Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Christian leader David Edward Jenkins (26 January 1925Template:Spaced ndash4 September 2016) was a Church of England cleric and theologian. He was Bishop of Durham from 1984 until 1994. After his retirement, he continued to serve as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds.<ref>Church blessing for homosexual vicar Template:Webarchive, The Daily Telegraph, 22 December 2005</ref>
Early lifeEdit
Jenkins was born in Bromley, Kent, to Lionel Jenkins, who worked in a bank, and his wife Dora (née Page).<ref name=Telegraph_obit /><ref name=Guardian_obit /> His family were Methodist.<ref name=BBC_obit /> He was educated at St Dunstan's College, Catford.<ref name=Telegraph_obit>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Guardian_obit>Template:Cite news</ref> Having attended a Church of England ordination conference at Bangalore during his service in India, he took up a scholarship to enter Queen's College, Oxford,<ref name=tcoc1 /> where he graduated in 1954.<ref name=whoswho />
During the Second World War, he was called up in the autumn of 1943.<ref name=tcoc1>Template:Cite bookIntroduction.</ref> He was commissioned in the Royal Artillery after officer training at Harrogate in April 1945.<ref name=tcoc2>Template:Cite bookBetween pages 106-107.</ref> At the end of the war he was a staff officer at General Headquarters in India.<ref name=tcoc3>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1946 he was attached to the 10th Indian Field Regiment, Royal Indian Artillery before its disbandment.<ref name=tcoc4>Template:Cite bookIntroduction.</ref> He demobilised as a captain in 1947.<ref name=whoswho>Template:Cite book</ref>
Ordained ministryEdit
Jenkins trained for ordination at Lincoln Theological College. He was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1953, and as a priest in 1954 by the Bishop of Birmingham. He served as curate at St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham.<ref name=crockford>Template:Cite book</ref>
He was chaplain and Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford (1954–1969), and a lecturer in theology at the University of Oxford (1955–1969). He also worked for the World Council of Churches and the William Temple Foundation. He was appointed Professor of Theology at the University of Leeds in 1979, and was made Emeritus Professor when he left Leeds in 1984.<ref>University of Leeds, List of Emeritus Professors Template:Webarchive</ref> In addition to his teaching appointments Jenkins had been Examining Chaplain to the Bishops of Lichfield (1956–69), Newcastle upon Tyne (1957–69), Bristol (1958–84), Wakefield (1978–84) and Bradford (1979–84).<ref name=whoswho />
Bishop of DurhamEdit
His selection as Bishop of Durham was controversial due to allegations that he held heterodox beliefs, particularly regarding the virgin birth and the bodily resurrection.<ref name=Telegraph_obit /><ref name=Guardian_obit /><ref name=BBC_obit /> Between his selection and consecration, he said in an interview: "I wouldn't put it past God to arrange a virgin birth if he wanted. But I don't think he did."<ref name=Guardian_obit /> His widely quoted comment about the resurrection of Christ being "just a conjuring trick with bones" is a misrepresentation;<ref name=Guardian_obit /><ref name=Davie_2006>Template:Cite journal</ref> his actual words as recorded on television say the reverse: the resurrection is not a conjuring trick with bones. The original line appears to have been "[the Resurrection] is real. That's the point. All I said was 'literally physical'. I was very careful in the use of language. After all, a conjuring trick with bones proves only that somebody's very clever at a conjuring trick with bones."<ref>"Profile: The one true Bishop of Durham: Dr David Jenkins, retiring scourge of sacred cows" Template:Webarchive, The Independent, 5 February 1994</ref> According to his BBC obituary, he considered "the resurrection was not a single event, but a series of experiences that gradually convinced people that Jesus's life, power, purpose and personality were actually continuing."<ref name=BBC_obit />
Nonetheless, Jenkins' public pronouncements caused great disquiet, particularly within his own diocese. As a result of doubts concerning his elevation to bishop, a petition signed by more than 12,000 people was submitted to the Archbishop of York.<ref name=BBC_obit/>
Three days after his consecration as bishop on 6 July 1984, York Minster was struck by lightning, resulting in a disastrous fire which some interpreted as a sign of divine wrath at Jenkins's appointment.<ref name=Telegraph_obit /><ref name=Davie_2006 /><ref>Dr Runcie discounts 'wrath of God' theory, The Glasgow Herald, 10 July 1984</ref>
As a bishop, Jenkins was known for his willingness to speak his mind.<ref name=BBC_obit>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1989 he made an extended appearance on the television discussion programme After Dark, alongside among others Steven Rose, Frank Cioffi, Dorothy Rowe and Michael Bentine.
After leaving office in 1994 he continued to voice his opinions, such as in a BBC interview in 2003.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Political viewsEdit
Jenkins also became identified with opposition to the policies of the Thatcher and Major governments and subsequently was a critic of New Labour.<ref name=BBC_obit /> He argued that what these governments shared was a dogmatic faith in the market<ref name=Chase_2000>Template:Cite journal</ref> which had many pseudo-religious elements to it. This led him to write at length about what he saw as the intellectual deficiencies of economic theory and market theorising and its pseudo-theological character.Template:Citation needed
His book Market Whys and Human Wherefores: Thinking Again About Markets, Politics, and People was an extended layman's critique of economic theory and its application to policy, in which he described himself as an 'anxious idiot'<ref name=Chase_2000 /> using the latter term in its original meaning of an ordinary person with no professional expertise.<ref>Market Whys and Human Wherefores: Thinking Again About Markets, Politics, and People, David Jenkins, Cassell, 2000, pages 10–11</ref> It nevertheless diagnosed many of the problems with economic theory and its application to a deregulated economy that would later be seen as prescient in the light of the global economic crisis of 2007 onwards.Template:Citation needed In Dilemmas of Freedom, he also challenged the idea that markets created freedom.<ref>Dilemmas of Freedom, University of Southampton, 1989</ref> In Price, Cost, Excellence and Worth: Can the idea of a university survive the force of the market? he similarly questioned whether they were compatible with the idea of a university<ref>Price, cost, excellence and worth: Can the idea of a university survive the force of the market?, Centre for the Study of Theology in the University of Essex, 1991</ref> while in The Market and Health Care, he addressed the issue of health care in a similar vein.<ref>The Market and health care, University of Edinburgh, Centre for Theology and Public Issues, 1990</ref>
ControversiesEdit
In 2005, he became one of the first clerics in the Church of England to participate to the public blessing of a civil partnership between two homosexual men, one of whom was a Church of England priest.<ref name=BBC_obit />
In 2006, Jenkins was banned from preaching in some of his local churches after reportedly "swearing" in a sermon, using the words "bloody" and "damn".<ref>Bishop banned from pulpit for swearing, The Times, 27 August 2006</ref> In 2002 he published his memoir The Calling of a Cuckoo: Not Quite an Autobiography.<ref>The Calling of a Cuckoo: Not Quite an Autobiography, David Jenkins, A&C Black, 2003</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
In 1949, Jenkins married Stella Mary Peet, known as Mollie. She died in 2008. The couple had two sons and two daughters.<ref name=Telegraph_obit /><ref name=Guardian_obit /> His daughter Rebecca<ref>Family affair Template:Webarchive, Northern Echo, 6 April 2011</ref> was his assistant and PR officer while he was the Bishop of Durham.<ref name=Guardian_obit /> Jenkins died on 4 September 2016 at the age of 91.<ref name=Telegraph_obit /><ref name=Guardian_obit />
Selected worksEdit
He wrote numerous books on Christian theology which include:
- Guide to the debate about God original edition 1966 (2nd ed. Cambridge; Cambridgeshire : Lutterworth Press, 1985.)
- The glory of man, London : SCM Press, 1967
- Living with questions Investigations into the theory and practice of belief in God, London: SCM Press, 1969
- What is Man, London : SCM Press 1970, 1985
- The contradiction of Christianity, London : S.C.M. Press, 1976 (based on the Edward Cadbury Lectures given at the University of Birmingham in 1974)
- The God of freedom and the freedom of God, London : The Hibbert Trust
- God, miracle and the Church of England London : SCM, 1987
- God, Jesus and life in the spirit London : SCM Press, 1988
- God, politics and the future, London: SCM Press 1988
- Still living with questions, London : SCM, 1990
- (with Rebecca Jenkins) Free to Believe, London : BBC Books, 1991.
He also gave the Bampton Lectures on the Incarnation at Oxford.<ref>Biography on Biography.com</ref>