Nicholas Langrishe Alleyne Lash (6 April 1934 – 11 July 2020) was an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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 ...

. Having served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, he trained for Holy Orders at St Mary's College, Oscott, and worked as a Catholic priest until 1975. He left the priesthood and turned to full-time academia, working as a lecturer and then Norris–Hulse Professor of Divinity (1978–1999) 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 ...

Career

Military service

Lash served in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

from 1951 to 1957. He was commissioned in the

on 10 January 1953 as a second lieutenant, as part of his national service. On 1 October 1954, he was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

and moved to a short-service commission, allowing him to continue his army career. He was moved to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 29 August 1957, thereby ending his military service.

Ministry and academia

He studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood at St Mary's College, Oscott, between 1957 and 1963. After being ordained, he worked as an assistant priest in Slough. In 1969, he was elected a Fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge, the only college of the

whose college chapel is Roman Catholic. From 1971 to 1975, he served as Dean of St Edmund's. In 1975, he left the priesthood and became a lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity of the University of Cambridge. From 1978 to 1999, he held the post of Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, succeeding Donald MacKinnon and being succeeded by Denys Turner.

Theology

Nicholas Lash was the author of numerous theological books and was a regular contributor to ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic Church, Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by ...

''. A Roman Catholic and considered a liberal, Lash voiced strong but measured criticism of practices among leading figures in his tradition, arguing for open debate on a variety of topics, including the

ordination of women The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination ...

. He was reportedly one of the few Catholic theologians to have read the whole of Karl Barth's '' Church Dogmatics'' and the whole of Karl Rahner's ''Theological Investigations''. One of Lash's strongest intellectual influences seems to have been the recovery of

Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

's theology, using forms of philosophical argument influenced by

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

, which became influential in the 1970s, associated with Cornelius Ernst and Fergus Kerr. Arguably his most significant piece of writing was also one of his shortest, his reflections on the Apostles' Creed, which includes discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity. He helped organize the 1973 symposium at Maynooth on Bernard Lonergan's Method in Theology.

Family

Lash was born to Joan Mary Moore, a Roman Catholic of Irish descent, and

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

Henry Alleyne Lash, an officer in the British Indian Army. He had an elder brother, Father Ephrem Lash (; 3 December 1930 – 15 March 2016), who became an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

archimandrite and prominent translator of patristic and liturgical texts. Nicholas also had two sisters: the artist and novelist Susannah Lash and the writer Jini Fiennes. The latter had seven children, including actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes, filmmakers

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

and Martha Fiennes, conservationist Jacob Fiennes, and musician Magnus Fiennes. Lash was educated at Worth Preparatory School (Jan 1945 – July 1947) and Downside School (Sep 1947 – Dec 1950). After leaving the priesthood, Lash married Janet in 1976. Together, they had a son,

Dominic Dominic, Dominik or Dominick is a male given name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". The most promi ...

Works

His books include *''His Presence in the World: A Study in Eucharistic Worship and Theology'' (1968) *''Change in Focus: A Study of Doctrinal Change and Continuity'' (1973) *''Newman on Development: The Search for an Explanation in History'' (1975) *''Voices of Authority'' (1976) *''Theology on Dover Beach'' (1979) *''A Matter of Hope: A Theologian's Reflections on the Thought of Karl Marx'' (1981) *''Theology on the Way to Emmaus'' (1986) *'' Easter in Ordinary: Reflections on Human Experience and the Knowledge of God'' (1988) *''Believing Three Ways in One God: A Reading of the Apostles' Creed'' (1992) *''The Beginning and the End of 'Religion (1996) *''Holiness, Speech and Silence: Reflections on the Question of God'' (2004)

References

External links

Articles by Nicholas Lash
in Index Theologicus {{DEFAULTSORT:Lash, Nicholas 1934 births 2020 deaths 20th-century British Roman Catholic theologians 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests 20th-century English theologians English people of Irish descent Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge Fellows of St Edmund's College, Cambridge Laicized Roman Catholic priests Royal Engineers officers Norris–Hulse Professors of Divinity Ordination of women and the Catholic Church