John Stapylton Habgood (1981).jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John Stapylton Habgood, Baron Habgood, (23 June 1927 – 6 March 2019) was a British
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 ...
bishop, academic, and
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
. He was Bishop of Durham from 1973 to 1983, and Archbishop of York from 18 November 1983 to 1995. In 1995, he was made a life peer and so continued to serve in the House of Lords after stepping down as archbishop. He took a leave of absence in later life, and in 2011 was one of the first peers to explicitly retire from the Lords.


Early life and career

Habgood was born on 23 June 1927, the son of Dr Arthur Henry Habgood and his wife Vera. He was educated at
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
, King's College, Cambridge and Ripon College Cuddesdon. A University Demonstrator in
Pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...
from 1950, he became a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge in 1952. In 1961 Habgood married Rosalie Mary Anne Boston (died 2016); he had two daughters and two sons, including Francis Habgood, formerly Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police.


Early ministry

Habgood was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1954 and as a priest in 1955. From 1954 to 1956, he was a
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 ...
at St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington, London. From 1956 to 1962 he was Vice-Principal of Westcott House theological college in Cambridge. From 1962 to 1967 he was
Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of
St John's Church, Jedburgh St John's Church is an Anglican church in Jedburgh. It was founded by Cecil Chetwynd Kerr, Marchioness of Lothian. It is a category A listed building. From 2023 the church was part of the Presbytery of Lothian and Borders. History Lady Cecil Ch ...
. In 1967 he became Principal of
Queen's College, Edgbaston The Queen's Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education (also called the Queen's Foundation, Birmingham and formerly the Queen's College, Birmingham) is an ecumenical theological college which, with the West Midlands Ministerial Training Cou ...
, a theological college, until his appointment to the episcopate. He was consecrated a bishop and appointed as Bishop of Durham in 1973. He was passed over by Margaret Thatcher for appointment as Bishop of London in 1981.


Archbishop of York

Habgood was elevated to Archbishop of York on 18 November 1983. The other name put forward for the Prime Minister's consideration was that of former England cricketer, David Sheppard, by then Bishop of Liverpool. Sheppard's socialist views - he later sat in the Lords as a Labour Peer - did not commend him to Thatcher. As an archbishop, Habgood was made a Privy Counsellor in 1983. As Archbishop of York, Habgood was seen as a leader in keeping more conservative Anglicans within the church during growing divisions over the issue of women's ordination to the priesthood. He supported the
ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...
to the priesthood, arguing that God is neither male nor female. He also supported accommodating those who did not, and so introduced
provincial episcopal visitors A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...
to provide pastoral care and oversight to laity, clergy, and parishes who could not accept women priests. Habgood retired as Archbishop of York in August 1995.


Canterbury

When Robert Runcie announced his retirement as
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 ...
in 1990, Habgood was regarded as one of the favourites to succeed him. The religious journalist
Clifford Longley Clifford Longley is an English journalist and author. Early life Clifford Longley was educated at the Trinity School of John Whitgift in Croydon. He graduated from the University of Southampton. Career Longley was a journalist for ''The Times'' ...
described him as "the outstanding churchman of his generation", although noting that Habgood had described himself as too old. As preparations for the selection of the new archbishop began, Habgood gave a television interview stating that he was interested in being considered as "if I believed that this is what the church really wanted and if I believed that this is what God really wanted I would be under a strong obligation to say yes." At the same time it was reported that Habgood was not popular among those close to the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who would make the actual recommendation to the Queen. Habgood had also attracted criticism inside and outside the Church for his behaviour during the 1987 Crockford's Clerical Directory preface controversy. At the beginning of May a report in the ''
Sunday Correspondent ''The Sunday Correspondent'' was a short-lived British weekly national broadsheet newspaper. The newspaper first appeared on 17 September 1989; the title ceased publication with the last issue on 25 November 1990. It was edited by Peter Cole for ...
'' stated that four candidates were under active consideration: Habgood, David Sheppard ( Bishop of Liverpool), Colin James (
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 ...
) and
John Waine John Waine (20 June 193029 December 2020) was Bishop of Chelmsford from 1986 to 1996; and previously Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich from 1978 to 1986, Bishop of Stafford, 1975–1978. He also served as Clerk of the Closet from 1989 to ...
(
Bishop of Chelmsford The Bishop of Chelmsford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chelmsford in the Province of Canterbury.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing (). The current bishop is Guli Francis ...
). Habgood declined to take up the automatic place he could have had on the Crown Appointments Commission, which would select the two names to be given to the Prime Minister. He was endorsed in a leader in '' The Times'' on 10 July 1990. On 25 July it was announced that the next Archbishop of Canterbury would be George Carey, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Habgood described him as "a good choice", adding that "there is a little human bit in anybody that likes the top job, but that is a very small part in my feelings. In my heart of hearts I didn't really want the job. If it had come five years ago I might have thought differently but you slow up and it is an enormously tiring job."


House of Lords

From his appointment as Bishop of Durham in 1973 to his retirement as Archbishop of York in 1995, Habgood sat in the House of Lords as a
Lord Spiritual The Lords Spiritual are the bishops of the Church of England who serve in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom. 26 out of the 42 diocesan bishops and archbishops of the Church of England serve as Lords Spiritual (not counting retired archbi ...
. This was due to the senior rankings of the two bishoprics in the Church of England, which each granted an automatic seat in the Lords. He voted against Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 which banned local authorities from "promoting homosexuality" and state schools from teaching the "acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship": it was later repealed in 2000 in Scotland and in 2003 in the rest of the UK. Habgood was created a
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
as Baron Habgood, of Calverton in the County of
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
on 8 September 1995, allowing him to continue to sit in the House of Lords as a
Lord Temporal The Lords Temporal are secular members of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament. These can be either life peers or hereditary peers, although the hereditary right to sit in the House of Lords was abolished for all but ni ...
. He sat as a
crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
, rather than join a political party. Later in his life he ceased attending the Lords and took leave of absence; on 3 October 2011 he became one of the first two peers to formally and permanently retire from membership under a newly instituted procedure that was created before permanent retirement achieved full legal recognition under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.


Religion and science

Habgood was a member and past president of The Science and Religion Forum. He wrote in this area, e.g., his book ''Truths in Tension: New Perspectives on Religion and Science'' (1965). Another example of his work in this area is "Faith, Science and the Future: the Conference Sermon", which was given at the World Council of Churches' conference on ''Faith, Science and the Future'' held on the MIT campus (12–24 July 1979). An early 21st-century example is his review of
Ronald L. Numbers Ronald Leslie Numbers (born 1942) is an American historian of science. He was awarded the 2008 George Sarton Medal by the History of Science Society for "a lifetime of exceptional scholarly achievement by a distinguished scholar". Biography N ...
's book ''The Creationists'', which Habgood titled "The creation of Creationism: Today's brand of Protestant extremism should worry theologians as well as scientists".


Books

*''Religion and Science'' (1964; 1965 U.S. publication retitled to ''Truths in Tension: New Perspectives on Religion and Science'') : A
Cavendish Professor of Physics The Cavendish Professorship is one of the senior faculty positions in physics at the University of Cambridge. It was founded on 9 February 1871 alongside the famous Cavendish Laboratory, which was completed three years later. William Cavendish, 7th ...
and
Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...
,
Nevill Mott Sir Nevill Francis Mott (30 September 1905 – 8 August 1996) was a British physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1977 for his work on the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems, especially amorphous semiconductors. ...
, has cited this book:
"I am impressed too by the point of view of the present Archbishop of York (John Habgood, Science and Religion, ondon: Hodder and Stoughton, 1964, that to understand the Bible we must try to enter into the belief patterns of the period".
*''A Working Faith'' (1980) *''Church and Nation in a Secular Age'' (1983) *''Confessions of a Conservative Liberal'' (1988) *''Making Sense'' (1993) *''Faith and Uncertainty'' (1997) *''Being a Person'' (1998) *''Varieties of Unbelief'' (2000) *''The Concept of Nature'' (2002) British Library web site accessed 17:08 GMT Friday 13 July 2011


Arms


See also

* List of science and religion scholars


References


External links


Biography – John Habgood
on the Gifford Lectures site. 2000–2001 lectures are online.
John Habgood – God debates
at Cambridge website
Contributions in the House of Lords"The Untidiness of Integration: John Stapylton Habgood"
Kevin Seybold, Volume 57 Number 2. June 2005. ''
PSCF ''Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith'', subtitled ''Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation'', is the academic publication of the American Scientific Affiliation. Background The ASA's original constitution provided two goals for th ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Habgood, John Stapylton 1927 births 2019 deaths Bishops of Durham Archbishops of York Crossbench life peers Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom 20th-century Anglican archbishops Ordained peers People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Alumni of Ripon College Cuddesdon Staff of Westcott House, Cambridge Principals of Queen's College, Birmingham