John James Stewart Perowne (3 March 1823 – 6 November 1904) was an English Anglican bishop. Born in
Burdwan
Bardhaman (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an alternative name for the city, ...
, Bengal, Perowne was a member of a notable clerical family, whose origins were
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
.
Life
He was educated at
Norwich School
Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...
, and at
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, becoming a fellow in 1849 and where his brother
Edward was later Master. After holding a chair in
King's College London, he became, in 1862, the fourth vice-principal of
St Davids College, Lampeter, a college with which he was already familiar, for he had been external examiner between 1851 and 1852. The ageing Principal of the college took a back seat, and Perowne effectively 'took the reins' until his departure from Lampeter in 1872.
In 1868 he was elected
Hulsean lecturer
The Hulsean Lectures were established from an endowment made by John Hulse to the University of Cambridge in 1790. At present, they consist of a series of four to eight lectures given by a university graduate on some branch of Christian theology.
...
, taking as his subject
Immortality
Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality.
Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...
or rather
conditional immortality
In Christian theology, conditionalism or conditional immortality is a concept in which the gift of immortality is attached to (conditional upon) belief in Jesus Christ. This doctrine is based in part upon another biblical argument, that the human ...
; stating "The immortality of the soul is a phantom which eludes your eager grasp.".
He was elected canon of
Llandaff
Llandaff (; cy, Llandaf ; from 'church' and ''River Taff, Taf'') is a district, Community (Wales), community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It was incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of ...
in 1869,
dean of Peterborough
The Dean of Peterborough is the head of the chapter at Peterborough Cathedral. On the Dissolution of Peterborough Abbey in 1539 and the abbey-church's refoundation as a cathedral for the new bishop and diocese of Peterborough, care for the abbey ...
1878, and in 1891 succeeded
Henry Philpott as
bishop of Worcester. Whilst at Lampeter, Perowne had gained a great respect for the theology of his predecessor in the role of Vice-Principal,
Rowland Williams, and when he became a bishop, he went to great lengths to avoid taking action against modernists in the church. Indeed, a work by one of his incumbents, which denied the
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...
, the
Virgin Birth, the Divinity of Christ, the
Atonement
Atonement (also atoning, to atone) is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some other ...
, and the concepts of the
Resurrection of Christ
The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lord ...
and the
Ascension was described by Perowne as '' 'an honest attempt to deal with great spiritual problems' ''. He resigned his see in late 1901.
Perowne was a respected
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
scholar of the traditional type and sat on the Old Testament Revision Committee. He is best remembered as the general editor of the ''
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in parts by Cambridge University Press from 1882 onwards. Anglican bishop John Perowne was the general editor. The first section published was written by theologi ...
''. His chief works were a ''Commentary on the Book of Psalms'' (2 vols., 1864–1868) and a life of
Bishop Thirlwall (1877–1878).
Descendants
Perowne married Anne Maria, daughter of
Humphry William Woolrych, before moving to Wales in 1862. His son,
Arthur William Thomson Perowne, became the first
Bishop of Bradford
The Bishop of Bradford is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Leeds, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after Bradford, a city in West Yorkshire.
Upon the creation of the ...
and, subsequently,
Bishop of Worcester. Another son was
John Thomas Woolrych Perowne
John Thomas Woolrych Perowne VD, TD (1 June 1863 – 27 April 1954) was a British Army officer, a King's Messenger and a Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation of King George VI in 1937.
Biography
Born in Lampeter in Wales in 1863, the eldest so ...
, a
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
officer,
King's Messenger
The Corps of King's Messengers (or Corps of Queen's Messengers during the reign of a female monarch) are couriers employed by the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). They hand-carry secret and important documents to Br ...
, and Gold Staff Officer. One of his grandsons,
Stewart Perowne
Stewart Henry Perowne OBE, KStJ, FSA, FRSA (17 June 1901 – 10 May 1989) was a British diplomat, archaeologist, explorer and historian who wrote books on the history and antiquities of the Mediterranean. Despite his homosexuality, in 1947 he ...
, married
Freya Stark
Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 18939 May 1993), was a British-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays ...
and was the more famous as Head of Education in British Palestine, archaeologist, explorer, and writer.
Stewart's brother Leslie was sometime Head of Music at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
*
*
*
*D T W Price, ''A History of Saint David's University College, Lampeter'', University of Wales Press, Cardiff. Volume One, to 1898 ()