Robert Henry Lightfoot (30 September 1883 – 24 November 1953) was an

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 ...

priest and theologian, who was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1934 to 1949.

Life

Lightfoot was the youngest son of

Prideaux Lightfoot Reginald Prideaux Lightfoot (26 May 183618 September 1906) was a British Anglican priest. He was the Archdeacon of Oakham in the Church of England from 1880 to 1905. Life Lightfoot was born into an ecclesiastical family — his father, John Pr ...

, Archdeacon of Oakham, and grandson of a former Rector of Exeter College, Oxford. He was born on 30 September 1883 and was educated at Uppingham School and

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

before studying classics and then theology at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

. He was advised that he was not good enough to obtain an academic job, so became

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of a parish in

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

in 1909. However, in 1912, he was offered a position at Wells Theological College, becoming Vice-Principal in 1913 and Principal in 1916. Lightfoot was chaplain to

Edward Stuart Talbot Edward Stuart Talbot (19 February 1844 – 30 January 1934) was an Anglican bishop in the Church of England and the first Warden of Keble College, Oxford. He was successively the Bishop of Rochester, the Bishop of Southwark and the Bishop of Wi ...

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except dur ...

, between 1917 and 1919 when the college was closed because of the war. After briefly returning to Wells in 1919, he was appointed as chaplain and

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, moving in 1921 to New College as Fellow, Tutor and Dean of Divinity. He was appointed as Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture in 1934, and was then less involved in college affairs: up until then he had undertaken many administrative tasks to make up for the lesser teaching burden that he had compared to other colleagues at New College. He resigned his professorship in 1949; after he ceased to be a Fellow of New College in 1950, he was appointed to an Extraordinary Fellowship at Lincoln College. He was regarded as a "lucid and accurate" lecturer. He concentrated his work on the four

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

s, particularly the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

. He was described as "zealous in promoting Biblical research" at Oxford, but published little as he was "a hesitant writer with an unfeigned horror of inaccuracy". However, hi
''St John's Gospel: A Commentary''
was published posthumously in 1957, edited by C F Evans. His 1934 Bampton Lectures, ''History and Interpretation in the Gospels'', were regarded even by those who disagreed with him as "an important contribution to the study of the New Testament." He was acting editor of

the Journal of Theological Studies ''The Journal of Theological Studies'' is an academic journal established in 1899 and now published by Oxford University Press in April and October each year. It publishes theological research, scholarship, and interpretation, and hitherto unpubli ...

from 1940 to 1947 (when the official editor was

Godfrey Rolles Driver Sir Godfrey Rolles Driver (20 August 1892 – 22 April 1975), known as G. R. Driver, was an English Orientalist noted for his studies of Semitic languages and Assyriology.J. A. Emerton, 'Driver, Sir Godfrey Rolles (1892–1975)'. In ''Oxfo ...

) and sole editor from 1948 to 1953. Lightfoot died in Oxford on 24 November 1953. He was unmarried.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lightfoot, Robert Henry 1883 births 1953 deaths People educated at Uppingham School People educated at Eton College Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford Fellows of New College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy 20th-century English Anglican priests British theologians Dean Ireland's Professors of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture