Thomas Kelly Cheyne was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 divine and Biblical critic

Critic

A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...

. He was born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood

Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....

, and Oxford University

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...

.

Subsequently he studied German theological methods at Göttingen. He was ordained in 1864 and held a fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College, Oxford

Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

, 1868-1882. During the earlier part of this period he stood alone in the university as a teacher of the main conclusions of Old Testament

Old Testament

The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...

 criticism at that time. In 1881 he was presented to the rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

y of Tendring, in Essex, and in 1884 he was made a member of the Old Testament revision company. He resigned the living of Tendring in 1885 on his appointment to be Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture

Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture

The Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of the Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford is an old-established professorial position.The Oriel Professor is ex officio a Fellow of Oriel College....

, which carried with it a canonry at Rochester. In 1889 he delivered the Bampton lectures

Bampton Lectures

The Bampton Lectures at the University of Oxford, England, were founded by a bequest of John Bampton,. They have taken place since 1780.They were a series of annual lectures; since the turn of the 20th century they have typically been biennial. They continue to concentrate on Christian theological...

 at Oxford. In 1908 he resigned his professorship.

He consistently urged in his writings the necessity of a broad and comprehensive study of the Scriptures in the light of literary, historical and scientific considerations. His publications include commentaries on the Prophets and Hagiographa, as well as lectures and addresses on theological subjects. He was a joint editor of the Encyclopaedia Biblica

Encyclopaedia Biblica

Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religion History, the Archeology, Geography and Natural History of the Bible , edited by Thomas Kelly Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black, is a critical encyclopedia of the Bible. In Theology/Biblical studies, it is often...

 (London, 1899–1903), a work embodying the more advanced conclusions of English biblical criticism. In the introduction to his Origin of the Psalter (London, 1891) he gave an account of his development as a critical scholar. His publications include translations, commentaries, and supplemental research.

He became a member of the Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

 by 1912.

Publications

In his lifetime Cheyne published over a dozen volumes.

• The Relations Between Civilized and Uncivilized Races: A Prize Essay Read in the Theatre, Oxford was perhaps his first publication in 1864.
• Encyclopaedia Biblica
  Encyclopaedia Biblica
  Encyclopaedia Biblica: A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religion History, the Archeology, Geography and Natural History of the Bible , edited by Thomas Kelly Cheyne and J. Sutherland Black, is a critical encyclopedia of the Bible. In Theology/Biblical studies, it is often...
  
  co-edited with J. Sutherland Black in 1903, revised 1907, is still widely cited, even in Wikipedia.
• The Reconciliation of Races and Religions may have been his last publication, August 1914, by A. and C. Black, and has been reprinted as late as 2004 (as ISBN 1414219393,)

External links

• New York Times Obituary
• Cheyne Family History on Thomas Kelly Cheyne
• THOMAS KELLY CHEYNE (1841-1915), BIBLICAL SCHOLAR AND BAHĀ'Ī by Stephen N. Lambden (Ohio University)
• Annotated Bibliography by Stephen N. Lambden (Ohio University)