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Durham E-Theses Stephen Neill: a traditional communicator in an age of revolution Peter Mitchell, Jolyon How to cite: Peter Mitchell, Jolyon (1993) Stephen Neill: a traditional communicator in an age of revolution, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5547/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk • * ' STEPHEN NEILL : A TRADITIONAL COMMUNICATOR IN AN AGE OF REVOLUTION > !I • 4 I "til >../ .J- II;./../. ... Iixn. I The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. by Jolyon Mitchell. M.A. (Cantab.) St.John's College, Durham Masters' Degree Thesis Durham Theology Faculty January 1993. -2 JUL 1993 CQIMTESflTS g Abstracts i Prefaces ii Chapter Is Methods for all Seasons 1 Chapter 2s Beginnings (1900=19) 11 a) A World of Change 12 b) A World of Tradition 17 c) A World of Conflict 24 Chapter 3s The Great Court of Learning (1919-24) 47 a) The Classics Student 52 b) The Theological Student 53 c) The Research Student 58 d) The Missionary Student 61 Chapter 4s India, His First Love (1924-30) 69 a) A Passage to India 70 b) The Missionary Ordained 71 c) The Missionary's Methods 72 d) The Missionary's Message 77 e) The Missionary's Motivation 80 Chapter 5s Heat and Dust (1930-44) 87 a) Theological Teacher, (30-9) 90 b) Bishop, (39-44) 100 Chapter 6s Much Ado in Geneva (1944-62) 123 a) Ecumenist and Historian 126 b) A Genuinely Human Writer 142 c) Apologist and Evangelist 150 Chapter 7 s Far from Quiet on the Hamburg Front (1962-68) 168 a) Historian and Missiologist 171 b) New Testament Scholar 185 c) Ecumenist 193 Chapter 8s Out of Africa (1969-73) 204 a) University Professor 208 b) Bishop at Large 213 c) Writer at Work 214 d) Theologian of the Spirit? 218 Chapter 9s Oxford Days, the Last Lap (1973-84) 233 a) Man of Many Themes 234 b) His Central Theme 236 c) Historian in Oxford 241 d) Christo-centric Apologist 248 Chapter 10s Enigma Uncovered? (Conclusion) 264 a) An Autobiographical Explanation 266 b) A Psychological Explanation 271 c) An Expressive-Based Explanation 274 d) A Theological Explanation 27 8 Bibliographies 293 ABSTRACT "Stephen Weills A Traditional Communicator in an Age of Revolution." by Jolyon Peter Mitchell. M.A. thesis, submitted February 1993. Bishop Stephen Charles Weill's life and work is one of the best kept secrets in Twentieth Century Church History. His engimatic life story has been virtually ignored by Church Histo• rians. This thesis attempts to fill that gap. Consideration of Weill's life and work provides a series of windows onto many of the key theological movements, personalities and debates which have dominated this century. This work is an attempt to construct an extensive historical narrative of Neill's life and work. It goes beyond, however, a mere retelling of his life, to the search for an interpretative key that will help explain this story of brokenness and brilliance. First, the methodology employed to construct this explanatory account is outlined. Autobiographical, pyschological, expressive and theological approaches to his life are individually explained. With these tools in our hands the following structure is then followed? Chapter 2)s His formative years at home and school are investigated. Chapter 3) s His adventures and development as a student of Classics and Theology at Cambridge are recounted. Chapter 4 & 5) s His work as a missionary, teacher and bishop in Southern India, as well as the premature conclusion to his Indian ministry are discussed. Chapter 6) s The impact of this sudden departure is then evaluated, as are his ceaseless efforts as an ecumenist in the development of the World Council of Churches in Geneva. Chapter 7.) % His methodology as a historian, New Testament scholar, and ecumenist whilst in Hamburg is uncovered through his most significant writings. Chapter 8)s His labours in Kenya, both as a Professor in establishing the first Department of Religion at Nairobi university and as a bishop are described. Chapter 9) s Neill's last years in Oxford and particularly his work as a historian and apologist are analysed. Chapter 10)? The conclud• ing discussion focuses on the four heuristic devices that have been employed to describe and explain Neill's life and work. The overriding aim of this thesis is to assess whether Neill's Christo-centric beliefs are the "silver thread" which runs through his life and work of expression. (i) PREFACE Stephen Neill is one of the enigmas of Twentieth Century Church History. On the one hand, an outstanding scholar, a lucid writer, a mesmorising speaker, a talented linguist and an agile theologian. On the other, as he himself admits, a man prone to both bouts of deep depression and "Irish" rage, as well an insomniac who never appears to have ceased from his labours. This combination of brokenness and brilliance has continually fascinated me. On an academic level his writings have both provoked me to reconsider my attitude towards, and also challenged my shallow understanding of, New Testament Scholarship, Church History and Comparative Religion. On another more emotional level, it is the living out of his firm faith in Christ both in times of triumph and of de• spair which has proved not only intriguing, but also moving. At times I have felt like a detective trying to piece to• gether Weill's complex and extraordinary life. This thesis, therefore, contains a large amount of unpublished material. It is the product of over four years part-time study and a con• siderable amount of travel. I am particularly grateful to Charles Neill, Stephen's nephew, in Oxford. He gave me access to all his uncle's unpublished papers, including his weighty fellowship disserta• tion and his unpublished "Autobiography" of over a thousand pages. The originality of this thesis is partly guaranteed by the fact my references to this work are primarily from this full text rather than the considerably shortened edition. This was recently edited by Dr.E.M.Jackson, and has been published as God's Apprentice. Through most of my work I was unaware of this project, so I was grateful to Hodder and Stoughton who provided me with the basic manuscript of this book. (ii) I also appreciated the help of the C.M.S. library in Birmingham University, who gave me special access to previously embargoed material, and to the Lambeth Palace Library in Lon• don, who allowed me to read the unpublished "Fisher Papers". I owe a special thank you to Bishop Lesslie Newbigin in Birmingham, Bishop Leslie Brown in Cambridge, Dr F.W.Dillistone in Oxford and Reverend Tim Yeats near Derby who each provided invaluable memories in extended interviews. Reverend Oliver Scallan in Dublin kindly sent me his provocative thesis on Weill. I also valued the helpful comments of Lord Coggan, and Professors Henry and Owen Chadwick. There is not enough space here to thank by name all of Neill's colleagues and students from as far a field as Nairobi, Yale and Hamburg who have helped me understand his life and work better. This thesis is dedicated to Princeton's Center for Theo• logical Inquiry and its director Professor Daniel Hardy whose generosity in providing me with an office and house facilitated its completion. Professor Hardy's patient supervision has fre• quently widened my horizons and stretched my theological imagination. I am, of course, responsible for any of this works' inadequacies. Jolyon Mitchell, Princeton, USA. and Durham , UK. January 1993. (iii) Chapter 1s Methods for all Seasons Stephen Charles Neill is a much underrated and little known figure in Twentieth Century Church History. In three recent major books, Adrian Hastings' A History of English Christianity 1920-1985, Paul Welsby's A History of the Church of England 1945-80 and David Bebbington's Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, he receives no mention. In M.E.Gibbs' work on The Anglican Church in India - 1600-1970, the only reference to Neill is in a list of bishops at the end of the book.[l] This is surprising, especially when one considers his prolific and ceaseless work for the Church as a writer, speaker and scholar. One would have expected that a man who had over twenty lines in Crockford's Clerical Directory, nearly fifty in Who' s Who and a series of publications which fills over five pages of bibliography, would have received more attention. One of the aims of this thesis is to rectify this omission. The primary goal of this work is to draw together the var• ious strands of Neill's life and work as a scholar, teacher, writer, historian, missionary, ecumenist, preacher and apolo• gist in order to provide an explanatory account of Neill's life and work.

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