Richard Patrick Crosland Hanson, FBA, MRIA (1916–1988) was

bishop of Clogher The Bishop of Clogher (, ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Clogher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Following the Reformation, there are now parallel apostolic successions: one of the Church of Ireland and ...

in the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

from 1970 to 1973. A historian of antiquity (he claimed to distrust history written concerning periods subsequent to 600 AD) he was particularly noted for a life of St. Patrick. He discovered that ecumenical work was particularly restricted in the context of

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

in a diocese lying on both sides of the border between

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

, which he accordingly resigned to take up a professorship in Systematic Theology in the Faculty of Theology at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. During this period he worked notably on the evolution of

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

in the period between (and immediately prior to) the Councils of

Nicaea Nicaea (also spelled Nicæa or Nicea, ; ), also known as Nikaia (, Attic: , Koine: ), was an ancient Greek city in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. It was the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...

(325 AD) and

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(381 AD) He was the first British or Irish contributor to the ''

Sources Chrétiennes Sources Chrétiennes ( French "Christian sources") is a bilingual collection of patristic texts founded in Lyon in 1942 by the Jesuits Jean Daniélou, Claude Mondésert, and Henri de Lubac. Citations to the series are commonly made by the le ...

'' collection of early Christian writings. Among his writings was ''Reasonable Belief,'' which was written jointly with his brother, Anthony Tyrrell Hanson, a Professor of Theology at

Hull University The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

. In the introduction he notes "One of the authors is an Anglican priest and the other an Anglican bishop, and neither can jump out of his skin" and "It should perhaps be explained that this book is not only a collaboration between two Anglican theologians but between two identical twin brothers." First published in the year of his death (1988), his book, ''The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381'', is still considered by many scholars to be the finest work on the

Arian Controversy The Arian controversy was a series of Christian disputes about the nature of Christ that began with a dispute between Arius and Athanasius of Alexandria, two Christian theologians from Alexandria, Egypt. The most important of these controversies c ...

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of W ...

described it as an indispensable tool for future researchers and stated that there is nothing else in English of comparable scope. Trevor A. Hart, lecturer in Systematic Theology in the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

, described it as the distillation of some twenty years' careful research and also stated that nothing comparable exists in either scale or erudition in the English language.

Kevin Giles Kevin N. Giles (born 1940) is an Australian evangelical Anglican priest and theologian who was in parish ministry for over 40 years. He and his family live in Melbourne, Australia. Giles studied at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Durham Un ...

refers to this book as Hanson’s “definitive book on Arianism”.

Footnotes

Publications (selected)

* 1948, 1960, 2nd ed. ''The Church of Rome: A Dissuasive'' (with Reginald H. Fuller). Seabury. *1954: ''Origen's Doctrine of Tradition'' *1962: ''Tradition in the Early Church'' London: SCM Press. *1968: ''Saint Patrick'' *1978: ''Saint Patrick: Confession et lettre à Coroticus'', (

; no. 249 )(annotated edition with French translation) *1981: ''Reasonable Belief: A Survey of the Christian Faith'' (jointly with his brother Anthony Tyrrell Hanson) Oxford: Oxford University Press,
Description.
*1988: ''The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy 318-381'' 1916 births 1988 deaths Bishops of Clogher (Church of Ireland) 20th-century Anglican bishops in Ireland Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Royal Irish Academy People educated at Cheltenham College Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Academics of the University of Nottingham Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester {{ireland-Anglican-bishop-stub