Edward Norman (historian)

Edward Robert Norman (born 22 November 1938) is an ecclesiastical historian and former Church of England priest. From 1999 to 2004, he was Canon Chancellor of York Minster.

Early life

Norman was educated at Chatham House Grammar School, Ramsgate, Kent. He won an Open Scholarship to Selwyn College, Cambridge.

Career

He was a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge from 1962 to 1964, before moving to Jesus College as a Fellow. Norman lectured in history at the University of Cambridge; he is an emeritus Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge.[1]

He was Dean of Peterhouse for seventeen years and Dean and Chaplain at Christ Church College, Canterbury and Professor of History at the University of York. He is a member of the Peterhouse school of history. On 7 October 2012, he was received into the Catholic Church by way of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.[2]

Norman was the BBC Reith Lecturer in 1978. For his series of six radio lectures, entitled "Christianity and the World", he discussed the relationship between religion and politics. Margaret Thatcher once invited him to Chequers, although Norman insists he is not a Thatcherite and says he is "appalled by the results of naked capitalism".[3] Norman's book Church and Society in Modern England was published a year after Thatcher's election as Conservative leader and in it Norman put forward the idea that Christianity and Conservatism were natural allies based on the moral superiority of the free market. The free market left the individual to be responsible for their choices rather than dependent on state welfare which rendered people "moral cripples". Thatcher exclaimed: "Dr Norman, you are a prophet".[4]

Writings

References

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