Benjamin Jowett

1817-1893. English classicist and theologian. Born at Camberwell, London, he was educated at Oxford where he was elected fellow while still an undergraduate (1838). After a succession of college offices and the regius chair of Greek (1855), he became master of Balliol (1870). He was ordained in 1842 and was vice-chancellor of Oxford, 1882-86. He wrote commentaries on the epistles of Paul (1855), and through an essay on scriptural interpretation contributed to Essays and Reviews (1860), he fell under suspicion of unorthodoxy and ceased to write on theological subjects. He worked to secure the abolition of theological tests for university degrees and offices. His classical learning was almost unsurpassed in his day, and he was known as “the Great Tutor.”