Talk:Owen Chadwick

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[edit] Incorrect description

Owen Chadwick is a historian of the Church (or Christianity). The original author of the article appears confused as to what is theology and what is history. Theology is the study of God. History is the study of the past. I was not able to find any book that could be labelled as theology. His professorship was in history. He certainly was a historian. Was he also a theologian? patsw 13:43, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

I think the problem lies in the fact that the field crosses both disciplines - he was Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History which is listed by the Divinity Faculty (ie, theology and religious studies) as one of their staff positions. It's hard to tell sometimes where the distinction would lie between a church historian who purely exercises in historical discourse, and one who is also involved in theological and philosophical speculation (maybe an analogy could be usefully drawn with an historian of philosophy, who might also be a competent philosopher as well). I can think of at least two current specialists in the Reformation period in the Divinity Faculty who are equally renowned as historians and theological thinkers (Richard Rex and Eamonn Duffy). At the same time, Judith Everard of the History Faculty is a specialist in the Medieval period, and she taught me medieval ecclesiology and theology. One can also argue that the distinctions between disciplines such as theology and history are largely false. Chadwick was overall an expert on Christianity and the development of the Church, its ideas and doctrine too and trying to draw a line between where his expertise as an historian and a theologian is an exercise in futility. Ant368 17:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Opening paragraph

The sense of the first paragraph is confusing to me - it makes it look as though Henry Chadwick, Sir Owen's brother, was the former Master of Selwyn whereas it was of course Owen Chadwick (he's still a Fellow of the College, albeit in the retired category). If there are no objections, I will reword the paragraph Ant368 17:13, 16 January 2007 (UTC). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ant368 (talk • contribs) 17:13, 16 January 2007 (UTC).