H. Wheeler Robinson
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Henry Wheeler Robinson (7 February 1872 in
Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...
, England – 12 May 1945 in
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
, England) was a British theologian.


Career

H. Wheeler Robinson was educated at Regent's Park Baptist College, then still in London, 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 ...
,
Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Mansfield Coll ...
, and the Universities of
Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...
and
Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
. He began his ministry at
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and then at St Michael's,
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
. In 1926, he received the degree of
Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...
''honoris causa'' from 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 ...
.'Henry Wheeler Robinson', ''Encyclopaedia Britannica''
/ref> He was Principal of Regent's Park Baptist College from 1920 to 1942, and was responsible for moving the college from London to its present location in Oxford. When he came to Oxford as Principal of Regent's Park College, he was the most outstanding British Old Testament scholar of the day. The Faculty of Theology immediately appointed him as an examiner, and he became a Reader in Biblical Criticism in 1934 and the Old Testament tutor for Mansfield College. He was President of the
Society for Old Testament Study The Society for Old Testament Study (SOTS) is a learned society, based in the British Isles, of professional scholars and others committed to the study of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament. History SOTS was inaugurated at King's College, London on ...
in 1929 and Acting President 1941–45.


Publications

*''The religious ideas of the Old Testament'' (London: Duckworth, 1913) *''The Christian doctrine of man'' (2nd edn, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1913) *''Baptist principles'' (London: Kingsgate Press, 1925) *''The cross of Jeremiah'' (London: SCM, 1925) *''The cross of the servant: a study in Deutero-Isaiah'' (London: SCM, 1926) *''The life and faith of the Baptists'' (London: Methuen, 1927) *''The Christian experience of the Holy Spirit'' (London: Nisbet, 1928) *''The veil of God'' (London : Nisbet, 1936) *''Baptists in Britain'' (London: Baptist Union, 1937) *''The Old Testament, its making and meaning'' (New York: Abingdon Press, 1937) *''The cross of Job'' (2nd edn, London: SCM, 1938) *''Suffering human and divine'' (London: SCM, 1940) *''Redemption and revelation: in the actuality of history'' (London: Nisbet, 1942) *''Inspiration and revelation in the Old Testament'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946) *''Two Hebrew prophets: studies in Hosea and Ezekiel'' (London: Lutterworth Press, 1948) *''The history of Israel: its facts and factors'' (London: Duckworth, 1949) *''The cross in the Old Testament'' (London: SCM, 1960) *''Corporate personality in ancient Israel'' (rev. edn, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1981)


Humorous reference

There exists in the McPherson Library,
University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...
, an undated letter from Freddy Hood, a member of the Chapter, and later Principal, of
Pusey House Pusey House () is an Anglican religious institution and charitable incorporated organisation located on St Giles', Oxford, United Kingdom, immediately to the south of Pusey Street. It is firmly rooted in the Anglo-Catholic Book of Common Praye ...
, to
John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...
, in which he wrote, :If you can possibly come to a meeting of the NICENE at
Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...
SCR tonight...at 8.15. Wheeler Robinson on "The Marriage of Cana and its Significance in Theology". It will be frightfully funny - I want you to come and take part in the discussion "speaking as an
Irvingite The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church or Irvingite Church, is a denomination in the Restorationist branch of Christianity. It originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United Stat ...
I should like to suggest..." Do try ever so hard. (
John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...
was not, of course, an
Irvingite The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church or Irvingite Church, is a denomination in the Restorationist branch of Christianity. It originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United Stat ...
).


Legacy

Rex Mason devoted his Presidential Address to the Society for Old Testament Study to the topic, ''H. Wheeler Robinson Revisited''. He argued that Wheeler Robinson's work was rooted in his interest in Hebrew Psychology, while he was also influenced by developments in sociology and anthropology. Mason argued that the most significant aspect of Wheeler Robinson's work was not in the concept of
Corporate Personality Corporate personality is a concept in Christian theology that was articulated by H. Wheeler Robinson. As originally formulated, it dealt with areas of the Old Testament where the relationships between individuals and the groups that they were par ...
, but rather in the concept of the invasion of the human psyche by the divine Spirit. Wheeler Robinson had found that this concept in fact originated in animism, though it was subsequently developed to much greater religious depth in Hebrew thought. The sociological and anthropological material on which Wheeler Robinson drew was later discredited. However, Mason believed that Wheeler Robinson's main concepts were drawn from his study of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures themselves, and that his use of comparative material from the ancient Near East served mainly as an illustration, rather than a source, for his ideas. In conclusion, Mason found that Wheeler Robinson anticipated subsequent developments in Old Testament scholarship, and especially those developments that were critical of "Biblical Theology" - a movement that Mason claims Wheeler Robinson himself would have rejected. Wheeler Robinson left an enduring legacy and is still considered a major scholar whose influence on Old Testament studies is felt long after his own time. A building at
Regent's Park College, Oxford Regent's Park College (known colloquially within the university as Regent's) is a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford, situated in central Oxford, just off St Giles', Oxford, St Giles', England, United Kingdom. Founded in 1810 ...
, Wheeler Robinson House, is named in his honour.


Family

His son Bernard Robinson (6 June 1904 - 7 July 1997) was a physicist on
Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who was a pioneering researcher in both Atomic physics, atomic and nuclear physics. He has been described as "the father of nu ...
's team at the
Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...
in Cambridge and an influential amateur musician. Robinson founded the annual Bothampstead Music Camp in 1935, which continued at the farmland site in
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
most years until 1966, when it moved to Speen in Buckinghamshire. Many professional (or future professional) musicians participated in Music Camp over the years, including
Dennis Brain Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British French horn, horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served ...
,
Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom ...
, John Gardner,
Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...
and more. Robinson was the author of ''An Amateur in Music'' (1985). He married the pianist Alice Dodds (nee Bradley-Moore) in 1933, and after her death married Elizabeth Orloff-Davidoff, daughter of Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden and Margherita van Raalt, on 31 October 1959.David Mather.
Obituary: Bernard Wheeler Robinson
, in ''The Independent'', 18 August 1997


References


Further reading

* Brackney, William H. ''A Genetic History of Baptist Thought: With Special Reference to Baptists in Britain and North America.'' Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2004.


External links


Brevard S. Childs, ''Biblical Theology in Crisis''


{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, H. Wheeler 1872 births 1945 deaths 20th-century British theologians Alumni of Mansfield College, Oxford Alumni of Regent's Park College, London Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English Baptist theologians British biblical scholars English Baptist ministers Fellows of Regent's Park College, Oxford Old Testament scholars Principals of Regent's Park College, Oxford University of Marburg alumni University of Strasbourg alumni