John Stephen Bowden (17 May 1935 – 6 December 2010) was an English

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 ...

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 ...

, publisher, and

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 ...

Life

Born on 17 May 1935 in Halifax, Yorkshire, Bowden was educated at

St Paul's School, London St Paul's School is a Selective school, selective Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent day school (with limited boarding school, boarding) for boys aged 13–18, founded in 1509 by John Colet and located on a 43-acre site by Rive ...

, and

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

, where he came under the influence of Christopher Evans. He was ordained as a priest in the Diocese of Southwell in 1962. Bowden was a lecturer in theology at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

when, in 1966, he was appointed

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the religious publisher SCM Press, which published works by leading continental theologians such as Martin Hengel,

Gerd Theissen Gerd Theißen (or Theissen; born 24 April 1943) is a German Protestant theologian and New Testament scholar. He is Professor of New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg. Early life and education Theissen obtained his doctorate in ...

Edward Schillebeeckx Edward Cornelis Florentius Alfonsus Schillebeeckx (November 12, 1914 – December 23, 2009) was a Belgium, Belgian Catholic Church, Catholic theologian born in Antwerp. He taught at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Catholic University in Nijmegen ...

, Hans Küng, and

Jürgen Moltmann Jürgen Moltmann (; 8 April 1926 – 3 June 2024) was a German Reformed theologian who was a professor of systematic theology at the University of Tübingen and was known for his books such as the ''Theology of Hope'', ''The Crucified God'', ''G ...

. He held the post until his retirement in 2000. He translated a number of theological works, including

Martin Noth Martin Noth (3 August 1902 – 30 May 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic history of the Hebrews and promoted the hypothesis that the Israelite tribes in the immediate period after the settlement in Can ...

's ''Exodus'', Aloys Grillmeier's ''Christ in Christian Tradition'', Martin Hengel's ''Judaism and Hellenism'' (1975), and Henning Graf Reventlow's ''The Authority of the Bible and the Rise of the Modern World'' (1985). Winner of the Schlegel-Tieck Prize twice, for the Hengel and Graf Reventlow translations, in total Bowden translated more than 200 books and authored a number himself. Bowden died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

on 6 December 2010 and was survived by his wife and their three children.

References

1935 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Anglican theologians 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English theologians 20th-century English translators Academics of the University of Nottingham Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Deaths from prostate cancer in the United Kingdom English book publishers (people) English male non-fiction writers German–English translators People educated at St Paul's School, London Writers from Halifax, West Yorkshire 20th-century English businesspeople {{publish-bio-stub