Stephen Charles Neill (1900–1984
[Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, p. 488.]) was a British Anglican bishop, missionary and scholar. He was proficient in a number of languages, including
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
and
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
. He went to
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, and was a fellow there before going as a missionary in
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
. He became bishop of
Tirunelveli
Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...
in 1939. He believed in unification of all churches in South India and
communion beyond denominations. He wrote several books on
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
and church history.
Early life
Neill was born in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, on 31 December 1900 to Charles Neill and Margaret Penelope ("Daisy") Neill, the daughter of
James Monro
James Monro (1838 – 28 January 1920) was a lawyer who became the first Assistant Commissioner (Crime) of the London Metropolitan Police and also served as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 1888 to 1890.
Early career
Monro was ...
(for a time Commissioner (CID) at Scotland Yard who, having resigned at the age of 52 on disagreeing with the government, returned to India, where he had been a district officer, to establish a medical mission).
[Neill, Stephen (Jackson, E.M.(ed)) ''God's Apprentice: The Autobiography of Stephen Neill'' Hodder & Stoughton 1991, pp. 18-21; p. 26 & pp. 24-25, respectively.] Both his parents were missionary doctors in India but spent much of their adult lives in various European countries for reasons of health and for the sake of their children's education.
He had two sisters, Marjorie Penelope (1898) and Isabel Ruth (1906), and three brothers: Christopher Henry (1899), Gerald Munro (1902), Eric James (1904).
He was educated at
Dean Close School
Dean Close School is a public school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school is divided into pre-prep, preparatory and senior schools located on separate but adjacent sites outside Cheltenham town centre, occupying the largest private ...
,
[Neill, Stephen (Jackson, E.M.(ed)) ''God's Apprentice: The Autobiography of Stephen Neill'' Hodder & Stoughton 1991, p. 28; pp. 48-49, p. 76; p. 73; p. 72, respectively.] then in 1918 won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge and was elected to a fellowship in 1924.
While still in Cambridge he passed the Church of England's General Ordination Examination which qualified him for ordination
but he had decided to go out to India as a layman.
Ministry in India
In 1925
[Christian Mission in the Twentieth Century, p. 143.] he moved to Dohnavur with his parents.
[ While at Dohnavur he learnt ]Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
and was involved in teaching schoolboys.[ Neill joined the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1928 and was ordained a priest. After his ordination he moved to Tirunelvely and later led Thomas Ragland's North Tirunelveli Itineracy evangelism program. He taught Tamil in the CMS theological college in ]Palayamkottai
Palayamkottai (also Palayankottai) is a neighbourhood in Tirunelveli City, incorporated within the Tirunelveli City Municipal Corporation. It is situated on the east bank of the Thamirabarani river, with the exception of its downtown area, whi ...
[ where he served as its first Principal.][Love's Redeeming Work p. 648.] There he became involved in negotiations for uniting the churches in South India[ for the formation of ]Church of South India
The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of mainline Protestant denominations in South India after independence.
The Church of South India is the successor of a number of Pr ...
.[ He believed that all churches should unite and no church should be left out as not being in communion. He was elected the bishop at Tirunelveli in 1939. There he held the diocese together during the troubled times of the war, resisting encroachments by the state and initiating development projects in publishing, banking among other areas. In 1944 he resigned. In his autobiography, he attributes this to problems of ill health which had dogged him for most of his life. The editor of the biography notes that in the Diocese the common view is that he had to leave because of instances when he had struck his clergy and he adds that more serious allegations were made.][Neill, Stephen (Jackson, E. M. (ed.)) ''God's Apprentice: The Autobiography of Stephen Neill'' Hodder & Stoughton 1991, p. 335.]
Academic work after returning to Europe
After his return from India he became the assistant bishop to 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 ...
.[Christian Mission in the Twentieth Century, p. 144.] Neill worked for the World Council of Churches from 1947 to 1954. In 1962 he went to the University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...
as a professor of missions until 1967 and a professor of philosophy and religious studies in Nairobi between 1969 and 1973.[ On returning to England, he was offered accommodation by the then Principal of ]Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
Wycliffe Hall is a Church of England Seminary, theological college and a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is named after the Bible translator and reformer John Wycliffe, who was Master (college), mast ...
which for the rest of his life served as a base between lecturing commitments in various parts of the world and for reading and writing.
Literary contribution
Neill edited ''History of Ecumenical Movement 1517-1948'' with Ruth Rouse; the ''World Christian Series'' and co-edited ''Concise Dictionary of the Christian World Mission'' (1971).[ His books also included ''The Interpretation of the New Testament 1891 - 1961'', ''Bhakti, Hindu and Christian'' and ''Christian Faith and Other Faiths''.][
His ''magnum opus'' ''History of Christianity in India'' remained uncompleted at the time of his death but the first volume, up to 1707, was published by the Cambridge University Press in 1984. He could achieve this task since he suffered from insomnia which kept him awake most of the night allowing him to write more.][
]
Notes
External links
Bibliographic directory
from Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, and is ho ...
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Neill, Stephen
1900 births
1984 deaths
British Anglican theologians
Anglican missionaries in India
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Anglican bishops of Tinnevelly
Scottish Episcopalians
People educated at Dean Close School
Scottish Anglican missionaries