Ernest Nicholson

Ernest Wilson Nicholson, (26 September 1938 – 22 December 2013) was a British scholar of the Old Testament and Church of England priest. He was Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1979 to 1990 and served as Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, from 1990 to 2003.

Early life Nicholson was born on 26 September 1938 in Portadown, Northern Ireland. Having failed the Eleven-plus exam to attend grammar school, he attended the local Secondary Technical School.

In 1956, he matriculated into Trinity College, Dublin to study Hebrew and Semitic languages. He graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1960, which was promoted to Master of Arts (MA) in 1964. He then undertook postgraduate study at Glasgow University. He completed a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1964 under the supervision of Cecil Weir. When he joined Pembroke College, Cambridge, he served as a college chaplain and dean of its chapel between 1973 and 1979. A memorial service was held on 29 March 2014 at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford.

Personal life In 1962, Nicholson married Hazel Jackson. They had met while at the same school and, after she tutored him in Latin for his university entrance exam, they entered a relationship. Together they had four children; Rosalind, Kathryn, Jane, and Peter. His son predeceased him, having died from an epileptic seizure in 2011. in 1988 was president of the Society for Old Testament Study. In 1994, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by St Peter's College, Oxford. He was awarded the 2009 Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies by the British Academy. In 2010, he was elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA).

He was appointed Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Works Deuteronomy and Tradition (1969) Preaching to the Exiles (1971) Exodus and Sinai in History and Tradition (1973) God and His People: Covenant and Theology in the Old Testament (1986) The Pentateuch in the 20th century: the legacy of Julius Wellhausen (1998) A Century of Theological and Religious Studies in Britain, 1902–2002 (2003), editor Deuteronomy and the Judaean Diaspora (2014)