Patrick Comerford
I have been blogging about the cathedral, churches and chapels in Oxford since I moved to this part of England almost five years. But no accounts of Church life in Oxford would be complete without taking account of the academic theology in Oxford, of the theological colleges that are found in Oxford, and of the Divinity School, which is integral to the story of the teaching of theology in Oxford over the past nine centuries or more, and which I have visited twice in recent weeks.
Tourists crowding into the Bodleian probably want to visit the Divinity School because it has been a location in many Harry Potter films, rather that its role in theological education and church history. But the study of theology and religion has been part and parcel of academic life in the University of Oxford since its origins in the 12th century, or even as early as 1096, which makes it the oldest university in the English-speaking world.
The Ashmolean Museum is the world’s oldest university museum, Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world, and Oxford has the largest academic library system nationwide. Early teaching was conducted by priests, the early curriculum focused on theology and canon law, reflecting its ecclesiastical roots, and most scholars were members of the clergy until the Reformation.
The Regius Professorships of Divinity are among the oldest professorships at Oxford and Cambridge, and for a time there was third chair at Trinity College Dublin. The Oxford and Cambridge chairs were founded by Henry VIII, but the Divinity School is even older than those chairs. It is the oldest purpose-built teaching and examination room in the University of Oxford, and it was built in the Perpendicular Gothic style between 1427 and 1483. It was first built for lectures, oral exams and theological debates and later served as a meeting place for Parliament and the House of Commons.
Today the Divinity School is part of the Bodleian Library and schools complex on Broad Street and Radcliffe Square in Oxford, sitting directly beneath Duke Humfrey’s Library and linked to Convocation House.
When the Divinity School was being built in 1424-1490, the master-masons were Richard Winchcombe in 1429 and Thomas Elkyn in 1439. The upper storey was added by 1489 as Duke Humphrey’s Library. The elaborate stone-vaulted ceiling was designed by William Orchard in the 1480s. The ceiling has very elaborate lierne vaulting and is adorned with 455 carved bosses.
The building is physically attached to the Bodleian Library, with Duke Humfrey’s Library on the first floor above, and it is opposite the Sheldonian Theatre where students matriculate and graduate. At the far end from the Bodleian Library entrance, a door leads to Convocation House, built in 1634-1637.
The building was restored and altered in 1598-1602. The whole building was partially restored, again using Headington stone, in 1660. William Byrd was paid for the insertion in 1669 of the north doorway designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The building was also repaired in 1701-1702.
All the buildings in Radcliffe Square form a group of the highest architectural importance at the heart of the University of Oxford. The west range of the complex, built in 1610-1612, contains the Arts End of the library on the upper storey and the Proscholium on the ground floor. The other three ranges were built in Headington freestone in 1613-1624, with John Akroyd and John and Michael Bently, being master-masons. The west cross-wing was built in 1634-1636 and its west window was rebuilt in 1877.
Extensive restorations were made in Clipsham stone in 1878-1885 to the upper storey, pinnacles and the whole tower of the Five Orders.
The Magnificent Tower forms the Eastern Entrance to the Schools Quadrangle and was built in 1613-1619. The columns on each level represent the five orders of classical architecture (from bottom): Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.
Further refacing of the interior and of the quadrangle on the south were made in 1949. The upper storey forms the Sheldonoian Theatre end of the library and the lower storey contains the Convocation House and the Chancellor’s Court.
A Greek text carved onto a stone ‘open book’ on the soffit of the arch above Sir Christopher Wren’s 1669 doorway on the north side of the Divinity School, facing the Sheldonian Theatre, is said by some sources to be the only Greek inscription in Oxford, although there is a Greek insciption abover the west door of the chapel in Somerville College. The inscription at the Wren door in the Divinity School reads: εὗρον αὐτὸν καθεζόμενον ἐν μέσῳ τῶν διδασκάλων, an abbreviated form of: εὗρον αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καθεζόμενον ἐν μέσῳ τῶν διδασκάλων, ‘they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers’ (Luke 2: 46), a reference to Jesus at the age of 12 debating with the doctors or teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem.
I went back to the Divinity School yesterday to see that Greek quotation. Despite its abbreviated form and with idiosyncratic lettering, is apposite given the building’s original function in teaching theology. The words were added during structural renovations in 1669, when a beautiful window was removed from the Divinity School amid controversy to build a new doorway designed by Christopher Wren, intended for academic processions.
The Vice-Chancellor’s accounts for 1666-1697 document renovations that included Wren’s doorway in 1669. However, despite detailed records of the doorway’s construction, there is no record of who requested the Greek inscription, who provided it or why it was placed there.
The Sir Thomas Bodley plaque above the doors leading into the Divinity School and Bodleian complex has a plaque with the Latin inscription: Quod feliciter vortat (‘May it turn out happily’), a wish for good fortune for the library.
Above the middle doorway on the north face is a panel with an elaborate coat-of-arms for the Earl of Pembroke, including a colourful shield, garter, helm, mantling, motto and two leopards as heraldic supporters. A second panel above has the painted inscription: Guil. Herbert Pembrochiæ comes, Regii hospitii Camerarius, honoratissimus Academiæ Cancellarius.
The prominent bronze statue standing in the Old Schools Quadrangle facing the Divinity School and the entrance of the Bodleian Library is often mistaken for King Charles I, but is actually a statue of William Herbert (1580-1630), 3rd Earl of Pembroke and Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1617 until he died.
The sculptor Hubert Le Sueur also sculpted the equestrian statue of Charles I in London. The statue is cast in bronze, and weighs about 1,600 lb. It was originally placed at Wilton House, the family seat of the Earls of Pembroke, until it was moved to the Bodleian Library in 1723. It was moved to its current outdoor position in 1950.
Despite this mistaken identity, Charles I had links with this part of Oxford: he used the Convocation House and the Divinity School as a meeting place for his parliament during the English Civil War, and there are busts of him in Saint John’s College.
The Divinity School is no longer used for its original purposes, but Oxford continues to offer degrees in Theology and Religion taught by the Faculty of Theology and Religion. The Faculty of Theology and Religion is housed in the state-of-the-art Schwarzman Centre at the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter on Woodstock Road and spans Oxford’s many colleges and private halls. The faculty brings together more than 120 members with expertise in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and other world religions, as well as in comparative, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approaches to the study of religion.
The statutory professorships in theology in Oxford are held in conjunction with a canonry of Christ Church. The professor must be an ordained priest in the Church of England or in an Anglican church in communion with the Church of England, or eligible for and accept ordination. These positions are: Regius Professor of Divinity (Andrew Davison), Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity (Carol Harrison), Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology (vacant, previously Nigel Biggar), and Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History (vacant).
The other professors of theology include the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, Dean Ireland’s Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion; Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, Professor of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions, Professor of Systematic Theology and Professor of Jewish Studies.
The Revd Dr Francis Babington, who was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity from 1561, was a first cousin once removed Henry Comberford, Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral, and Richard Comberford, often said, confusingly, to be the direct ancestor of the Comerford family of Kilkenny and Wexford. Babington was also Proctor of Oxford University (1557), a Fellow of All Souls College, Rector of Milton Keynes, Master of Balliol College (1559-1560), Rector of Lincoln College (1560-1563), and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1560-1562). He survived much of the Tudor Reformation and Marian turmoils, but who was finally forced out of office and into exile in 1565, during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The Divinity School appeared as the Hogwarts Infirmary in several Harry Potter films. It is open for self-guided visitor tours, special exhibitions, university events and for weddings.
As for the Greek inscription above the chapel door in Somerville College, that, hopefully, is a story for another day.
For my guide to churches, chapels and religious buildings and sites in Oxford, visit here
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