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Professor David F. Wright, historian and theologian, 1937-2008

Obituary

Professor David Wright died on the February 19 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He will be sorely missed not only in Scotland where he worked for so many years but throughout the evangelical world where his contribution was more significant that he ever realised.

I first met David when he was a sixth-former at the Bec Grammar School in South London. He had only recently professed faith in our Lord Jesus Christ through the instrumentality of his Crusader Class at the age of 17. At Cambridge he was at Christ’s College where he gained a first in history and theology, going afterwards to Oxford to become a research student in Lincoln College from 1961-4. This was followed by his appointment as lecturer in ecclesiastical history at New College in the University of Edinburgh and senior lecturer in 1973.

Teaching

David spent the whole of his 39 years of teaching at New College, until his retirement in 2003. His speciality was church history, in particular the early fathers of the Church, together with the theology of the Reformation, and in these areas he had an international reputation through his books and the many publications to which he contributed on major figures in church history. He was an editor of Reformation and Patristic texts and of substantial reference works such as the Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology.

Besides being a church historian, David was a theologian and it was here that his evangelicalism and biblical contribution in recent years was so important in Scotland and in the Church of Scotland, especially on contemporary ethical issues. His graciousness and integrity meant that even those who did not agree with him highly respected him.

As a diligent and faithful elder at Holyrood Abbey Church and a member of the Edinburgh presbytery he was much involved in the Church of Scotland’s debates over issues such as human sexuality and how baptism should be understood and practised. His place in the Church in Scotland was distinguished. In recent years he was nominated as a candidate for Moderator and he was the first elder to be Moderator of the Edinburgh Presbytery. Edinburgh University chose to award him the degree of doctor of divinity in 1997 in recognition of his scholarly contribution, even creating a professorial chair for him in Patristic and Reformation Studies. At his death, the university flew its flag at half-mast out of respect for him.

Approachable and helpful

Many Christian organisations like the UCCF and Rutherford House (of which he was an able and wise chairman) owe much to him. Distinguished as he was, David was marked by graciousness and humility. His students found him always approachable and helpful. He maintained contact with many of them long after they left Edinburgh. His influence will live on through his literary contributions but not least through the almost countless students who benefited from his teaching, godly spirituality, encouragement and conscientiousness. His wife Anne-Marie and his son and daughter survive him.

Derek Prime