John A.T. Robinson
Encyclopedia
John Arthur Thomas Robinson (1919 in Canterbury
, England – December 5, 1983 at Cambridge
) was a New Testament
scholar, author and a former Anglican Bishop of Woolwich
, England.
He was a lecturer
at Trinity College
, Cambridge
, and later Dean of Trinity College until his death in 1983 from cancer
. Robinson was considered a major force in shaping liberal Christian theology
. Along with Harvard theologian Harvey Cox
, he spearheaded the field of secular theology
and, like William Barclay
, he was a believer in universal salvation.
His book Honest to God caused controversy, as it called on Christians to view of God as the "Ground of Being" rather than as a supernatural being "out there". In his later books, he championed early dates and apostolic authorship for the gospels, largely without success.
school and in the University of Cambridge
(Jesus College
).
He studied for ordination
at Westcott House, Cambridge
and his first post was as a Curate
at St Matthew, Bristol
. After this he was Chaplain
of Wells Theological College. Next he became a Fellow
and Dean
at Clare College, Cambridge
and a Lecturer
in Divinity
at the University
until his elevation to the Episcopate.
in 1963. Robinson's own evaluation of Honest to God, found in the subsequent Exploration into God, stated that the chief contribution of this work was its successful synthesis of the work of seemingly opposed theologians Paul Tillich
and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
.
Robinson proposed abandoning the notion of a God "out there", existing somewhere out in the universe as a "Cosmic supremo", just as we have abandoned already the idea of God "up there", the notion of the old man up in the sky. In its place he offered a reinterpretation of God, whom he defined as Love. After endorsing Paul Tillich's assertion that God is the "Ground of all being", Robinson wrote: "For it is in making himself nothing, in his utter self-surrender to others in love, that [Jesus] discloses and lays bare the Ground of man's being as Love". He also wrote: "For assertions about God are in the last analysis assertions about Love".
Honest to God caused a storm of controversy. While the bulk of his ideas have become integrated with the more liberal circles of Christian thought, he is considered an extremist by some. His ideas are considered anathema
by Barth
ian evangelicals and by those whose concept of a supernatural
God supersedes other theological concerns.
tradition, he challenged the work of colleagues in the field of exegetical
criticism. Specifically, Robinson examined the New Testament's reliability, because he believed that very little original research had been completed in the field during the period between 1900 and the mid-1970s. Concluding his research, he wrote in his work, Redating the New Testament, that past scholarship was based on a "tyranny of unexamined assumptions" and an "almost willful blindness".
Robinson concluded that much of the New Testament was written before AD 64, partly based on his judgement that there is little textual evidence that the New Testament reflects knowledge of the Temple's AD 70 destruction. In relation to the four gospels' dates of authorship, Robinson placed Matthew at 40 to after 60, Mark at about 45 to 60, Luke at before 57 to after 60, and John at from 40 to after 65. Robinson also argued that the letter of James was penned by a brother of Jesus Christ within twenty years of Jesus’ death, that Paul authored all the books that bear his name, and that the apostle John wrote the fourth Gospel. Robinson also opined that due to his investigations, a rewriting of many theologies of the New Testament was in order.
C. H. Dodd, in a frank letter to Robinson wrote: "I should agree with you that much of the late dating is quite arbitrary, even wanton, the offspring not of any argument that can be presented, but rather of the critic's prejudice that, if he appears to assent to the traditional position of the early church, he will be thought no better than a stick-in-the-mud." Robinson's call for redating the New Testament was echoed by subsequent scholarship such as John Wenham
's work Redating Matthew, Mark and Luke: A Fresh Assault on the Synoptic Problem. Other subsequent works calling for redating of some or all of the gospels were written by such scholars as Claude Tresmontant
, Gunther Zuntz, Carsten Peter Thiede
, Eta Linnemann, Harold Riley, Bernard Orchard.
Robinson's early dates for the gospels, especially John, have not carried widespread conviction among modern-critical scholars, although most conservative and traditionalist scholars concur with his dating of the synoptics.
of all immortal souls.
, claiming that it was a book which "every Christian should read".
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, England – December 5, 1983 at Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
) was a New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
scholar, author and a former Anglican Bishop of Woolwich
Bishop of Woolwich
The Bishop of Woolwich is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwark, in the Province of Canterbury, England....
, England.
He was a lecturer
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, and later Dean of Trinity College until his death in 1983 from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. Robinson was considered a major force in shaping liberal Christian theology
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
. Along with Harvard theologian Harvey Cox
Harvey Cox
Harvey Gallagher Cox, Jr. is one of the preeminent theologians in the United States and served as Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School, until his retirement in October 2009...
, he spearheaded the field of secular theology
Secular theology
The field of secular theology, a subfield of liberal theology advocated by Anglican bishop John A. T. Robinson somewhat paradoxically combines secularism and theology. Recognized in the 1960s, it was influenced both by neo-orthodoxy, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Harvey Cox, and the existentialism of Søren...
and, like William Barclay
William Barclay (theologian)
William Barclay was an author, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow.-Life:...
, he was a believer in universal salvation.
His book Honest to God caused controversy, as it called on Christians to view of God as the "Ground of Being" rather than as a supernatural being "out there". In his later books, he championed early dates and apostolic authorship for the gospels, largely without success.
Early life and career
Robinson was educated at MarlboroughMarlborough College
Marlborough College is a British co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils, located in Marlborough, Wiltshire.Founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, the school now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. Currently there are just over 800...
school and in the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
(Jesus College
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
).
He studied for ordination
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
at Westcott House, Cambridge
Westcott House, Cambridge
Westcott House is a Church of England theological college based in Jesus Lane located in the centre of the university city of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.Its main activity is training people for ordained ministry in Anglican churches...
and his first post was as a Curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
at St Matthew, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. After this he was Chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
of Wells Theological College. Next he became a Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
and Dean
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
at Clare College, Cambridge
Clare College, Cambridge
Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...
and a Lecturer
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
in Divinity
Divinity (academic discipline)
Divinity is the study of Christian and other theology and ministry at a school, divinity school, university, or seminary. The term is sometimes a synonym for theology as an academic, speculative pursuit, and sometimes is used for the study of applied theology and ministry to make a distinction...
at the University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
until his elevation to the Episcopate.
Honest to God
Robinson wrote several notable books, the most famous being Honest to GodHonest to God
Honest to God is a book written by the Anglican Bishop of Woolwich John A.T. Robinson, criticising traditional Christian theology. It aroused a storm of controversy on its original publication by SCM Press in 1963...
in 1963. Robinson's own evaluation of Honest to God, found in the subsequent Exploration into God, stated that the chief contribution of this work was its successful synthesis of the work of seemingly opposed theologians Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...
and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plans by members of the Abwehr to assassinate Adolf Hitler...
.
Robinson proposed abandoning the notion of a God "out there", existing somewhere out in the universe as a "Cosmic supremo", just as we have abandoned already the idea of God "up there", the notion of the old man up in the sky. In its place he offered a reinterpretation of God, whom he defined as Love. After endorsing Paul Tillich's assertion that God is the "Ground of all being", Robinson wrote: "For it is in making himself nothing, in his utter self-surrender to others in love, that [Jesus] discloses and lays bare the Ground of man's being as Love". He also wrote: "For assertions about God are in the last analysis assertions about Love".
Honest to God caused a storm of controversy. While the bulk of his ideas have become integrated with the more liberal circles of Christian thought, he is considered an extremist by some. His ideas are considered anathema
Anathema
Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...
by Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
ian evangelicals and by those whose concept of a supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
God supersedes other theological concerns.
Redating the New Testament
Although Robinson was within the liberal theologyLiberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
tradition, he challenged the work of colleagues in the field of exegetical
Exegesis
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially a religious text. Traditionally the term was used primarily for exegesis of the Bible; however, in contemporary usage it has broadened to mean a critical explanation of any text, and the term "Biblical exegesis" is used...
criticism. Specifically, Robinson examined the New Testament's reliability, because he believed that very little original research had been completed in the field during the period between 1900 and the mid-1970s. Concluding his research, he wrote in his work, Redating the New Testament, that past scholarship was based on a "tyranny of unexamined assumptions" and an "almost willful blindness".
Robinson concluded that much of the New Testament was written before AD 64, partly based on his judgement that there is little textual evidence that the New Testament reflects knowledge of the Temple's AD 70 destruction. In relation to the four gospels' dates of authorship, Robinson placed Matthew at 40 to after 60, Mark at about 45 to 60, Luke at before 57 to after 60, and John at from 40 to after 65. Robinson also argued that the letter of James was penned by a brother of Jesus Christ within twenty years of Jesus’ death, that Paul authored all the books that bear his name, and that the apostle John wrote the fourth Gospel. Robinson also opined that due to his investigations, a rewriting of many theologies of the New Testament was in order.
C. H. Dodd, in a frank letter to Robinson wrote: "I should agree with you that much of the late dating is quite arbitrary, even wanton, the offspring not of any argument that can be presented, but rather of the critic's prejudice that, if he appears to assent to the traditional position of the early church, he will be thought no better than a stick-in-the-mud." Robinson's call for redating the New Testament was echoed by subsequent scholarship such as John Wenham
John Wenham
John W. Wenham was an Anglican Bible scholar. Born in 1913, he devoted his professional life to academic and pastoral work. He died February 13, 1996 at age 82 after a series of debilitating strokes....
's work Redating Matthew, Mark and Luke: A Fresh Assault on the Synoptic Problem. Other subsequent works calling for redating of some or all of the gospels were written by such scholars as Claude Tresmontant
Claude Tresmontant
Claude Tresmontant was a French philosopher, Hellenist and theologian.- Biography :He taught medieval philosophy and philosophy of science at the Sorbonne. He was a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Science...
, Gunther Zuntz, Carsten Peter Thiede
Carsten Peter Thiede
Carsten Peter Thiede was a German archaeologist and New Testament scholar. He was also a member of PEN and a Knight of Justice in the Order of St John. Thiede often advanced theories that conflicted with the consensus of academic and theological scholarship...
, Eta Linnemann, Harold Riley, Bernard Orchard.
Robinson's early dates for the gospels, especially John, have not carried widespread conviction among modern-critical scholars, although most conservative and traditionalist scholars concur with his dating of the synoptics.
In the End, God - A Study of the Christian Doctrine of the Last Things (1950)
Modern Universalist writer Brian Hebblethwaite (2010) cites Robinson's In the End, God. A Study of the Christian Doctrine of the Last Things (London: James Clarke & Co., 1950) as arguing for universal reconciliationUniversal reconciliation
In Christian theology, universal reconciliation is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ultimately be reconciled to God.Universal salvation may be related to the perception of a problem of Hell, standing opposed to ideas...
of all immortal souls.
Other
Robinson was also famous for his 1960 court testimony against the censorship of Lady Chatterley's LoverLady Chatterley's Lover
Lady Chatterley's Lover is a novel by D. H. Lawrence, first published in 1928. The first edition was printed privately in Florence, Italy with assistance from Pino Orioli; it could not be published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960...
, claiming that it was a book which "every Christian should read".
By Robinson
- The Body: A Study in Pauline Theology, 1952
- Jesus and His Coming: The Emergence of a Doctrine, 1959
- On Being the Church in the World, 1960
- Honest to God, 1963, Philadelphia: Westminster John KnoxWestminster John KnoxWestminster John Knox is in Louisville, Kentucky and is part of Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, the publishing arm of the Louisville, Kentucky based Presbyterian Church . Their publishing focus is on books in:-History:...
, paperback ed. - The New Reformation, 1965, Westminster John Knox
- Exploration into God, 1967
- But That I Can't Believe!, 1967
- In the End...God: A Study of Last Things, 1968
- The Difference in Being a Christian Today, 1971
- The Human Face of God, 1973
- Redating the New Testament, 1976, Wipf & Stock Publishers: ISBN 1579105270
- “The New Testament Dating Game,” Time (21 March 1977), p. 95.
- Truth is Two-Eyed, 1979
- Wrestling With Romans, 1979
- The Roots of a Radical, 1981
- Where Three Ways Meet, 1983
- Priority of John, 1985
About Robinson
- E. James, A life of Bishop John A.T. Robinson: Scholar, pastor, prophet
- A. Kee, The Roots of Christian Freedom: The Theology of John A.T. Robinson
- D. L. Edwards, The Honest to God Debate (1963)