Frank Leslie Cross (22 January 1900 – 30 December 1968), usually cited as F. L. Cross, was an English

patristics Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...

scholar and Anglican priest. He was the founder of the Oxford International Conference on Patristic Studies and editor (with Elizabeth Livingstone) of ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (first edition, 1957). He was

Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity The Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity is a senior professorship in Christ Church of the University of Oxford. The professorship was founded from the benefaction of Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509), mother of Henry VII. Its holders were ...

at the University of Oxford from 1944 to 1968.

Life

Cross was born in Honiton on 22 January 1900 to the pharmacist Herbert Francis Cross and his wife Louisa Georgina. The family moved to

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

whilst he was a child, where he won the Domus scholarship for

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, taking honours in

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and

crystallography Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wor ...

and then, in 1922, following tuition at

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

, first-class honours in theology. He studied in Marburg and

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

, taking a Doctor of Philosophy degree at Oxford in 1930 with a dissertation on Edmund Husserl. He became an

ordinand Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform vario ...

of Ripon College Cuddesdon in 1923 and was ordained in 1925 as tutor and

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

of that college. In 1927 he became one of the priest-librarians of Pusey House, Oxford, of which he became Custodian in 1934. He was appointed

and Canon of

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, in 1944, by which time his interest in

was developing, alongside the beginnings of ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', which was published in 1957. At the time of his death he was working on the second edition. Post-war he organised international conferences, initially to re-establish relations with Christians in Germany. He organized the First International Conference on Patristic Studies in 1951, the second in 1955 and served as editor of the first 11 volumes of ''

Studia Patristica ''Studia Patristica'' is a peer-reviewed, academic book series established in 1957 and focused on the study of patristics. History The series is the official publication of the Oxford International Conference on Patristic Studies, which was firs ...

'', the official publication of the conference. Additionally, he also organized New Testament congresses. As well as their academic importance, the conferences were an early expression of

ecumenism Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

. Cross was awarded an Oxford

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...

degree in 1950; he received honorary degrees from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Bonn and was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

in 1967. Cross died on 30 December 1968 in Oxford. Near the end of his life his two sisters became his caretakers.

Selected works

References

External links

Brief biography of Frank Leslie Cross and introduction to the Cross Collection
held by the National Library of Australia {{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Frank Leslie 1900 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Anglican theologians 20th-century English Anglican priests 20th-century English theologians Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of Keble College, Oxford English Anglican theologians English book editors Fellows of the British Academy Lady Margaret Professors of Divinity Patristic scholars Clergy from Bournemouth People from Honiton