Eugene Rathbone Fairweather (2 November 1920 – 6 April 2002) was a Canadian
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
theologian.
Early life
Fairweather was born in
Ottawa, Ontario in 1920
, and grew up in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
. He was educated at
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...
(
BA 1941),
the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
(
MA 1943),
(
BD 1944).
While at the University of Toronto, Fairweather was ordained 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 churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
and
assistant curate; while at Trinity College, he was further ordained a
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 deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
.
In 1947, Fairweather went to New York City to attend the
Union Theological Seminary, where he obtained his
ThD in 1949,
and where he undertook doctoral studies under the supervision of
Paul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran Protestant theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologi ...
and
Reinhold Niebuhr. During his time in New York he served as an assistant priest at the
Cathedral of St John the Divine.
Career
Upon the completion of his doctorate in 1949 he returned to Trinity College in Toronto to teach, and in 1964 became the Keble Professor of Divinity.
He continued to teach there until his retirement in 1986. He served for many years as an assistant priest at the
Church of St Mary Magdalene.
He had a strong focus on certain major theological thinkers in the tradition of the
Western Church such as
Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...
,
Anselm, and
Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
, but at the same time exhibited a lively interest in (and wrote about) many important figures in the history of Canadian Anglicanism, such as
John Strachan
John Strachan (; 12 April 1778 – 1 November 1867) was a notable figure in Upper Canada and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto. He is best known as a political bishop who held many government positions and promoted education from common sch ...
,
John Medley,
Tully Kingdon
Hollingworth Tully Kingdon (known as Tully; 183513 October 1907)''Obituary. The Bishop Of Fredericton.'' The Times ''Monday, Oct 14, 1907; pg. 6; Issue 38463; col F'' was an Anglican bishop, the second Bishop of Fredericton until his death. He was ...
, and
Harold Hamilton.
He served at various times as the President of the
Canadian Society of Biblical Studies
The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS) is a Canadian learned society established in 1933 to support teaching and research relating to biblical studies. It is the oldest Humanities, humanities-related academic society in Canada. Among those ...
, the
Canadian Theological Society, and the
American Theological Society. Fairweather was also the Editor of the
''Canadian Journal of Theology'' from 1960 to 1970.
He was a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Canada judges to have "made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life ...
, as well as an honorary doctor of
McGill University in Montreal (
DD), the
University of King's College in Halifax (
DD), and
Huron College in London, Ontario (
DD).
For many years he was a member of the
Faith and Order Commission
The Faith and Order Commission is an assembly group within the World Council of Churches founded in 1948 which has made numerous and significant contributions to the ecumenical movement.
The commission has been successful in working toward cons ...
of the
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...
and a Patron of the
Tantur Ecumenical Institute
Tantur Ecumenical Institute is an international ecumenical institute for advanced theological research in Jerusalem.
Goals and objectives
"No one climbs up to Tantur except to follow a vocation, the same vocation that led on the pioneers of ecum ...
. He was in addition an official Anglican observer at the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
as well as a participant in the
Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, in connexion with which the
Cross of St Augustine
The Cross of St Augustine is an award of merit in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is awarded to members of the Anglican Communion who have made significant contributions to the life of the worldwide Communion, or to a particular auton ...
was conferred upon him in 1981 by the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
(
Robert Runcie).
Fairweather died in 2002 in
Kentville, Nova Scotia.
See also
*
Trinity College, Toronto
Trinity College (occasionally referred to as The University of Trinity College) is a college federated with the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Strachan originally intended Trinity as a university of strong Angli ...
*
Toronto School of Theology
The Toronto School of Theology (TST) is an ecumenical consortium of seven theological colleges and is affiliated with the University of Toronto. TST is the largest ecumenical consortium for theological education in Canada. Its seven member schools ...
*
Canadian Journal of Theology
''The Canadian Journal of Theology'' was a quarterly academic journal of theology published by the University of Toronto Press that appeared from 1955 to 1970. Notable contributors were Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich, Norman Pittenger, ...
*
Church of St John the Evangelist (Montreal)
St. John the Evangelist is a parish of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal in the Anglican Church of Canada in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, founded by Father Edmund Wood in 1861; its church is well known in Montreal as the "Red Roof Church", which was ...
*
St Matthew's Church (Toronto)
*
Cathedral of St John the Divine (New York)
*
Church of St Mary Magdalene (Toronto)
*
Existential Thomism
Thomism is the Philosophy, philosophical and Theology, theological school that arose as a legacy of the List of works by Thomas Aquinas, work and Thought of Thomas Aquinas, thought of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Dominican Order, Dominica ...
Notes
Further reading
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*Fairweather, E.R. (1952). "The Mystery of New Being". ''
Anglican Theological Review
The ''Anglican Theological Review'' is the "unofficial journal of the seminaries of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada." Issues include peer-reviewed articles, poetry submissions, and book reviews. The jo ...
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External links
Canon Eugene Rathbone FairweatherEugene R. Fairweather FondsFairweather; Eugene Rathbone (1920-2002)Project Canterbury: Eugene Rathbone Fairweather
* ttps://biblicalstudies.gospelstudies.org.uk/pdf/cjt/11-4_277.pdf "Apostolical Tradition" and the Defence of Dogmabr>Christianity and the Supernatural IChristianity and the Supernatural IIThe Christian Humanism of Thomas AquinasChristian Theology and the BibleIncarnation and AtonementA Tractarian PatriarchFaith and TraditionScripture in TraditionThe Presence of Christ in the Eucharist
Recipients of the Cross of St Augustine
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
Clergy from Toronto
Academics from Toronto
Anglican clergy in North America
20th-century Anglican clergy
20th-century Anglican priests
20th-century Canadian Anglican priests
Clergy from Montreal
Anglo-Catholic clergy
Canadian Anglo-Catholics
Canadian Anglican theologians
20th-century Canadian Protestant theologians
McGill University alumni
Trinity College (Canada) alumni
University of Toronto alumni
Union Theological Seminary alumni
Christian existentialists
Thomists
Ontologists
Existentialist theologians
Anglo-Catholic theologians
People in Christian ecumenism
Catholic–Anglican ecumenism
Participants in the Second Vatican Council
People of the World Council of Churches
Christian theologian stubs
1920 births
2002 deaths
{{theologian-stub