and Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 and first made close acquaintance with Catholics. He then volunteered as a naval chaplain, although the Armistice

Armistice

An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...

 had already been signed before he set sail for 18 months in Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

. He spent a further 18 months at United Theological College, Bangalore, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

On his return to England, Flew married in July 1921 Winifred Garrard (1887–1982), a Wesleyan Methodist teacher. Their son Antony Garrard Newton Flew

Antony Flew

Antony Garrard Newton Flew was a British philosopher. Belonging to the analytic and evidentialist schools of thought, he was notable for his works on the philosophy of religion....

 (1923–2010) became a prominent philosopher. He spent the next six years in a circuit ministry in London, where he built up strong ecumenical relations. His friendship with the Austrian Catholic theologian Baron von Hügel

Friedrich von Hügel

Friedrich von Hügel was an influential Austrian Roman Catholic layman, religious writer, Modernist theologian and Christian apologist....

 led him to closer study of spirituality, resulting in his book The Idea of Perfection in Christian Theology (1934), which remained in print for many years. For this he was awarded a doctorate of divinity by the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

, the first ever for a non-Anglican. The book was described quite recently by a fellow theologian as "a comprehensive interpretation of Christian ethics as promulgated by Jesus, right on down through those whom Flew subsequently identifies as the most significant Christian thinkers of the last two thousand years." It shows Flew to be one of several Methodist theologians in the mid-20th century to have become critical of the ideas of John Wesley

John Wesley

John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...

 on sinlessness and purity of intention: "Flew critiques Wesley's attitude to sin as offering only an inadequate account of moral evil," so that he can "posit an over-optimistic instantaneous end to the effects of sin.... The result of these problems is an 'intramundane asceticism', whereby the one assured of sanctification merely endures secular life, allowing a barrier to exist between one's work and worship."

In 1927 Flew was appointed Greenhalgh professor of New Testament language and literature at Wesley House

Wesley House

Wesley House is a Methodist theological college on Jesus Lane in Cambridge, England. It was founded in 1921 as a base for training Methodist ministers within the precincts of the University of Cambridge...

, 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...

, a theological college founded in 1921, of which he was principal in 1937–55. He became a keen contributor to the Cambridge New Testament Seminar, held under the chairmanship up to 1935 of Francis Crawford Burkitt

Francis Crawford Burkitt

Francis Crawford Burkitt was a British theologian and scholar. He was Norris Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, from 1905 until shortly before his death. Burkitt was a sturdy critic of the notion of a distinct "Caesarean Text" of the New Testament put forward by B. H...

, leaving an account of it in an obituary for Burkett in the Proceedings of the British Academy. He was to remain in Cambridge for the rest of his life. Flew took a prominent part in the 1932 reunion of the Wesleyan Methodists with the United Methodists

United Methodist Church (Great Britain)

There are other bodies that have been called the United Methodist Church----The United Methodist Church in Great Britain was a Protestant denomination that existed in the early twentieth century...

 and the Primitive Methodists as the Methodist Church of Great Britain

Methodist Church of Great Britain

The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...

.

On the academic side, one recent scholar concluded, "The Idea of Perfection in Christian Theology (1934) was a meticulous piece of scholarship on a theme dear to Methodist hearts, though it was as an ecclesiologist

Protestant ecclesiology

The term Protestant ecclesiology refers to the spectrum of teachings held by the Protestant Reformers concerning the nature and mystery of the Church.-Theology of grace:...

 that Flew would exert widest influence on Protestant thought" This refers to his book Jesus and his Church (1938), based on a lecture delivered to the Methodist Conference in that year, which stated concisely the premise: "The Church is old in the sense that it is a continuation of the life of Israel, the People of God. It is new in the sense that it is founded on the revelation made through Jesus Christ of God's final purpose for mankind." Particularly relevant at the time was the incisive contribution it made to the then current debate on episcopacy, by showing "the early [Christian] communities to have been independent and unstructured."

Flew's reputation as a scholar and churchman extended far beyond the faculty of divinity in Cambridge. He was elected moderator of the Free Church Federal Council

Free Church Federation

Free Church Federation is a voluntary association of British Nonconformist churches for cooperation in religious social work. It was the outcome of a unifying tendency displayed during the latter part of the 19th century...

 for 1945–6 and president of the Methodist Conference in 1946–7. He gave strong support to the ecumenical Church of South India

Church of South India

The Church of South India is the successor of the Church of England in India. It came into being in 1947 as a union of Anglican and Protestant churches in South India. With a membership of over 3.8 million, it is India's second largest Christian church after the Roman Catholic Church in India...

. In relation to Anglicanism

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

, he co-edited with Rupert E. Davies a report entitled The Catholicity of Protestantism (1950). Having attended several prewar preparatory conferences, he was appointed vice-chairman of the provisional committee of the World Council of Churches

World Council of Churches

The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...

 after the war and took a leading part in its inaugural meeting in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 in 1948. For a further meeting of the World Council of Churches at Lund

Lund

-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...

in 1952 he edited a volume, The Nature of the Church (1950). In retirement he edited the London Quarterly and Holborn Review and worked on a further book, Jesus and his Way, which was published posthumously in 1963. He gave support to the beginnings of Anglican–Methodist dialogue at the Methodist conference in 1955.

Flew died in Cambridge on 10 September 1962.

Biography

• Gordon Stevens Wakefield: Robert Newton Flew, 1886–1962 (London: Epworth Press, 1971). ISBN 0716201861

Works

• The Teaching of the Apostles (1915).
• The Forgiveness of Sins (London: C. H. Kelly, 1916).
• The Excavations and Discoveries in Mesopotamia and their Bearing on the Book of Genesis... (Basrah: Government Press, 1919).
• The Idea of Perfection in Christian Theology. An historical study of the Christian ideal for the present life (London: OUP, 1934).
• Jesus and His Church. A study of the idea of the Ecclesia in the New Testament... (London: Epworth Press, 1938; last reprint: Carlisle: Paternoster, 1998). Fernley-Hartley lecture.
• The Hymns of Charles Wesley. A study of their structure (London: Epworth Press, 1953). Wesley Historical Society lecture.
• Jesus and His Way. A study of the ethics of the New Testament (London: Epworth Press, 1963).

As editor

• With W. R. Maltby: Manuals of Fellowship (London, 1916 onwards).
• With Ernest H. Hayes: Methodist Senior Notes (London, 1935-42)
• With Ernest H. Hayes: Methodist Young People's Notes (London, 1945–50).
• With Rupert E. Davies: The Catholicity of Protestantism. Being a report presented to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury by a group of Free Churchmen (London: Lutterworth Press, 1950, reprint 1951).
• The Nature of the Church: Papers presented to the Theological Commission appointed by the Continuation Committee of the World Conference on Faith and Order (London: SCM Press, 1952).