Charles Bigg (12 September 1840, Higher Broughton, near Manchester – 15 July 1908, Oxford) was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergyman, theologian and church historian.

Life

Bigg was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Corpus Christi College, Oxford (BA 1862, MA 1864). There he won the Hertford Prize for Latin, the Ireland Scholarship, and the

Gaisford Prize The Gaisford Prize is a prize awarded by the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford for a composition in Classical Greek Verse and Prose by an undergraduate student. The prize was founded in 1855 in memory of Dr Thomas Gaisford (1779–1855 ...

for Greek Prose (1861). He became deacon in 1863, priest in 1864. He was a second classical master at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

(1865–1871) and then Principal of

Brighton College Brighton College is a fee-charging, co-educational, boarding and day public school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton and Hove, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18), Brighton Co ...

(1871–1881). He was senior student of Christ Church College. In 1881 he returned to Corpus Christi College as chaplain. In 1886, he delivered the

Bampton Lectures The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton. They have taken place since 1780. They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have sometimes been biennial ...

, later published as ''The Christian Platonists of Alexandria'' (1886). In 1900 he was invited by the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

Mandell Creighton Mandell Creighton (; 5 July 1843 – 14 January 1901) was a British historian, Anglican priest and bishop. The son of a successful carpenter in north-west England, Creighton studied at the University of Oxford, focusing his scholarship on ...

, to a round table conference that produced ''The Doctrine of Holy Communion and its Expression in Ritual'' in 1900. After the death of Reverend

William Bright William Oliver Bright (August 13, 1928 – October 15, 2006) was an American linguist and toponymist who specialized in Native American and South Asian languages and descriptive linguistics. Biography Bright earned a bachelor's degree in lin ...

, he was in April 1901 appointed Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, holding the post until his death.

Works

In the earlier part of his life, Bigg produced school editions of Greek historians

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

(1868) and

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

(1880s). His most significant works are ''The Christian Platonists of Alexandria'' (1886) and ''Neoplatonism'' (1895).

List of works

* Thucydides. ''The history of the war between the Peloponnesians and Athenians, Books I, II''. Edited, with notes and introduction. Rivingstons, 1868

* Xenophon. ''Cyropaedia''. With introduction and notes. Oxford (Clarendon Press Series) ** Book I. Part I: Introduction and text. Part II: Notes. 188

2nd edition 189

** Books IV, V. 2nd ed. 188

* The Christian Platonists of Alexandria : Eight lectures preached before the University of Oxford in the year 1886 on the foundation of the late Rev. John Bampton (1886

* Neoplatonism (1895

* The imitation of Christ : called also The ecclesiastical music (1900). Translated by Bigg

* A critical and exegetical commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude (1901

* The church's task under the Roman empire; four lectures with preface, notes, and an excursus (1905

* Wayside sketches in ecclesiastical history; nine lectures (1906

* The origins of Christianity (1909

* The doctrine of the twelve Apostles (1922

References

Sources

* W.R. Inge. ''Charles Bigg'' / The Journal of Theological Studies, Issue 37, October 1908, Pages 1–2. *

External links

* *
The Canterbury dictionary of hymnology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigg, Charles 1840 births 1908 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests Headmasters of Brighton College Regius Professors of Ecclesiastical History 19th-century Anglican theologians 20th-century Anglican theologians People educated at Manchester Grammar School