John Norman Davidson Kelly (13 April 1909 – 31 March 1997) was a British

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and academic 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 ...

and Principal of

St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the last ...

, Oxford, between 1951 and 1979, during which the hall transformed into an independent constituent college of the university and later a co-educational establishment.

Early life

John Kelly was born in

Bridge of Allan Bridge of Allan (, ), also known colloquially as ''Bofa'', is a former spa town in the Stirling (council area), Stirling council area in Scotland, just north of the city of Stirling. Overlooked by the National Wallace Monument, it lies on th ...

, Perthshire, on 13 April 1909 and was the fourth of five children to his Scottish headmaster father, John Davidson Kelly, and Ann, his English mother. John and his sister Ann Davidson Kelly were home-schooled by his father. (one source says it was a small school). His father was unemployed after the school he was head of had financial difficulties. He had a good education at home but regretted later the lack of social interaction. He studied at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, graduating with an undergraduate Master of Arts (MA Hons) degree in 1931. He then went up to

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 ...

having secured an (essential) scholarship; during his time at Oxford, he received the Ferguson Scholarship and the Hertford Scholarship. At Queen's, he read '' Literae humaniores'' (classics) and theology, and graduated 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 A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in 1934. Despite an upbringing as a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

he was confirmed into 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, ...

.Cowdrey, 2004 From 1933 to 1934, he trained for

Holy Orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordination, ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders inclu ...

St Stephen's House, Oxford St Stephen's House is an external theological college with observer status at the University of Oxford, affiliated with the Church of England. From 2003 to 2023 it was a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. The college typicall ...

St Edmund Hall

Kelly 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

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 1934, and served a year of a

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

at the Church of St Lawrence, Northampton in the Diocese of Peterborough. Before completing his diaconal year he was invited to return to Oxford as chaplain and tutor in theology and philosophy at

by the then principal, A.B. Emden, beginning a sixty-two-year association with the Hall. He was ordained priest in 1935.''The Times'', 1997 In 1937, Kelly was made Vice-Principal. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he wished to become a military chaplain but Emden would not release him, and he instead undertook linguistic work for the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

. Emden was forced to retire in 1951 because of illness and Kelly became Principal, a position he held until 1979. Kelly became Principal of the Hall at an important phase of its 700-year history, namely its independence from Queen's College, of which it had been part since 1557.Cowdrey, 1988 The process, started by Emden in 1937, was brought to fruition in 1958 when Kelly secured the co-operation of Queen's and obtained for the Hall a Charter of Incorporation, presented by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

. During his tenure as Principal, Kelly oversaw a major fund-raising programme which allowed the building of new student accommodation and dining facilities. A period of illness in 1966 cut short his tenure as vice-chancellor of the University. Between 1972 and 1977 he was pro-vice-chancellor of the University. Finally, before he retired as principal, he oversaw the admission of women into the undergraduate body of the Hall, with their first matriculation in 1979.

Academic achievements

John Kelly was prominent in the theology faculty throughout his association with St Edmund Hall. He was speaker's lecturer in biblical studies from 1945 to 1948 and subsequently held a university lectureship in patristic studies until 1976. He published widely, writing on the development of the early

Christian Creeds Christianity has through Church history produced a number of Christian creeds, confessions and statements of faith. The following lists are provided. In many cases, individual churches will address further doctrinal questions in a set of bylaws. ...

and doctrines, his ''Early Christian Creeds'' and ''Early Christian Doctrines'' becoming standard secondary works and seminary textbooks; commentaries on the pastoral epistles; biographical studies, including studies of St Jerome and St John Chrysostom; and ''The Oxford Dictionary of Popes''.Cowdrey 2004; See selected bibliography He was working on a companion volume to the ''Oxford Dictionary'' about archbishops when he died. In the ecclesiastical world, he became a canon of

Chichester Cathedral Chichester Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in West Sussex, England. It was founded as a cathedral in 1075, when the seat of th ...

in 1948, a position he held until 1993. He presided over the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

's Commission on Roman Catholic Relations from 1963 until 1968 and accompanied the archbishop,

Michael Ramsey Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury (14 November 1904 – 23 April 1988), was a British Anglican bishop and life peer. He served as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and ...

on his historic visit to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1966. He was a founder member of the Academic Council of the Institute for Advanced Theological Studies in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity (Oxon) in 1951 and fellowship of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

in 1965. He died a bachelor on 31 March 1997 and his cremated remains are interred in the antechapel of St Edmund Hall.

Selected works

* ** * Kelly, J.N.D. (1952) ''What is Catholicism?'', Saffron Walden, Essex : Talbot Press (S.P.C.K.), 39 p. * Kelly, J.N.D.

958 Year 958 (Roman numerals, CMLVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * October / November – Battle of Raban: The Byzantine Empire, Byzantines under John I Tzimiskes, Jo ...

(2000) ''Early Christian doctrines'', 5th rev. ed., London : Continuum, * Kelly, J.N.D.

963 Year 963 (Roman numerals, CMLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 15 – Emperor Romanos II dies at age 39, probably of poison administered by his wife, Emp ...

(1987) ''A Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles. I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus'', Black's New Testament Commentaries, London : Addison-Wesley, * Kelly, J.N.D. (1964) ''The Athanasian Creed'', Paddock lectures ; 1962–1963, London : A. & C. Black, 140 p. * Kelly, J.N.D. (1969) ''A Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and of Jude'', Black's New Testament commentaries, London: A & C Black, * Kelly, J.N.D.

970 Year 970 ( CMLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 970th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' designations, the 970th year of the 1st millennium, the 70th year of the 10th century, and the 1st year ...

(1985) ''Aspects of the Passion'', The Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent book, Mowbray's Christian studies series, London : Mowbray, * Kelly, J.N.D.

975 Year 975 ( CMLXXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor John I raids Mesopotamia and invades Syria, using the Byzantine base at Antioch to pres ...

(1998) ''Jerome : his life, writings and controversies'', London : Duckworth, * Kelly, J.N.D.

986 Year 986 ( CMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * August 17 – Battle of the Gates of Trajan: Emperor Basil II leads a Byzantine expeditionary force (30,000 me ...

(2006) ''Oxford Dictionary of Popes'', Updated Ed. with new material by M. Walsh, Oxford University Press, * Kelly, J.N.D. (1989) ''St. Edmund Hall: Almost Seven Hundred Years'', Oxford University Press, * Kelly, J.N.D. (1995) ''Golden Mouth : the story of John Chrysostom – ascetic, preacher, bishop'', London : Duckworth,

References

Citations

Sources

* Cowdrey, H.E.J. (1988) "St Edmund Hall, Queen's Lane", In: Hibbert, C. (Ed.) ''The encyclopædia of Oxford'', London : Macmillan, pp. 388–391,
Reproduced online by St Edmund Hall
accessed 9 December 2007. * Cowdrey, H.E.J. (1999) "John Norman Davidson Kelly 1909–1997"
Biographical memoir
''Proceedings of the British Academy'', 101, pp. 419–437. * Cowdrey, H.E.J. (2004)
Kelly, John Norman Davidson (1909–1997)
, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, , accessed 9 December 2007. * ''The Times'' (1997) "The Rev J.N.D. Kelly", Obituary, 3 April, p. 25. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, John Norman Davidson 1909 births 1997 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford English Anglicans Fellows of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy 20th-century British theologians People from Bridge of Allan Principals of St Edmund Hall, Oxford English male non-fiction writers 20th-century English male writers