Dennis Eric Nineham (27 September 1921 – 9 May 2016) was a British theologian and academic, who served as

Warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University Museum a ...

, from 1969 to 1979, as well as holding chairs in theology at the universities of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Early life and education

Nineham was born in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on 27 September 1921. He was educated at King Edward VI School, then a grammar school. He studied '' Literae Humaniores'' (

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

) and theology at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

. He graduated from 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 ...

with a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943. He then entered

Lincoln Theological College Lincoln Theological College was a Church of England theological college in Lincoln. History Founded by Edward White Benson, when he was chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral, the college opened on 25 January 1874. It was also known as ''Scholae Cance ...

, an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

theological college A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and Christian theology, theology, generally to prepare them for ordinatio ...

, to undertake a year's training in preparation for the ordained ministry of the

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, ...

Career

Ordained ministry

Nineham was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in the Church of England as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 1944 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 1945. He then served as Assistant Chaplain at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

. In 1946, he was elected a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

and appointed as the College Chaplain. During his time at the University of Bristol, Nineham was an honorary

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Bristol Cathedral Bristol Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bristol. The cathedral was originally an abbey dedicated to St ...

Academic career

He was appointed professor of Biblical and historical theology at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

in 1954, becoming professor of divinity at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1958. In 1964, he was appointed

Regius Professor of Divinity 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 ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, a post held in conjunction with a fellowship at Emmanuel College. He returned to Oxford in 1969, as

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...

Keble College Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to ...

, a post that he held until 1979; he was appointed to an honorary fellowship of Keble in the following year, and to an honorary fellowship of Queen's in 1991. Between 1980 and 1986, he was professor of theology and head of the theology department at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

; he was also an honorary

for this period. His publications include ''The Study of Divinity'' (1960), ''The Gospel of Saint Mark'' (1963), ''The Use and Abuse of the Bible'' (1976) and ''Christianity Mediaeval and Modern'' (1993). He edited various theological works, contributed to others, including ''

The Myth of God Incarnate ''The Myth of God Incarnate'' is a book edited by John Hick and published by SCM Press in 1977. James Dunn (theologian), James Dunn, in a 1980 literature review of academic work on the incarnation, noted the "...well-publicized symposium entitle ...

'' (1977), and made a number of television appearances, including as part of the controversial Channel 4 series, '' Jesus: The Evidence'' in 1984.

Family

Nineham married Ruth Corfield Miller in 1946. They had four children, including

Chris Nineham Christopher Mark Nineham (born June 1962) is a British political activist and founder member of the Stop the War Coalition serving as National Officer and Deputy Chair of the Stop the War Coalition in the UK. He served under Jeremy Corbyn from ...

, who went on to become a political activist and deputy leader of the

Stop The War Coalition The Stop the War Coalition (StWC), informally known simply as Stop the War, is a British group that campaigns against the United Kingdom's involvement in military conflicts. It was established on 21 September 2001 to campaign against the impe ...

. Nineham died from complications of heart disease at a care home in

Shipton-under-Wychwood Shipton-under-Wychwood is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the River Evenlode, Evenlode valley about north of Burford, in the West Oxfordshire district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. The village is one of three ...

, Oxfordshire, on 9 May 2016, at the age of 94, six weeks after his wife's death.NINEHAM
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nineham, Dennis Eric 1921 births 2016 deaths British theologians 20th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Fellows of the Queen's College, Oxford Academics of King's College London Academics of the University of London Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Regius Professors of Divinity (University of Cambridge) Wardens of Keble College, Oxford Academics of the University of Bristol Academics of the University of Cambridge People educated at King Edward VI School, Southampton Writers from Southampton 20th-century Anglican theologians 21st-century Anglican theologians