Harry Blamires (6 November 1916 – 21 November 2017) was an English Anglican

theologian 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 ...

, literary critic, and novelist. Blamires was once head of the English department at King Alfred's College (now

University of Winchester , mottoeng = Wisdom and Knowledge , established = 1840 - Winchester Diocesan Training School1847 - Winchester Training College1928 - King Alfred's College2005 - University of Winchester , type = Public research university ...

) in

Winchester, England Winchester is a cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government district, at the western end of the South Downs National Park, on the River Itchen. It is south-west of Londo ...

. He started writing in the late 1940s at the encouragement of his friend and mentor

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

, who had been his tutor at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

, where he graduated from

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

. Blamires married Nancy Bowles in 1940, and they had five sons. He turned 100 in November 2016. His best known works are ''The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think?'' and ''The Bloomsday Book''. ''The Bloomsday Book'' is a guide to James Joyce's ''Ulysses''. It was first published in 1966 and revised in 1988 and 1996 (''The New Bloomsday Book''); it continues to help readers of Joyce's best-known work to this day. ''The Christian Mind'' has been used as a textbook at hundreds of bible colleges and

seminaries A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

around the world. Blamires was also the author of ''A Short History of English Literature'' (1974; 2nd edition, 1984), ''A History of Literary Criticism'' (1991) and four books on the use of English including ''The Penguin Guide To Plain English'' (2000). Blamires died in November 2017 at the age of 101.Harry Blamires, influential Christian author, dies at 101
The

Christian Institute The Christian Institute (CI) is a pressure group operating in the United Kingdom, promoting a fundamentalist Christian viewpoint, founded on a belief in Biblical inerrancy. The CI is a registered charity. The group does not report numbers of sta ...

. Retrieved 2017-11-23.

Works

*''The Devil's Hunting Grounds'' (1954, 1st novel of trilogy) *''Cold War in Hell'' (1955, 2nd novel of trilogy) *''Blessing Unbounded: A Vision'' (1955, 3rd novel of trilogy) *''Highway to Heaven'' (1955, 3rd novel of trilogy) *''The Faith and Modern Error'' (1956) London: S.P.C.K. *''The Christian Mind'' (1963) London: S.P.C.K.; New York: Seabury Press. Reprint. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books, 1978 ; Vancouver, B.C.: Regent College Publishing, 2005. *''A Defense of Dogmatism'' (1965) London: S.P.C.K. American edition, ''The Tyranny of Time: A Defence of Dogmatism'' New York: Morehouse-Barlow. *''Where Do We Stand'' (1980) London: S.P.C.K.; Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books ; Reprint. Vancouver, B.C.: Regent College Publishing, 2006. *''The Post-Christian Mind'' *''On Christian Truth'' (1983) Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books Reprint. Vancouver, B.C.: Regent College Publishing, 2005. *''The Bloomsday Book'' (A guide through Joyce's Ulysses) *''Word Unheard'' (A guide through Eliot's Four Quartets) (1969) London: Methuen; Reprint. London: Routledge, 2015. *''Milton's Creation'' (A guide through Milton's Paradise Lost) (1971) *''The Will and the Way'' (A Study of Divine Providence and Vocation) (1957) London: S.P.C.K. *''Recovering the Christian Mind: Meeting the Challenge of Secularism'' (1988) *''The Queen's English'' (1995) *''The Penguin Guide To Plain English'' (2000) *''A Short History Of English Literature'' (1974, 1984) *''Twentieth-Century English Literature'' (1982) *''A History Of Literary Criticism'' (1991) *''New Town - A Fable, Unless You Believe'' (2005)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blamires, Harry 1916 births 2017 deaths Anglican writers English centenarians English Christian theologians English fantasy writers English literary critics Men centenarians Writers from Yorkshire