John Webster (British theologian)

John Bainbridge Webster DD FRSE (20 June 1955 – 25 May 2016) was a British theologian of the Anglican Communion writing in the area of systematic, historical, and moral theology. Born in Mansfield, England on 20 June 1955, he was educated at the independent co-educational Bradford Grammar School and at the University of Cambridge. After a distinguished career, he died at his home in Scotland on 25 May 2016 at the age of 60.^[1] At the time of his death, he was the Chair of Divinity at St. Mary's College, University of St Andrews, Scotland.^[2]

Career

Webster began his career as a chaplain and tutor at St John's College, Durham University (1982–86) and went on to teach systematic theology at Wycliffe College — one of the seven colleges that comprise the Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto (1986–96) — before becoming the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford, a prestigious chair in which he was immediately preceded by Rowan Williams who later became Archbishop of Wales (1999–2002) and then Canterbury (2002-2012). During Webster's seven-year tenure at Oxford (1996–2003), he also served as a canon of Christ Church. In 2003, he was installed in the Chair of Systematic Theology at King's College, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. In Summer 2013, he became Chair of Divinity at the University of St Andrews. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2005.^[3]

Together with the Reverend Colin Gunton (1940–2003), Webster co-founded the International Journal of Systematic Theology. He was also a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church and of the Scottish Journal of Theology Monographs. He was the series editor of The Great Theologians, Barth Studies for Ashgate, and co-editor for the Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology (2007).

Theological commorancy

His PhD thesis was on the German Lutheran systematic and philosophical theologian Eberhard Jüngel: “Distinguishing Between God and Man: Aspects of the Theology of Eberhard Jüngel” (1982).^[4] Subsequently, Webster’s translations and theological interaction with Jüngel are largely responsible for introducing him to the English speaking academy.^[5] Through study of Jüngel, Webster became well acquainted with the theology of Karl Barth whom he has written on extensively and developed a unique account of, which stresses the significant role of biblical interpretation and the Reformed tradition in Barth’s work.^[6] Jüngel and Barth present important influences on Webster’s own constructive dogmatic work, which offers that the most reliable articulation of Christian truth is that made in shared attention with the Reformation's renewal of Chalcedonian Christianity and guided by the perfect and free God who makes himself the proper object of extended paraphrase by his active self-presentation in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.^[7]

In September 2007, Webster delivered the inaugural lectures of the Kantzer Lectures in Revealed Theology moderated by Kevin Vanhoozer through the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.

Selected works

Thesis

• Webster, John B. (1982). Distinguishing Between God and Man: Aspects of the Theology of Eberhard Jüngel (PhD). University of Cambridge. 

Translations or works on Eberhard Jüngel

• Webster, John B. (1986). Eberhard Jüngel: An Introduction to His Theology (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-30708-6. OCLC 12107997. 
• Jüngel, Eberhard (1989). Theological Essays I. Translated by Webster, John B. (2nd ed.). London: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-09502-2. OCLC 19129109. 
• Jüngel, Eberhard (1995). Webster, John B., ed. Theological Essays II. Translated by Neufeldt-Fast, Arnold; Webster, John B. Edinburgh: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-09706-4. OCLC 32164419. 
• Jüngel, Eberhard (2001). God's Being is in Becoming: The Trinitarian Being of God in the Theology of Karl Barth. Translated by Webster, John B. London: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-08706-5. OCLC 47822376. 
• ———, ed. (1994). Possibilities of Theology: Studies in the Theology of Eberhard Jüngel in his 60th Year. Edinburgh: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-09720-0. OCLC 32103080. 

Works on Karl Barth

• ——— (1995). Barth's Ethics of Reconciliation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-04411-0. OCLC 31077237. 
• ——— (1998). Barth's Moral Theology: Human Action in Barth's Thought. Edinburgh: T & T Clark. 
• ———, ed. (2000). The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth. Cambridge companions to religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-58476-0. OCLC 42823713. 
• ——— (2004). Karl Barth. Outstanding Christian Thinkers (2nd ed.). London: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-8264-5078-4. OCLC 45211610. 
• ——— (2004). Barth's Early Theology. London: T & T Clark. 
• ——— (2005). Barth's Earlier Theology: Four Studies. London: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-08352-4. OCLC 60245486. 
• ———; Yuen, Alfred H. (2014). Barth's theological ontology of Holy Scripture. Princeton theological monograph series. 211. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications. ISBN 978-1-620-32911-5. OCLC 880862047. 

Constructive works

• ——— (2001). Word and Church: Essays in Church Dogmatics. London: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-03066-5. OCLC 49585059. 
• ——— (2003). Holiness. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-802-82215-4. OCLC 52520378. 
• ——— (2003). Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch. Current issues in theology. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-83118-5. OCLC 52160104. 
• ——— (2005). Confessing God: Essays in Christian Dogmatics II. London: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-08377-7. OCLC 60837919. 
• ——— (2010). Holiness (2nd ed.). London: SCM Press. ISBN 978-0-334-02895-6. 
• ——— (2012). The Domain of the Word of God: Scripture and Theological Reason. T & T Clark theology. London: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-212948. OCLC 744289591. 
• ——— (2015). God Without Measure: Essays in Christian Doctrine - Volume 1 (God and the Works of God). London: T & T Clark. ISBN 978-0-5671-6513-8. 

Exhortative works

• ——— (2011). The Grace of Truth. Farmington Hills, MI: Oil Lamp Books. 

Other

• ———; Schner, George P. (2000). Theology after Liberalism: a reader. Blackwell readings in modern theology. Oxford ; Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-6312-0563-0. OCLC 42080291. 
• ———, ed. (2007). The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-199-24576-5. OCLC 132294162. 

Articles

• ——— (2004). "The Holiness and Love of God". Scottish Journal of Theology. 57: 249–68. 
• ——— (2004). "On Evangelical Ecclesiology". Ecclesiology. 1: 9–35. 
• ——— (2008). "Biblical Reasoning". Anglican Theological Review. 90: 733–51. 
• ——— (2009). "Principles of Systematic Theology". International Journal of Systematic Theology. 11: 56–71. 
• ——— (2010). "Trinity and Creation". International Journal of Systematic Theology. 12: 4–19. 
• ——— (2015). "Sins of Speech". Studies in Christian Ethics. 28: 35–48. 
• ——— (2015). "What Makes Theology Theological?". Journal of Analytic Theology. 3: 17–28. 

Sources

External links

• Webster's webpage at the University of St. Andrews
• Kantzer Lectures at the Henry Center
• Webster at Frost's Scottish Who's Who
• John Webster at Theopedia

Links to audio lectures

• "Perfection and Presence: God With Us, According to the Christian Confession", Kantzer Lectures in Revealed Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
• "On Mercy", 2007 Christianity and Ethics Conference at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary