F. J. Foakes-Jackson
Encyclopedia
Frederick John Foakes Jackson (10 August 1855 – 1 December 1941) was a Church historian. For thirty-four years he taught at Jesus College, Cambridge
, serving as dean from 1895 to 1916. Then, at the age of 61, he became the Briggs
Professor of Christian Institutions at Union Theological Seminary, New York City
, finally becoming emeritus in 1933. He is probably best known for the massive five volume work The Beginnings of Christianity—an edition, translation, commentary, and study of the Acts of Apostles—that he conceived and edited with Kirsopp Lake
.
, Suffolk
, August 10, 1855, the son of the Revd Stephen Jackson and Catharine Cobbold. His father, who died before he was born, was the proprietor of the Ipswich Journal, a respected regional newspaper the family had operated since 1739. His mother was the daughter of Frederick Cobbold, of the 1st dragoon guards
, a member of a distinguished Suffolk family. In 1858 she married Thomas Eyre Foakes, a barrister
of the Inner Temple
. When he began school at Brighton
, he was registered as Frederick John Jackson Foakes, the same was true at Eton College
. He subsequently changed it to Foakes-Jackson.
In a memoir he reports that as a result of this preparatory schooling he "was moderately well read in the classics" and "could write indifferent Latin verse and prose with some ease and had a limited knowledge of Greek." He had "read a good deal of English and Indian history." He had a "pretty sound acquaintance with such books as Gibbon
's History and Adam Smith
's Wealth of Nations and could have passed a fairly searching examination in the novels of Thackeray
, Dickens
, Lever
and Harrison Ainsworth
." As for other modern languages: "His French was that of Stratford-atte-Bowe. Of German he knew nothing." He reports that he had benefited greatly from his tutor at Eton
: "I was under a man of extraordinary culture, a classicist, a man of letters, a linguist, one gifted in the artistic taste. After five years of almost constant strife, for I don't think we liked one another, I changed from being an idle little boy into a comparatively well educated man, with wide interests and respect for learning of every description."
as an ordinary undergraduate, having failed to obtain a scholarship. As he explains in his memoir: "The natural thing at this time for such a boy was to read for classical honours. He could have done perhaps fairly well in the philosophical, historical and literary side, but Cambridge in his time wisely discouraged elegant triflers and demanded a severe and exact knowledge of Latin and Greek as languages. Our young friend liked to find out what a tragedy or comedy, a dialogue of Plato or a book of Thucydides was about, but the niceties of the language bored him, and to puzzle out a crabbed passage which was quite uninteresting when mastered, even supposing anyone capable of such a feat, seemed a needless waste of time when there were so many fascinating books to read. No wonder, therefore, he never got a classical scholarship and that he set himself to study theology as a totally new subject, which might become of use if he became a clergyman."
His principal teachers were J. B. Lightfoot
, Henry Melvill Gwatkin
, F. J. A. Hort
, Henry Barclay Swete
, and Robert Sinker. Lightfoot lectured in the immense dining hall of Trinity college on the Acts of the Apostles and the refutation of the anonymous work Supernatural Religion (later determined to be from Walter Richard Cassels
). As Foakes-Jackson recalls, "Lightfoot was an admirable lecturer, his voice was clear, his arrangement lucid, his learning unquestionable." However, the "behavior of the audiences was not edifying. The virtuous attended and took notes, the studious devoted themselves to their own subjects, and read books bearing on them, the frivolous read novels, the utterly profane played surreptitious games of cards, the rest slept." "Gwatkin, who had no recognized position in the faculty, was a real lecturer, brilliant, incisive and even humorous." Yet the most profit was derived from Hort and Swete. "Hort lectured on Origen contra Celsum in his private rooms in Emmanuel College to a class of about five, which fell to two before he had given many lectures; but, though there was little to inspire, there was a great deal to be learned. He really showed how a subject ought to be tackled, and the impression produced on his hearer's mind was, 'This is learning.' Swete, less original but a most profound student of dogmatic theology, was almost equally instructive, and both of them deserve the gratitude of a young student for shewing him what it meant to know a subject thoroughly." However, the bulk of his instruction came from his private tutor, the Revd Robert Sinker, Librarian of Trinity College and "a Hebraist of the old school." Under Sinker he was awarded the Jeremie Septuagint Prize in his second year (1877). Two years later (1879) he would win the Scholfield Prize in Biblical Greek and earn his B.A., taking a first class in Theology tripos with a distinction in Hebrew.
Following his graduation, financial circumstances forced him to withdraw from the university. He was ordained a deacon 8 June 1879 and became the curate
of Ottershaw
, Surrey
, 1879-81, being ordained priest 23 May 1880. He maintained his ties to the university and was able to secure the Crosse Divinity Scholarship (1879) and the next year, the Lightfoot Scholarship in Ecclesiastical History (1880), finally receiving his M.A. in 1882. He continued as curate of St Giles, Cambridge, 1882-84, and St Botolph, Cambridge, 1884-90.
In October 1882 Foakes-Jackson became chaplain and lecturer in divinity and Hebrew
at Jesus College, Cambridge
. He was elected fellow in 1886 and also became an assistant tutor the same year. He served as dean of the college from 1895 until 1916; Junior Proctor 1894; Senior Proctor 1909. He was appointed examining chaplain to the bishop of Peterborough
, 1897-1912, and honorary Canon of Peterborough, 1901-1927. He was also select preacher at Cambridge in 1885, 1887, 1892, 1909, and Hulsean Lecturer
in 1902. He was awarded a B.D.
in 1903, and D.D.
in 1905.
"My work was certainly varied," Foakes-Jackson recalled in a memoir, "I had to send my men to various lecturers in other colleges and to deliver my own generally on the Old Testament and church history. As a rule these classes were somewhat informal. I initiated classes or individuals into the mysteries of the Hebrew verb, and listened to others stumbling over the correct translation of the Pauline Epistles. ... My work was unmethodical and unscientific but I had always to keep in mind that every pupil had to be examined by other people and that my instruction was to be tested by my colleagues and not by myself." In assessing his work, H. D. A. Major maintains that research "was not really his sphere. His gifts were primarily those of an educationist. His writings have always seemed to us to have been characterized, not by profound learning nor accurate scholarship, but by real insight, lucid exposition, and arresting freshness of treatment. He had a great gift of humour, and he selected illuminating, unforgettable incidents and dicta to illustrate his expositions. He was one of the most inspiring of tutors and produced a great body of brilliant pupils. It was said that at one time there were no less than ten Deans of Cambridge Colleges who had been tutored by Foakes-Jackson." H. G. Wood, in the preface to his Hulsean Lectures
of 1933, recalled that "He combined a sense of the relative importance of different events, movements, and tendencies, with an interest in often trivial but piquant detail. To read under his guidance was to begin to appreciate the true standards of historical significance."
P. Gardner-Smith, who studied under Foakes-Jackson and became dean six years after his departure, recalls that he had "a flair for penetrating a mass of detail to point out the essential facts, and he could make any subject interesting. This was due to his remarkable personality. Never well off, he loved to be hospitable, and taught his students to appreciate good wine. He was described as the last eighteenth-century wit, and his conversation was characterized by shrewd humour; this, combined with his personal eccentricities and his unfailing kindness, made him immensely popular." Known as Foakie by his intimates, he was in his early days a prominent oarsman and served as the treasurer of the Cambridge University Boat Club 1895-1910. In fact he had an intense interest in English sport and felt it was an important part of university life. In 1907 he would write: "It is all very well, however, to write philosophically on all the possible evils of athleticism, but imagine an Oxford or Cambridge full of mild effeminate youths intent on nothing but succeeding in examinations. How soon should we sigh for the old barbarism! Athletics at least keep the atmosphere pure and manly, and its effects for good are seen in almost every department." Also during his Cambridge years Foakes-Jackson held high office among the Freemasons, being Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England, 1907-1908, and the Grand Superintendent of the Royal Arch
, Cambridgeshire
, until 1919.
In 1916 Foakes-Jackson traveled to the United States to deliver the Lowell Lectures in Boston. While there he was offered and accepted a position as Charles A. Briggs
graduate professor of Christian institutions at Union Theological Seminary, New York City
. He held that position until 1933, finally becoming emeritus that year. The reason for the move may be due in part to his failing to become the Regius Professor of Divinity
at Cambridge, which went instead to Vincent Henry Stanton that year (1916). With the burden of college teaching removed, he was able to concentrate on his writing; thus, most of his books were published while at Union. He was a lecturer at the Jewish Institute of Religion
, 1924-27, and at the General Theological Seminary
, 1925-26. In 1933 he was awarded a D. Théol.
from the University of Strasbourg
, France
, and in 1935 a Litt. D.
from the University of the South. He was a fellow of the Royal Historical Society
(F.R.Hist.S.), fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
(F.R.L.S.), honorary correspondent of the Institut Historique et Héraldique de France, and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
.
Foakes-Jackson married Anna Maria Everett, daughter of George Grimwade Everett of Hadleigh, Suffolk
, in 1895. She died in 1931. The next year he married Clara Fawcett, widow of Arthur Jackson Tomlinson of New York. There were no children from either marriage. He died in Englewood
, New Jersey
, December 1, 1941.
The massive five volume work The Beginnings of Christianity was originally conceived by Foakes-Jackson and Kirsopp Lake
during conversations at the University of Leiden sometime before 1912 (vol. v, p. vii). It sought to investigate the view "that Christianity in the first century achieved a synthesis between the Greco-Oriental and the Jewish religions in the Roman Empire. The preaching of repentance, and of the Kingdom of God begun by Jesus passed into the sacramental cult of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the details are complex and obscure. What were the exact elements in this synthesis? How was it effected?" (vol. i, p. vii). The project was to be a grand endeavor. The five volumes that were ultimately published only comprise "Part I". As they explain: "Before, however, attempting to reconstruct this history we believed it necessary to study Acts in the light of the results of modern criticism. ... Later on we hope to return to the subject and reconsider the narrative of the life of Jesus, and the influence on the Church of his own teaching and of the teaching of others about him" (vol. ii, p. v). As it turned out they were never able to "return to the subject" and complete the project. In fact, Foakes-Jackson did not participate directly after the first two volumes, being essentially replaced by H. J. Cadbury
. "In sum," writes Baird, "The Beginnings of Christianity is a monumental work—the most extensive investigation of a NT book by English-speaking scholarship."
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...
, serving as dean from 1895 to 1916. Then, at the age of 61, he became the Briggs
Charles Augustus Briggs
Charles Augustus Briggs , American Presbyterian scholar and theologian, was born in New York City, the son of Alanson Briggs and Sarah Mead Berrian...
Professor of Christian Institutions at Union Theological Seminary, New York City
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
, finally becoming emeritus in 1933. He is probably best known for the massive five volume work The Beginnings of Christianity—an edition, translation, commentary, and study of the Acts of Apostles—that he conceived and edited with Kirsopp Lake
Kirsopp Lake
Kirsopp Lake was a New Testament scholar and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests, publishing definitive monographs in New Testament textual criticism, Greek palaeography, theology, and archaeology...
.
Family and early life
F. J. Foakes-Jackson was born at IpswichIpswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, August 10, 1855, the son of the Revd Stephen Jackson and Catharine Cobbold. His father, who died before he was born, was the proprietor of the Ipswich Journal, a respected regional newspaper the family had operated since 1739. His mother was the daughter of Frederick Cobbold, of the 1st dragoon guards
1st King's Dragoon Guards
The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. The regiment was formed in 1685 as The Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed The King's Own Regiment of Horse in 1714 in honour of George I...
, a member of a distinguished Suffolk family. In 1858 she married Thomas Eyre Foakes, a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
of the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
. When he began school at Brighton
Brighton College
Brighton College is an institution divided between a Senior School known simply as Brighton College, the Prep School and the Pre-Prep School. All of these schools are co-educational independent schools in Brighton, England, sited immediately next to each another. The Senior School caters for...
, he was registered as Frederick John Jackson Foakes, the same was true at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
. He subsequently changed it to Foakes-Jackson.
In a memoir he reports that as a result of this preparatory schooling he "was moderately well read in the classics" and "could write indifferent Latin verse and prose with some ease and had a limited knowledge of Greek." He had "read a good deal of English and Indian history." He had a "pretty sound acquaintance with such books as Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
's History and Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
's Wealth of Nations and could have passed a fairly searching examination in the novels of Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...
, Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Lever
Charles Lever
Charles James Lever was an Irish novelist.-Biography:Lever was born in Dublin, the second son of James Lever, an architect and builder, and was educated in private schools. His escapades at Trinity College, Dublin , where he took the degree in medicine in 1831, are drawn on for the plots of some...
and Harrison Ainsworth
William Harrison Ainsworth
William Harrison Ainsworth was an English historical novelist born in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in London he met the publisher John Ebers, at that time manager of the King's Theatre, Haymarket...
." As for other modern languages: "His French was that of Stratford-atte-Bowe. Of German he knew nothing." He reports that he had benefited greatly from his tutor at Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
: "I was under a man of extraordinary culture, a classicist, a man of letters, a linguist, one gifted in the artistic taste. After five years of almost constant strife, for I don't think we liked one another, I changed from being an idle little boy into a comparatively well educated man, with wide interests and respect for learning of every description."
Student at Trinity College, Cambridge
In 1875 Foakes-Jackson went up to Trinity College, CambridgeTrinity 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...
as an ordinary undergraduate, having failed to obtain a scholarship. As he explains in his memoir: "The natural thing at this time for such a boy was to read for classical honours. He could have done perhaps fairly well in the philosophical, historical and literary side, but Cambridge in his time wisely discouraged elegant triflers and demanded a severe and exact knowledge of Latin and Greek as languages. Our young friend liked to find out what a tragedy or comedy, a dialogue of Plato or a book of Thucydides was about, but the niceties of the language bored him, and to puzzle out a crabbed passage which was quite uninteresting when mastered, even supposing anyone capable of such a feat, seemed a needless waste of time when there were so many fascinating books to read. No wonder, therefore, he never got a classical scholarship and that he set himself to study theology as a totally new subject, which might become of use if he became a clergyman."
His principal teachers were J. B. Lightfoot
Joseph Barber Lightfoot
Joseph Barber Lightfoot was an English theologian and Bishop of Durham, usually known as J.B. Lightfoot....
, Henry Melvill Gwatkin
Henry Melvill Gwatkin
Reverend Henry Melvill Gwatkin was an English theologian and church historian.He was born at Barrow-on-Soar, Leicestershire. He was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge...
, F. J. A. Hort
Fenton John Anthony Hort
Fenton John Anthony Hort was an Irish theologian and editor, with Brooke Westcott of a critical edition of The New Testament in the Original Greek.-Life:...
, Henry Barclay Swete
Henry Barclay Swete
Henry Barclay Swete was an English Biblical scholar. He became Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge in 1890. He is known for his 1906 commentary on the Book of Revelation, and other works of exegesis....
, and Robert Sinker. Lightfoot lectured in the immense dining hall of Trinity college on the Acts of the Apostles and the refutation of the anonymous work Supernatural Religion (later determined to be from Walter Richard Cassels
Walter Richard Cassels
Walter Richard Cassels is the speculated author of the anonymous work Supernatural Religion.-Biography:...
). As Foakes-Jackson recalls, "Lightfoot was an admirable lecturer, his voice was clear, his arrangement lucid, his learning unquestionable." However, the "behavior of the audiences was not edifying. The virtuous attended and took notes, the studious devoted themselves to their own subjects, and read books bearing on them, the frivolous read novels, the utterly profane played surreptitious games of cards, the rest slept." "Gwatkin, who had no recognized position in the faculty, was a real lecturer, brilliant, incisive and even humorous." Yet the most profit was derived from Hort and Swete. "Hort lectured on Origen contra Celsum in his private rooms in Emmanuel College to a class of about five, which fell to two before he had given many lectures; but, though there was little to inspire, there was a great deal to be learned. He really showed how a subject ought to be tackled, and the impression produced on his hearer's mind was, 'This is learning.' Swete, less original but a most profound student of dogmatic theology, was almost equally instructive, and both of them deserve the gratitude of a young student for shewing him what it meant to know a subject thoroughly." However, the bulk of his instruction came from his private tutor, the Revd Robert Sinker, Librarian of Trinity College and "a Hebraist of the old school." Under Sinker he was awarded the Jeremie Septuagint Prize in his second year (1877). Two years later (1879) he would win the Scholfield Prize in Biblical Greek and earn his B.A., taking a first class in Theology tripos with a distinction in Hebrew.
Following his graduation, financial circumstances forced him to withdraw from the university. He was ordained a deacon 8 June 1879 and became the 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...
of Ottershaw
Ottershaw
Ottershaw is a village in the Runnymede district of Surrey, England about 20 miles to the south-west of London. It is part of the Foxhills ward in the census....
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, 1879-81, being ordained priest 23 May 1880. He maintained his ties to the university and was able to secure the Crosse Divinity Scholarship (1879) and the next year, the Lightfoot Scholarship in Ecclesiastical History (1880), finally receiving his M.A. in 1882. He continued as curate of St Giles, Cambridge, 1882-84, and St Botolph, Cambridge, 1884-90.
Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
at Jesus College, Cambridge
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 was elected fellow in 1886 and also became an assistant tutor the same year. He served as dean of the college from 1895 until 1916; Junior Proctor 1894; Senior Proctor 1909. He was appointed examining chaplain to the bishop of Peterborough
Bishop of Peterborough
The Bishop of Peterborough is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Peterborough in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the counties of Northamptonshire, Rutland and the Soke of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire...
, 1897-1912, and honorary Canon of Peterborough, 1901-1927. He was also select preacher at Cambridge in 1885, 1887, 1892, 1909, and Hulsean Lecturer
Hulsean Lectures
The Hulsean Lectures were established from an endowment made by John Hulse to Cambridge University in 1777.The subject of the lectures was originally to be 'The evidence of revealed religion; the truth and excellence of Christianity; the prophesies and miracles; direct or collateral arguments; the...
in 1902. He was awarded a B.D.
Bachelor of Divinity
In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....
in 1903, and D.D.
Doctor of Divinity
Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....
in 1905.
"My work was certainly varied," Foakes-Jackson recalled in a memoir, "I had to send my men to various lecturers in other colleges and to deliver my own generally on the Old Testament and church history. As a rule these classes were somewhat informal. I initiated classes or individuals into the mysteries of the Hebrew verb, and listened to others stumbling over the correct translation of the Pauline Epistles. ... My work was unmethodical and unscientific but I had always to keep in mind that every pupil had to be examined by other people and that my instruction was to be tested by my colleagues and not by myself." In assessing his work, H. D. A. Major maintains that research "was not really his sphere. His gifts were primarily those of an educationist. His writings have always seemed to us to have been characterized, not by profound learning nor accurate scholarship, but by real insight, lucid exposition, and arresting freshness of treatment. He had a great gift of humour, and he selected illuminating, unforgettable incidents and dicta to illustrate his expositions. He was one of the most inspiring of tutors and produced a great body of brilliant pupils. It was said that at one time there were no less than ten Deans of Cambridge Colleges who had been tutored by Foakes-Jackson." H. G. Wood, in the preface to his Hulsean Lectures
Hulsean Lectures
The Hulsean Lectures were established from an endowment made by John Hulse to Cambridge University in 1777.The subject of the lectures was originally to be 'The evidence of revealed religion; the truth and excellence of Christianity; the prophesies and miracles; direct or collateral arguments; the...
of 1933, recalled that "He combined a sense of the relative importance of different events, movements, and tendencies, with an interest in often trivial but piquant detail. To read under his guidance was to begin to appreciate the true standards of historical significance."
P. Gardner-Smith, who studied under Foakes-Jackson and became dean six years after his departure, recalls that he had "a flair for penetrating a mass of detail to point out the essential facts, and he could make any subject interesting. This was due to his remarkable personality. Never well off, he loved to be hospitable, and taught his students to appreciate good wine. He was described as the last eighteenth-century wit, and his conversation was characterized by shrewd humour; this, combined with his personal eccentricities and his unfailing kindness, made him immensely popular." Known as Foakie by his intimates, he was in his early days a prominent oarsman and served as the treasurer of the Cambridge University Boat Club 1895-1910. In fact he had an intense interest in English sport and felt it was an important part of university life. In 1907 he would write: "It is all very well, however, to write philosophically on all the possible evils of athleticism, but imagine an Oxford or Cambridge full of mild effeminate youths intent on nothing but succeeding in examinations. How soon should we sigh for the old barbarism! Athletics at least keep the atmosphere pure and manly, and its effects for good are seen in almost every department." Also during his Cambridge years Foakes-Jackson held high office among the Freemasons, being Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England, 1907-1908, and the Grand Superintendent of the Royal Arch
Holy Royal Arch
The Holy Royal Arch is a degree of Freemasonry. It is present in all main masonic systems, though in some it is part of 'mainstream' Freemasonry, and in others it is an 'additional' degree....
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
, until 1919.
Professor at Union Theological Seminary
Charles Augustus Briggs
Charles Augustus Briggs , American Presbyterian scholar and theologian, was born in New York City, the son of Alanson Briggs and Sarah Mead Berrian...
graduate professor of Christian institutions at Union Theological Seminary, New York City
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
. He held that position until 1933, finally becoming emeritus that year. The reason for the move may be due in part to his failing to become the Regius Professor of Divinity
Regius Professor of Divinity
The Regius Professorship of Divinity is one of the oldest and most prestigious of the professorships at the University of Oxford and at the University of Cambridge.Both chairs were founded by Henry VIII...
at Cambridge, which went instead to Vincent Henry Stanton that year (1916). With the burden of college teaching removed, he was able to concentrate on his writing; thus, most of his books were published while at Union. He was a lecturer at the Jewish Institute of Religion
Jewish Institute of Religion
The Jewish Institute of Religion was an educational establishment created by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise in 1922 in New York City. While generally incorporating Reform Judaism, it was separate from the previously established Hebrew Union College...
, 1924-27, and at the General Theological Seminary
General Theological Seminary
The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church is a seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States and is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York....
, 1925-26. In 1933 he was awarded a D. Théol.
Doctor of Theology
Doctor of Theology is a terminal academic degree in theology. It is a research degree that is considered by the U.S. National Science Foundation to be the equivalent of a Doctor of Philosophy....
from the University of Strasbourg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and in 1935 a Litt. D.
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
from the University of the South. He was a fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
(F.R.Hist.S.), fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
(F.R.L.S.), honorary correspondent of the Institut Historique et Héraldique de France, and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
.
Foakes-Jackson married Anna Maria Everett, daughter of George Grimwade Everett of Hadleigh, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, in 1895. She died in 1931. The next year he married Clara Fawcett, widow of Arthur Jackson Tomlinson of New York. There were no children from either marriage. He died in Englewood
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, December 1, 1941.
Works
- History of the Christian Church from the Earliest Times to the Death of Constantine, A.D. 337 (Cambridge: J. Hall & Son, 1891). Revised many times and expanded to: History of the Christian Church from the Earliest Times to A.D. 461, 7th ed. (New York: George H. Doran, 1924).
- Christian Difficulties in the Second and Twentieth Centuries: A Study of Marcion and his Relation to Modern Thought, Hulsean Lectures 1902-1903 (Cambridge: W. Heffer, 1903).
- The Biblical History of the Hebrews (Cambridge: W. Heffer, 1903). Revised and expanded to The Biblical History of the Hebrews to the Christian Era, 4th ed. (Cambridge: W. Heffer, 1924).
- Christ in the Church (London, 1905).
- Social Life in England, 1750-1850, Lowell Lectures 1916 (New York: Macmillan, 1916).
- St. Luke and a Modern Writer: A Study in Criticism (Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons, 1916).
- An Introduction to the History of Christianity, A.D. 590-1314 (New York: Macmillan, 1916).
- Studies in the Life of the Early Church (New York: George H. Doran, 1924).
- Anglican Church Principles (New York: Macmillan, 1924).
- The Life of Saint Paul: The Man and the Apostle (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926).
- Peter: Prince of Apostles: A Study in the History and Tradition of Christianity (New York: George H. Doran, 1927).
- The Rise of Gentile Christianity (New York: George H. Doran, 1927).
- Josephus and the Jews: The Religion and History of the Jews as explained by Flavius Josephus (London: S.P.C.K., 1930).
- The Church in England (Cambridge: The University Press, 1931).
- Eusebius Pamphili, Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and first Christian Historian: A Study of the Man and his Writings (Cambridge: W. Heffer, 1933).
- The Church in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: The University Press, 1934).
- A History of Church History: Studies of some Historians of the Christian Church (Cambridge: W. Heffer, 1939).
The Beginnings of Christianity
- The Beginnings of Christianity, Part I: The Acts of the Apostles, ed. F. J. Foakes-Jackson and Kirsopp LakeKirsopp LakeKirsopp Lake was a New Testament scholar and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests, publishing definitive monographs in New Testament textual criticism, Greek palaeography, theology, and archaeology...
, 5 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1920-33).- Vol I. Prolegomena I: The Jewish, Gentile and Christian backgrounds (1920).
- Vol. II. Prolegomena II: Criticism (1922).
- Vol. III. The text of Acts (1926), by J. H. RopesJames Hardy RopesJames Hardy Ropes was an American theologian. He occupied the Hollis Chair at Harvard Divinity School starting in 1910....
. - Vol. IV. English translation and commentary (1932), by Kirsopp LakeKirsopp LakeKirsopp Lake was a New Testament scholar and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests, publishing definitive monographs in New Testament textual criticism, Greek palaeography, theology, and archaeology...
and H. J. CadburyHenry CadburyHenry Joel Cadbury was a biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, and non-profit administrator. A graduate of Haverford College, he was a Quaker throughout his life, though essentially an agnostic...
. - Vol. V. Additional notes to the commentary (1932), edited by Kirsopp LakeKirsopp LakeKirsopp Lake was a New Testament scholar and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests, publishing definitive monographs in New Testament textual criticism, Greek palaeography, theology, and archaeology...
and H. J. CadburyHenry CadburyHenry Joel Cadbury was a biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, and non-profit administrator. A graduate of Haverford College, he was a Quaker throughout his life, though essentially an agnostic...
.
The massive five volume work The Beginnings of Christianity was originally conceived by Foakes-Jackson and Kirsopp Lake
Kirsopp Lake
Kirsopp Lake was a New Testament scholar and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School. He had an uncommon breadth of interests, publishing definitive monographs in New Testament textual criticism, Greek palaeography, theology, and archaeology...
during conversations at the University of Leiden sometime before 1912 (vol. v, p. vii). It sought to investigate the view "that Christianity in the first century achieved a synthesis between the Greco-Oriental and the Jewish religions in the Roman Empire. The preaching of repentance, and of the Kingdom of God begun by Jesus passed into the sacramental cult of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the details are complex and obscure. What were the exact elements in this synthesis? How was it effected?" (vol. i, p. vii). The project was to be a grand endeavor. The five volumes that were ultimately published only comprise "Part I". As they explain: "Before, however, attempting to reconstruct this history we believed it necessary to study Acts in the light of the results of modern criticism. ... Later on we hope to return to the subject and reconsider the narrative of the life of Jesus, and the influence on the Church of his own teaching and of the teaching of others about him" (vol. ii, p. v). As it turned out they were never able to "return to the subject" and complete the project. In fact, Foakes-Jackson did not participate directly after the first two volumes, being essentially replaced by H. J. Cadbury
Henry Cadbury
Henry Joel Cadbury was a biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, and non-profit administrator. A graduate of Haverford College, he was a Quaker throughout his life, though essentially an agnostic...
. "In sum," writes Baird, "The Beginnings of Christianity is a monumental work—the most extensive investigation of a NT book by English-speaking scholarship."
External links
- Foakes-Jackson's papers (1916-1941) are in The Burke Library Archives at Union Theological Seminary, N. Y.