Gerald Lewis Bray (born 16 November 1948) is a British theologian,

ecclesiastical historian __NOTOC__ Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritua ...

and priest in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

Teaching

Born 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 ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, on 16 November 1948, Bray holds a BA from

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 ...

and a MLitt and DLitt from

University of Paris-Sorbonne Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...

. He was librarian of

Tyndale House, Cambridge William Tyndale (; sometimes spelled ''Tynsdale'', ''Tindall'', ''Tindill'', ''Tyndall''; – ) was an English biblical scholar and linguist who became a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation in the years leading up to his executi ...

, from 1975 to 1978 when he was ordained in the Church of England and served in the parish of St Cedd, Canning Town (

Diocese of Chelmsford The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers Essex and the five East London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest (most of which wer ...

), until 1980. From 1980 to 1992 he taught ecclesiastical history and doctrine at

Oak Hill Theological College Oak Hill College is a conservative evangelical theological college located on Chase Side in Southgate, London, England. Its aim is to prepare men and women from the Church of England and Independent churches for ministry in the real world. Over ...

in London. From 1993 to 2006 he taught at

Beeson Divinity School The Beeson Divinity School of Samford University is an interdenominational evangelical divinity school located in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The current dean is Douglas A. Sweeney. Though located on the campus of a Baptist university, ...

where he is now a

research professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

. He is now also Distinguished Professor of

Historical Theology Historical theology is the study of the history of Christian doctrine. Stanley Grenz, Grenz, Guretzki and Nordling describe it as, "The division of the theological discipline that seeks to understand and delineate how the church interpreted Scri ...

at Knox Theological Seminary. He is the director of research at the

Latimer Trust The Latimer Trust is a conservative evangelical Christian think tank in the United Kingdom. Overview The Latimer Trust is an evangelical think-tank dedicated to providing biblical input and a considered response to significant issues within the Chr ...

at Oak Hill Theological College in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

.Latimer Trust official website, About
/ref>

Writing

Bray's book, ''Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present'', was one of '' Christianity Today's'' books of the year in 1997. He has written extensively on the history of the

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

of the Church of England, publishing two major works on the subject, ''The Anglican Canons 1529-1947'' and ''Tudor Church Reform'', both of which were sponsored by the

Church of England Record Society The Church of England Record Society is a text publication society for the history of the Church of England. It was established in 1991. The society has published an annual volume since 1994, the first being Kenneth Fincham's ''Visitation Articles ...

. He also edited the Convocation records of the Churches of England and Ireland from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. Bray was also the editor of the '' Churchman''

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

from 1983 to 2018.Churchman official website
/ref> His most important recent books are ''God is Love, a Biblical and Systematic Theology'', published by Crossway (2012) and "God has spoken. A history of Christian theology", also published by Crossway in 2014. Since then he has published "Augustine and the Christian Life" (Crossway, 2015), "The Church. A theological and historical account" (Baker, 2016) and an edition of the Books of Homilies of the Church of England (James Clarke, 2016). In 2017 he published a critical edition of the ''Procès-Verbal de l'Assemblée Générale du Clergé de France'' (1788), an important witness to the French pre-revolution from the Archives Nationales in Paris. In 2021 he published "The History of Christianity in Britain and Ireland" (IVP) a magisterial study of its subject. He also published "The Attributes of God" (Crossway) and "Anglicanism" (Lexham Press) in the same year.

Bibliography

*''Holiness and the Will of God: Perspectives on the Theology of Tertullian'' (1979) (New Foundations Theological Library) *''The Doctrine of God (Contours of Christian Theology)'' (1993) *''Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present'' (2000) *''God Under Fire'' (with Douglas S. Huffman, Eric L. Johnson, R. Douglas Geivett, Bruce A. Ware, Charles Gutenson, James S. Spiegel, Mark R. Talbot, William Lane Craig, Paul Helm, D. A. Carson, 2002) *''Yours Is the Kingdom: A systematic theology of the Lord's Prayer'' (IVP, 2007) *''Always Reforming: Explorations in Systematic Theology'' (with Stephen Williams, Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Richard C. Gamble, Henri Blocher, Jr Richard B. Gaffin, Cornelis P. Venema, Derek W. H. Thomas, Andrew T. B. McGowan, John Frame, 2007) *''Creeds, Councils and Christ: Did the Early Christians Misrepresent Jesus?'' (2009) *''We Believe in One God (Ancient Christian Doctrine)'' (2009) *''The Faith We Confess: An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles'' (2009) *''Translating the Bible: from William Tyndale to King James'' (2010) *''Galatians, Ephesians (Reformation Commentary on Scripture: New Testament)'' (2011) *''The Deity of Christ (Theology in Community)'' (Christopher W. Morgan (ed.), Robert A. Peterson (ed.), Alan W. Gomes, J. Nelson Jennings, Andreas J. Kostenberger, Stephen J. Nichols, Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Stephen J. Wellum, 2011) *''God Is Love: A Biblical and Systematic Theology'' (2012) *''The Very Pure Word of God: The Book of Common Prayer as a Model of Biblical Liturgy'' (2012) Peter Adam (Author), Mark Burkill (Editor), Gerald L Bray (Editor) *''The Kingdom of God (Theology in Community)'' (2012) Robert A. Peterson, Bruce K Christopher, W. Morgan *''Why We Belong: Evangelical Unity and Denominational Diversity ''(2013) Anthony L. Chute (Author, Editor), Christopher W. Morgan (Author, Editor), Robert A. Peterson (Author, Editor), Gerald Bray (Contributor), Bryan Chapell (Contributor), David Dockery (Contributor), Timothy George (Contributor), Bryan D. Klaus (Contributor), Douglas A. Sweeney (Contributor), Timothy C. Tennent (Contributor) *''Fallen (Theology in Community)'' (2013) Christopher W. Morgan (Author), Robert A. Peterson (Author), Gerald Bray (Author), David B. Calhoun (Author), D. A. Carson (Author), Bryan Chapell (Author), Paul R. House (Author), John W. Mahony (Author), Douglas J. Moo (Author), Sydney H. Page (Author) *''God Has Spoken: A History of Christian Theology'' (Crossway, 2014) *''Augustine on the Christian Life: Transformed by the Power of God'' (2015) *''Heresy, Schism and Apostasy (Latimer Studies Book 67)'' (2015) *''The Church: A Theological and Historical Account'' (Baker Academic, 2016) *''The Pastoral Epistles'' ( International Theological Commentary) (T&T Clark, 2019) *''Doing Theology with the Reformers'' (IVP Academic, 2019) *''Preaching the Word with John Chrysostom'' (Lexham, 2020) *''The Attributes of God: An Introduction'' (Crossway, 2021) *''Anglicanism: A Reformed Catholic Tradition'' (Lexham, 2021) *''The History of Christianity in Britain and Ireland: From the first century to the twenty-first'' (Apollos, 2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Gerald Living people Samford University people 20th-century Church of England clergy 21st-century Church of England clergy Academic journal editors McGill University alumni University of Paris alumni Editors of Christian publications 1948 births Clergy from Montreal Systematic theologians Historians of Christianity Evangelical Anglican theologians British historians of religion Canadian expatriates in France Canadian emigrants to the United Kingdom