.263801|title=Academic who modernised the study of theology at Trinity|date=22 April 2000|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=22 March 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/results-list.php?author=3609|title=J. E. L. Oulton|work=Harvard University Press|publisher=Harvard University|access-date=22 March 2017}}
  • 26: 1957–62 Richard Randall Hartford
  • 27: 1964–82 Hugh Frederic Woodhouse{{cite book|last=Semple|first=Patrick|title=The Rector who Wouldn't Pray for Rain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8YkeNxeyXwC&pg=PA89|access-date=22 March 2017|year=2007|publisher=Mercier Press Ltd|isbn=9781856355605|page=89}}

See also

References

=Citations=

{{Reflist|30em}}

=Sources=

  • {{cite book |last=Dixon|first=W. Macneile|author-link=William Macneile Dixon|date=1902|title=Trinity College, Dublin|url=https://archive.org/details/trinitycollegedu00dixouoft |series=College Histories|location=London|publisher=F. E. Robinson & Co.|asin=B000J2LZNK|lccn=02021239|oclc=2572402|ol=1091957W|access-date=22 August 2015}}

{{Regius Professors of Divinity}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Professor of Divinity, Regius}}

Category:Religion in the United Kingdom

Divinity, Regius

Divinity, Regius

Divinity

Divinity, Regius

Category:School of Arts and Humanities, University of Cambridge

Category:Lists of people associated with the University of Oxford

Category:1535 establishments in England