The Rev. Canon Michael Green (born in 1930), theologian and author of more than 50 books, has died in Oxford.
Green came to faith through the ministry of E.J.H. Nash, who led what were known as Bash Camps. He studied at Exeter College, Oxford, and prepared for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.
After a curacy at the south coast town of Eastbourne he became a tutor at London College of Divinity. When it moved to Nottingham and became St. John’s College in 1969 he became its principal. Under his leadership, St. John’s became a significant contributor to the charismatic movement.
He was known on both sides of the Atlantic and served at Regent College, Vancouver, from 1997 to 2002.
He returned to the United Kingdom at the invitation of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to lead the Springboard Initiative. Springboard became the main project of the Decade of Evangelism, and he worked alongside Bishop Michael Marshall.
After retiring in 1996 he remained active, becoming a senior research fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
The Rt. Rev. George Carey, 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury, credited Green as an important mentor during the earlier days of his ministry.
Most of his books were popular in style, but he could turn his hand to more detailed theological projects, such The Truth of God Incarnate and The Books the Church Suppressed: Fiction and Truth in The Da Vinci Code.
John Martin
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
