Brooke Westcott

Brooke Foss Westcott (12 January 1825 – 27 July 1901) was an English bishop, biblical scholar and theologian, serving as Bishop of Durham from 1890 until his death. He is perhaps most known for co-editing The New Testament in the Original Greek in 1881. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the British Empire.

Early life and education He was born in Birmingham. His father, Frederick Brooke Westcott, was a botanist. Westcott was educated at King Edward VI School, Birmingham, under James Prince Lee, where he became friends with Joseph Barber Lightfoot, later Bishop of Durham.

Early teaching career After obtaining his degree, Westcott remained in residence at Trinity. In 1849, he obtained his fellowship; and in the same year, he was made deacon by his old headmaster, James Prince Lee, now Bishop of Manchester. In 1851 he was ordained and became an assistant master at Harrow School.

He devoted much attention to philosophical, patristic and historical studies, but his main interest was in New Testament work. In 1851, he published his Norrisian prize essay with the title Elements of the Gospel Harmony. The Cambridge University Norrisian Prize for theology was established in 1781 by the will of John Norris Esq of Whitton, Norfolk for the best essay by a candidate between the ages of twenty and thirty on a theological subject.

He combined his school duties with his theological research and literary writings. He worked at Harrow for nearly twenty years under Charles Vaughan and Henry Montagu Butler, but he was never good at maintaining discipline among large numbers. which, frequently revised and expanded, became the standard English work on the subject. In 1859, there appeared his Characteristics of the Gospel Miracles.

In 1860, he expanded his Elements of the Gospel Harmony essay into an Introduction to the Study of the Gospels. Westcott's work for Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, notably his articles on "Canon," "Maccabees", and "Vulgate," led to the composition of his subsequent popular books, The Bible in the Church (1864) and a History of the English Bible (1869). To the same period belongs The Gospel of the Resurrection (1866). It recognised the claims of historical science and pure reason. At the time when the book appeared, his method of apologetic showed originality but was impaired by the difficulty of the style.

In 1865, he took his B.D., and in 1870, his D.D. Later, he received honorary degrees of DC.L. from Oxford (1881) and of D.D. from Edinburgh (1883). In 1868, Westcott was appointed examining chaplain by Bishop Connor Magee (of Peterborough); and in the following year, he accepted a canonry at Peterborough, which forced him to leave Harrow.

Westcott now occupied a position for which he was suited. He played a leading part in raising the standard of theological study at the university. Supported by his friends Lightfoot and Hort, he reformed the regulations for degrees in divinity and was responsible for the formation and first revision of the new theology tripos. He planned lectures and organised the new Divinity School and Library.

He worked hard and forwent many of the privileges of a university career so that his studies might be more continuous and that he might see more of his students. To this list should also be added the Oxford and Cambridge preliminary examination for candidates for holy orders, with which he was from the first most closely identified.

The departure of Lightfoot to become Bishop of Durham in 1879 was a great blow to Westcott. Nevertheless, it resulted in bringing him into still greater prominence. He was compelled to take the lead in matters where Lightfoot's more practical nature had previously been predominant.

Bishop of Durham Bishop Westcott shown standing in front of Durham Cathedral in a window in All Saints Church, Cambridge. In March 1890, he was nominated to follow in the steps of his beloved friend Lightfoot, who had died in December 1889. His election was confirmed by Robert Crosthwaite, Bishop of Beverley (acting as commissioner for the Archbishop of York) on 30 April at York Minster and he was consecrated on 1 May at Westminster Abbey by William Thompson, Archbishop of York, Hort being the preacher, and enthroned at Durham Cathedral on 15 May.

Contrary to his reputation as a recluse and a mystic, he took a practical interest in the mining population of Durham

He has been described as a Christian socialist and was a staunch supporter of the co-operative movement. He was practically the founder of the Christian Social Union. He continually insisted upon the necessity of promoting the cause of foreign missions; four of his sons went on to do missionary work for the Church in India.

He was energetic to the very end, but during the last two or three years of his life, he aged considerably. His wife died suddenly in May 1901, and he dedicated to her memory his last book, Lessons from Work (1901). He preached a farewell sermon to the miners in Durham Cathedral at their annual festival on 20 July. Then came a short, sudden and fatal illness. They had seven sons and three daughters, including Frederick, who followed his father into the ministry in the Church of England, was headmaster of Sherborne School, Archdeacon of Norwich, and author of multiple books on the Letters of Saint Paul; George, Bishop of Lucknow; and Foss, who became Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India.

Legacy and influence Westcott was not a narrow specialist. He loved poetry, music and art. His literary sympathies were wide. He would never tire of praising Euripides, and studied the writings of Robert Browning. He was also said to be a talented draughtsman and used often to say that if he had not taken orders he would have become an architect. He followed with delight the development of natural science studies at Cambridge. He spared no pains to be accurate, or to widen the basis of his thought. Thus he devoted one summer vacation to the careful analysis of Auguste Comte's Politique positive.

He studied assiduously The Sacred Books of the East, and earnestly contended that no systematic view of Christianity could afford to ignore the philosophy of other religions. The outside world was wont to regard him as a mystic; and the mystical, or sacramental, view of life enters, it is true, very largely into his teaching. He had in this respect many points of similarity with the Cambridge Platonists of the 17th century, and with F. D. Maurice, for whom he had profound regard.

He was a strong supporter of Church reform, especially in the direction of obtaining larger powers for the laity.

His theological work assigned great importance to Divine Revelation in Holy Scripture and in the teaching of history. His own studies have largely contributed in England to its current understanding of the doctrines of the Resurrection and the Incarnation.

A portrait of Westcott by William Edwards Miller is in the collection of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Brooke Foss Westcott is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 27 July.

Works The following is a bibliography of Westcott's more important writings, giving the date of the first editions: Elements of the Gospel Harmony (1851) A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament (1855; revised 1875) Characteristics of the Gospel Miracles (1859) Introduction to the Study of the Gospels (1860; revised 1866) The Bible in the Church (1864) The Gospel of the Resurrection (1866; revised 1879) A General View of the History of the English Bible (1868; revised by W A Wright 1905) Christian Life Manifold and One (1869) On the religious office of the universities (1873) Paragraph Psalter for the Use of Choirs (1879) Commentary on the Gospel of St John in the Speaker's Commentary, Volume 2 of New Testament (1880), reprinted as a separate item The Gospel According to St John (1882) Commentary on the Epistles of St John (1883) The Revelation of the Risen Lord (1882) The Historic Faith: short lectures on the Apostles' Creed (1885) The Revelation of the Father: short lectures on the titles of the Lord in the Gospel of St John (1884) Some Thoughts from the Ordinal (1884) Christus Consummator (1886) Social Aspects of Christianity (1887) The Victory of the Cross: Sermons in Holy Week (1888) Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (1889) From Strength to Strength (1890) Essays in the History of Religious Thought in the West (1891) The Gospel of Life: thoughts introductory to the study of Christian doctrine (1892) The Incarnation and Common Life (1893) Some Lessons of the Revised Version of the New Testament (1897) Christian Aspects of Life (1897) Lessons from Work (1901) Saint Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians: the Greek text (1906) The Two Empires: the Church and the World (1909)