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

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

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 priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no wr ...

s. After attending

St Edward's School, Oxford St Edward's School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day 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 Rug ...

, Strachan went on to graduate with a degree in history 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 ...

, and a PhD in theology from

New College, Edinburgh New College is a historic building at the The University of Edinburgh, 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, R ...

. 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 G ...

, 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, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

. Strachan was active in the

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

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

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. 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 20th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Christian radicals Iona Community members 1934 births 2010 deaths {{UK-Christian-clergy-stub