Charles Kingsley Barrett (4 May 1917 – 26 August 2011) was a British biblical scholar and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

minister. He served as Professor of Divinity at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

and wrote commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, 1 Corinthians and

2 Corinthians The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in the ...

Early life and education

Barrett was born in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, and studied at Shebbear College, Devon, Pembroke College, Cambridge, and

Wesley House Wesley House was founded as a Methodist theological college (or seminary) in Jesus Lane, Cambridge, England. It opened in 1921 as a place for the education of Methodist ministers and today serves as a gateway to theological scholarship for stu ...

in Cambridge.

Career

Barrett was ordained to the ministry in the Methodist Church, and appointed lecturer in divinity at the University of Durham in 1945, where he was elected professor in 1958. He also preached on a regular basis in the Darlington circuit of the Methodist Church and more widely. Barrett has been described as standing alongside

C. H. Dodd Charles Harold Dodd (1884–1973) was a Welsh New Testament scholar and influential Protestant theologian. He is known for promoting "realized eschatology", the belief that Jesus' references to the kingdom of God meant a present reality rathe ...

as "the greatest British New Testament scholar of the 20th century" and "the greatest UK commentator on New Testament writings since J. B. Lightfoot". Professor J D G Dunn, quoted i
Remembering C K Barrett
Retrieved 6 March 2016

Honours

Barrett was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 1961, and was awarded its

Burkitt Medal The Burkitt Medal is awarded annually by the British Academy "in recognition of special service to Biblical Studies". Awards alternate between Hebrew Bible studies (odd years) and New Testament studies (even years). It was established in 1923 and h ...

in 1966. He served as president of the Society for New Testament Studies in 1973. In 1982, a ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' was published in his honour. ''Paul and Paulinism: Essays in Honour of C.K. Barrett'' included contributions from

Morna Hooker Morna Dorothy Hooker (born 19 May 1931) is a British theologian and New Testament scholar. Early life and education Morna Hooker was born in Beddington on 19 May 1931. She went to Bristol University where she graduated with first class honours ...

F. F. Bruce Frederick Fyvie Bruce (12 October 1910 – 11 September 1990), usually cited as F. F. Bruce, was a Scottish biblical scholar who supported the historical reliability of the New Testament. His first book, ''New Testament Documents: Are They ...

, I. Howard Marshall,

Martin Hengel Martin Hengel (14 December 1926 – 2 July 2009) was a German historian of religion, focusing on the " Second Temple Period" or "Hellenistic Period" of early Judaism and Christianity. Biography Hengel was born in Reutlingen, south of Stuttgart ...

, and John Painter.

Selected works

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, C. K. 1917 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Christian biblical scholars Academics of Durham University Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Arminian ministers Arminian theologians Bible commentators British biblical scholars English Methodist ministers Fellows of the British Academy Methodist biblical scholars New Testament scholars People educated at Shebbear College People from Salford