Charles Gordon Strachan (24 January 1934 – 7 July 2010) was a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

minister, theologian, university lecturer and author. He was regarded as a radical thinker with unorthodox views, such as his claim that Jesus may have travelled to Britain during his lost years to study with the

Druid A druid was a member of the high-ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures. Druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no written accounts. Whi ...

s. After attending

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Oxford, England. It is known informally as 'Teddies'. Approximately sixty pupils live in each of its thirteen houses. The school is a member of the Rugby G ...

, Strachan went on to graduate with a degree in history from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and a PhD in theology from

New College, Edinburgh New College is a historic building at the University of Edinburgh which houses the university's School of Divinity. It is one of the largest and most renowned centres for studies in Theology and Religious Studies in the United Kingdom. Student ...

. The subject of his doctoral thesis was

Edward Irving Edward Irving (4 August 17927 December 1834) was a Scottish clergyman, generally regarded as the main figure behind the foundation of the Catholic Apostolic Church. Early life Edward Irving was born at Annan, Annandale the second son of Ga ...

, a 19th-century Scottish divine denounced as a

heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

. Strachan was active in the

Iona Community The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by George MacLeod, is an ecumenical Christian community of men and women from different walks of life and different traditions within Christianity. It and its publishing house, Wild Goose Publications, are hea ...

, taught courses at the Office of Lifelong Learning and lectured in the Department of Architecture at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Strachan wrote a number of books including ''Jesus the Master Builder: Druid Mysteries and the Dawn of Christianity'', which was the basis of a 45-minute documentary titled ''And Did Those Feet'' (2009) by Ted Harrison.

Bibliography

* ''Pentecostal Theology of Edward Irving'' (1973) * ''Freeing the Feminine'' (1985), co-authored with his wife Elspeth * ''Christ and the Cosmos'' (1985), later republished as ''The Bible's Hidden Cosmology'' (2005) * ''Jesus the Master Builder: Druid Mysteries and the Dawn of Christianity'' (1998) * ''Chartres: Sacred Geometry, Sacred Space'' (2003) * ''The Return of Merlin: Star Lore and the Patterns of History'' (2006) * ''Prophets of Nature: Green Spirituality in Romantic Poetry and Painting'' (2008)

References

External links

TV interview – Dr. Gordon Strachan

Jesus 'may have visited England', says Scottish academic
- BBC News article
Blog in memory of Gordon Strachan
People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Oxford 20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Christian radicals Iona Community members 1934 births 2010 deaths {{UK-Christian-clergy-stub