Charles E. Raven

The Reverend
Charles E. Raven
QHC FBA
The Reverend Charles E. Raven QHC FBA
	Raven in 1939
Born	Charles Earle Raven; 4 July 1885; London, England
Died	8 July 1964 (aged 79); Cambridge, England
Title	Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1947–1949)
Spouses	Margaret E. B. Wollaston (m. 1910; died 1944); Ethel Moors (m. 1954; died 1954); Hélène Jeanty (m. 1956);
Children	Mary; Betty; John; Margaret;
Ecclesiastical career
Religion	Christianity (Anglican)
Church	Church of England
Ordained	1909
Academic background
Alma mater	Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Influences	Henri Bergson; James Bethune-Baker; Henry Melvill Gwatkin; Pierre Teilhard de Chardin; Evelyn Underhill;
Academic work
Discipline	Theology
School or tradition	Christian pacifism; Christian socialism; evangelical Anglicanism; theological liberalism;
Institutions	Emmanuel College, Cambridge; Christ's College, Cambridge;
Influenced	Arthur Peacocke; Ian Ramsey;

Charles Earle Raven QHC FBA (4 July 1885 – 8 July 1964) was an English theologian and Anglican priest. He was Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University (1932–1950) and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge (1939–1950). His works have been influential in the history of science publishing on the positive effects that theology has had upon modern science.^[10]

Career

Raven was born in Paddington, London on 4 July 1885,^[11] and was educated at Uppingham School.^[12]^[13] He obtained an open classical scholarship at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge,^[11] and then became lecturer in divinity, fellow and dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.^[14] In 1932, he was elected Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, a position he held until 1950.^[11] He was Master of Christ's College, Cambridge (1939–1950).^[11]

He was a clergyman in the Church of England, and attained the rank of canon. During the First World War he served as a chaplain to the forces and what he witnessed led him to take a pacifist position, a subject on which he wrote extensively for the rest of his life. As a pacifist, he was an active supporter of the Peace Pledge Union and the Fellowship of Reconciliation.^[15]

He first married Margaret Ermyntrude Buchanan Wollaston in 1910, with whom he had four children.^[13] Raven was the father of John Raven, the classical scholar and botanist, and grandfather of Andrew Raven and Sarah Raven.^[5]

His third marriage was to Hélène Jeanty, a Belgian widow whose husband had been killed by the occupying Germans in World War II. They met while she was working for the World Council of Churches (WCC). They worked together on reconciliation between students of different races, a continuation of her WCC work helping displaced Jews and Germans. She outlived Raven, dying on 9 October 1990 and, continuing the charitable work during her lifetime, left £150,000 to Christ's College to support medical students from overseas.^[16]

Raven was the Gifford Lecturer for 1950–1952 in Natural Religion and Christian Theology, at Edinburgh University.^[13] He was president of the Field Studies Council from 1953 to 1957 and of the Botanical Society of the British Isles from 1951 to 1955.^[17] He won the James Tait Black Award in 1947 for his book English Naturalists from Neckam to Ray.

Some of his writings have been described as an early example of ecotheology.^[18]^{[verification needed]}

Evolution

Raven was an advocate of non-Darwinian evolutionary theories such as Lamarckism. He also supported the theistic evolution of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.^[19]

Historian Peter J. Bowler has written that Raven's book The Creator Spirit, "outlined the case for a nonmaterialistic biology as the foundation for a renewed natural theology."^[19]

List of selected publications

What think ye of Christ? (1916)
Christian Socialism, 1848-1854 (1920)
Apollinarianism: An Essay on the Christology of the Early Church (1923)
In Praise of Birds (1925)
The Creator Spirit (1927)
Women and the Ministry (1929)
A Wanderer's Way (1929)
The Life and Teaching of Jesus Christ (1933)
Raven, Charles E. (1950) [1942]. John Ray, naturalist: his life and works (2nd ed.). Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521310833.
Science, Religion, and the Future, a course of eight lectures (1943)
Raven, Charles E. (1947). English Naturalists from Neckam to Ray: A Study of the Making of the Modern World. Cambridge University Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-1-108-01634-6.
Alex Wood: the man and his message (1952)
The Theological Basis of Christian Pacifism. London: The Fellowship of Reconciliation (1952)
Natural Religion and Christian Theology (1953)
Science, Medicine and Morals: A Survey and a Suggestion (1959)
Paul and the Gospel of Jesus (1960)
Teilhard de Chardin: Scientist and Seer (1962)

References

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Randall 2015, p. 22.
^ ^a ^b Randall 2015, p. 35.
^ ^a ^b Randall 2015, p. 21.
^ Randall 2015, p. 40.
^ ^a ^b Pepper, Simon (10 October 2005). "Andrew Raven". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
^ Randall 2015, pp. 29–30.
^ Randall 2015, pp. 31–32.
^ Hefner 2001, p. 234.
^ Randall 2015, p. 36.
^ Klaaren 1977, p. 4.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Randall 2015, p. 20.
^ Butler 1965, p. 254; Randall 2015, p. 21.
^ ^a ^b ^c Poon, Heidi (18 August 2014). "Charles Earle Raven". The Gifford Lectures. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
^ Randall 2015.
^ Brock & Young 1999, p. 101.
^ "Spotlight on Hélène Jeanty-Raven". Pieces (Christ's College Newsletter), Lent Term 2021 (40): 11. February 2021.
^ Butler 1965, p. 256.
^ Bouma-Prediger 2017, pp. 145–158.
^ ^a ^b Bowler 2004, pp. 61–62.

Bibliography

Bouma-Prediger, Steven (2017). Early Ecotheology and Joseph Sittler. Lit Verlag. ISBN 978-3-643-90837-7.
Bowler, Peter J. (2004). "The Specter of Darwinism: The Popular Image of Darwinism in Early Twentieth-Century Britain". In Lustig, Abigail; Richards, Robert J.; Ruse, Michael (eds.). Darwinian Heresies. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 48–68. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511512179.003. ISBN 978-0-521-81516-1.
Brock, Peter; Young, Nigel (1999). Pacifism in the Twentieth Century. New York: Syracuse University Press. ISBN 978-0-8156-8125-0.
Butler, F. H. C. (1965). "Obituary: Charles Earle Raven (1885–1964)". The British Journal for the History of Science. 2 (3): 254–256. doi:10.1017/S0007087400002259. ISSN 1474-001X. JSTOR 4024940.
Hefner, Philip (2001). "Evolution". In Fahlbusch, Erwin; Lochman, Jan Milič; Mbiti, John; Pelikan, Jaroslav; Vischer, Lukas (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Vol. 2. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 228–236. ISBN 978-0-8028-2414-1.
Klaaren, Eugene M. (1977). Religious Origins of Modern Science: Belief in Creation in Seventeenth-Century Thought. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8028-1683-2.
Randall, Ian M. (2015). "Evangelical Spirituality, Science, and Mission: A Study of Charles Raven (1885–1964), Regius Professor of Divinity, Cambridge University". Anglican and Episcopal History. 84 (1): 20–48. ISSN 0896-8039. JSTOR 43685075.

External links

Academic offices
Preceded by Alexander Nairne	Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge 1932–1950	Succeeded by Michael Ramsey
Preceded by Charles Galton Darwin	Master of Christ's College, Cambridge 1939–1950	Succeeded by Brian Downs
Preceded by Henry Thirkill	Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1947–1949	Succeeded by Sydney Castle Roberts
Preceded by Niels Bohr	Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh 1950–1952	Succeeded by Arnold J. Toynbee
Awards
Preceded by Richard Aldington	James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography 1947	Succeeded by Percy Scholes

[FOOTNOTERandall201522-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Randall 2015, p. 22.

[FOOTNOTERandall201535-2] Randall 2015, p. 35.

[FOOTNOTERandall201521-3] Randall 2015, p. 21.

[FOOTNOTERandall201540-4] Randall 2015, p. 40.

[Pepper_2005-5] Pepper, Simon (10 October 2005). "Andrew Raven". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 September 2020.

[FOOTNOTERandall201529–30-6] Randall 2015, pp. 29–30.

[FOOTNOTERandall201531–32-7] Randall 2015, pp. 31–32.

[FOOTNOTEHefner2001234-8] Hefner 2001, p. 234.

[FOOTNOTERandall201536-9] Randall 2015, p. 36.

[FOOTNOTEKlaaren19774-10] Klaaren 1977, p. 4.

[FOOTNOTERandall201520-11] Randall 2015, p. 20.

[FOOTNOTEButler1965254Randall201521-12] Butler 1965, p. 254; Randall 2015, p. 21.

[Poon-13] Poon, Heidi (18 August 2014). "Charles Earle Raven". The Gifford Lectures. Retrieved 5 November 2017.

[FOOTNOTERandall2015-14] Randall 2015.

[FOOTNOTEBrockYoung1999101-15] Brock & Young 1999, p. 101.

[16] "Spotlight on Hélène Jeanty-Raven". Pieces (Christ's College Newsletter), Lent Term 2021 (40): 11. February 2021.

[FOOTNOTEButler1965256-17] Butler 1965, p. 256.

[FOOTNOTEBouma-Prediger2017145–158-18] Bouma-Prediger 2017, pp. 145–158.

[FOOTNOTEBowler200461–62-19] Bowler 2004, pp. 61–62.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

v t e Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge
15th century	Thomas Ashwell Henry Stockton Nicholas de Swaffham Nicholas Gay William Millington John Roclyffe Thomas Stoyle William Uttyng William Smyth Edmund Conisborough Thomas Stoyle William Towne Thomas Tuppin John Riplingham John Camberton William Rawson William Stockdale John Dolman Henry Rudd John Smith John Smith Henry Babington
16th century	John Fisher Humphrey Fitzwilliam Geoffrey Knight John Smith Richard Burton John Eccleston William Robson William Buckenham Thomas Thompson John Fawne John Eccleston Robert Dowsing Edmund Natares John Watson Edmund Natares Thomas Stackhouse John Edmunds Thomas Green Henry Bullock Edmund Natares John Edmunds William Buckmaster John Watson Simon Haynes John Crayford Francis Mallet George Day William Buckmaster John Edmunds Francis Mallet Richard Standish John Edmunds Richard Standish John Edmunds Sir Thomas Smith John Madew Matthew Parker John Madew William Bill Matthew Parker Walter Haddon John Madew Andrew Perne Edward Hawford Edwin Sandys John Young William Glyn Cuthbert Scott Andrew Perne John Pory Robert Brassey Edmund Cosyn Andrew Perne Henry Harvey Philip Baker Francis Newton Edward Hawford Robert Beaumont John Stokes Robert Beaumont Roger Kelke Richard Longworth John Young John May John Whitgift Roger Kelke Thomas Byng John Whitgift Andrew Perne John Still Roger Goad Richard Howland Thomas Byng John Hatcher Andrew Perne William Fulke John Bell Richard Howland Robert Norgate Humphrey Tindall John Copcot Thomas Legge Thomas Nevile Thomas Preston Robert Some Thomas Legge John Still John Duport Roger Goad John Jegon Robert Some John Jegon
17th century	John Duport William Smith John Cowell Richard Clayton Samuel Harsnett Roger Goad Thomas Jegon John Duport Fogge Newton Barnabas Gooch (or Goche) Valentine Cary Clement Corbet Samuel Harsnett Owen Gwyn John Hills John Richardson William Branthwaite John Gostlin Robert Scott Samuel Ward Leonard Mawe Jerome Beale Thomas Paske John Mansell John Gostlin Henry Smyth Thomas Bainbridge Matthew Wren Henry Butts Thomas Comber Benjamin Lany Richard Love William Beale Henry Smyth Thomas Comber Ralph Brownrigg John Cosin Richard Holdsworth Ralph Brownrigg Thomas Hill John Arrowsmith Anthony Tuckney Thomas Horton Benjamin Whichcote Samuel Bolton Richard Minshull Lazarus Seaman John Lightfoot Theophilus Dillingham John Worthington John Bond William Dillingham Henry Ferne Henry Ferne Edward Rainbowe William Dillingham James Fleetwood Anthony Sparrow Francis Wilford John Howorth James Fleetwood Edmund Boldero James Duport John Breton Robert Mapletoft William Wells John Spencer Edmund Boldero Isaac Barrow Sir Thomas Page Thomas Holbech Francis Turner John Eachard Humphrey Gower Nathaniel Coga John Copleston Henry James Samuel Blyth William Saywell John Peachell John Balderston John Montagu John Covel James Johnson Charles Roderick Gabriel Quadring George Oxenden William Stanley Thomas Browne John Eachard Henry James Sir William Dawes Thomas Green Richard Bentley
18th century	Thomas Richardson Charles Ashton George Bramston Sir John Ellys Bardsey Fisher John Balderston Edward Lany John Covel Charles Roderick Nathaniel Lloyd Gabriel Quadring John Adams Thomas Green Thomas Sherlock Daniel Waterland William Grigg Sir Thomas Gooch Thomas Crosse Andrew Snape William Savage John Davies Joseph Craven Robert Lambert John Frankland Robert Lambert Matthias Mawson Charles Morgan Roger Long William Towers John Adams John Wilcox William Richardson John Whalley Edward Hubbard Sir Edward Simpson William Sedgwick Robert Smith William George Kenrick Prescot George Rooke Edmund Castle Francis Parris Thomas Chapman Edmund Keene John Wilcox Philip Yonge Hugh Thomas Edmund Law John Sumner John Green Lynford Caryl Sir James Burrough George Sandby Robert Plumptre Peter Godard William Elliston John Barnardiston William Samuel Powell John Smith Sir James Marriott John Hinchliffe William Richardson John Sumner James Brown William Cooke Lynford Caryl Hon. Barton Wallop Richard Farmer John Chevallier Hugh Thomas Robert Plumptre William Colman Lowther Yates John Barker Richard Beadon John Torkington Peter Peckard Joseph Turner Sir James Marriott William Elliston Richard Farmer Francis Barnes William Pearce William Craven Thomas Postlethwaite Isaac Milner William Colman Lowther Yates Philip Douglas Richard Fisher Belward Robert Cory Humphrey Sumner William Lort Mansel William Gretton
19th century	Joseph Proctor Humphrey Sumner Martin Davy John Torkington Joseph Turner William Pearce Francis Barnes Edward Pearson Isaac Milner Philip Douglas Thomas Browne John Davie Robert Cory William Chafy George Thackeray John Kaye James Wood William Webb George Neville William Frere Christopher Wordsworth William French Henry Godfrey John Lamb Thomas Le Blanc Joseph Proctor Christopher Wordsworth Martin Davy Gilbert Ainslie William Chafy George Thackeray John Graham William Webb Joshua King William French George Archdall Gilbert Ainslie Thomas Worsley William Hodgson Ralph Tatham John Graham George Archdall William Whewell William Hodgson Robert Phelps Ralph Tatham Henry Philpott Robert Phelps Henry Wilkinson Cookson James Cartmell George Corrie Richard Okes James Pulling Thomas Geldart Edwin Guest William Whewell Henry Philpott William Henry Bateson Latimer Neville George Phillips Edward Atkinson Henry Wilkinson Cookson James Cartmell William Hepworth Thompson Edward Atkinson John Power Henry Wilkinson Cookson Samuel Phear Edward Atkinson John Power Edward Perowne James Porter Norman Macleod Ferrers Charles Swainson Charles Taylor Charles Edward Searle Henry Montagu Butler John Peile Augustus Austen Leigh Charles Smith Alexander Hill William Chawner
20th century	Adolphus Ward Frederic Chase Edward Beck Ernest Stewart Roberts Arthur James Mason Robert Forsyth Scott Stuart Alexander Donaldson M. R. James Thomas Fitzpatrick Arthur Shipley Peter Giles Edmund Pearce Albert Seward George Weekes Thomas Fitzpatrick Allen Beville Ramsay Will Spens J. F. Cameron Godfrey Wilson Henry Roy Dean Ernest Alfred Benians John Archibald Venn Thomas Hele Henry Thirkill Charles E. Raven Sydney Castle Roberts Sir Lionel Whitby Henry Willink Brian Downs Edgar Adrian Herbert Butterfield Ivor Jennings John Boys Smith Arthur Armitage Eric Ashby Owen Chadwick William Alexander Deer Jack Linnett Rosemary Murray Alan Cottrell Peter Swinnerton-Dyer Harry Hinsley John Butterfield Richard Adrian, 2nd Baron Adrian Michael McCrum
Full-time	Sir David Williams Sir Alec Broers Dame Alison Richard Sir Leszek Borysiewicz Stephen Toope Deborah Prentice

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Japan Italy Australia Czech Republic Netherlands Norway Korea Sweden Poland Vatican Israel Catalonia
Artists	Scientific illustrators
People	Trove
Other	IdRef SNAC