Clifford Harris Nash

Clifford Harris Nash (16 December 1866 – 27 September 1958) was an English-Australian clergyman who became the founding principal of the Melbourne Bible Institute (now the Melbourne School of Theology). According to Darrel Paproth, he "dominated evangelicalism in Melbourne between the wars."

Education and initial ministry Nash was born in Brixton and educated at Oundle School, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Ridley Hall. At Corpus Christ he became an evangelical Anglican and was particularly influenced by Brooke Foss Westcott. Nash taught at the Loretto School before being ordained a priest in 1893. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, "two years later Nash's promising career was curtailed because it was alleged that while engaged to his vicar's daughter he had made advances to her younger sister." He accepted the incumbency at Christ Church, Geelong in 1906, but the following year disaster struck: Nash was forced by Archbishop Lowther Clarke to resign due to another indiscretion with a female parishioner, this time at Hawthorn. Paproth suggests the sour relationship between Nash and Clarke reflected the division in the diocese between evangelicals and non-evangelicals.

In 1908, Nash was relicensed by Bishop Arthur Pain of Gippsland and became rector of St Paul's, Sale, and archdeacon of Gippsland. In 1909 John Norton wrote a newspaper article attacking Clarke for his role in the affair, but the publicity from a subsequent libel case forced Nash to resign from the Anglican Church in 1912. This group included his close friend Lee Neil, who was "the prime mover behind the founding of MBI as a necessary institution for the training of overseas missionaries and as an appropriate avenue for the deployment of the exiled Nash's gifts."

Personal life Nash married Louise Pearse in 1899 and had three sons and three daughters.

Works Christ Interpreted (1940) The Fourfold Interpretation of Jesus Christ (1946)