Sir Edwyn Clement Hoskyns

1884-1937. Anglican clergyman and theologian. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge; Wells Theological College; and the University of Berlin. From 1919 he was a fellow of Corpus Christi, Cambridge. A pioneer of the “biblical theology” movement in England, Hoskyns was the translator of Karl Barth's famous commentary on Romans into English (1933). His most important book was The Riddle of the New Testament (1931), with his pupil F.N. Davey, concerning the relation of Jesus of Nazareth to the primitive Christian Church. He argued that no interpretation of the person and teaching of Jesus which fails to explain this relationship can be true to history. In his discussion it was argued that no matter where one looks, or how far one goes back into the tradition (Mark, Q, M, L, etc.), one never finds a “simply human” Jesus, and that the best explanation of the historical data is that the so-called Christ of faith is a historical “given” rather than the creation of the church. His other works include a massive theological commentary on the fourth gospel (ed. F.N. Davey, 1940) and a number of important essays: “The Christ of the Synoptic Gospels” in Essays Catholic and Critical (1926) and “Jesus the Messiah” in Mysterium Christi (1930).