Global Briefs for July 20

Owen Chadwick Dead at 99
Owen Chadwick, one of Britain’s most distinguished historians and theologians, died July 16 at age 99. He was elected master of Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, in 1956, Regius Professor of Modern History in 1968, and vice chancellor from 1969 to 1971. He led a major commission on the structure of the Church of England that declined to recommend disestablishment. His brother, Henry (1920-2008), also held a Regius Chair in Cambridge. Together they edited a church history series for Oxford University Press. His major books were The Secularization of the European Mind in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge, 1990) and The Victorian Church (A&C Black, 1970), a two-volume history that was criticized for neglecting the missionary movement. His biographical works included Hensley Henson, John Henry Newman, and Michael Ramsey. Both Chadwicks reportedly declined bishoprics, but they often offered advice about episcopal selections.

Cricketing Brothers Celebrated
The Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, has announced that July 16 will become a holy day in the London Kalendar to commemorate three brothers who mastered the sport of cricket: Charles Thomas Studd, George Brown Studd, and John Edward Kynaston Studd. The announcement coincided with the first day of the cricket test between England and Australia in London. The Studd family name is inscribed on the Ashes urn, the trophy contested in cricket internationals between England and Australia. The three Studd brothers were fine cricketers and staunch evangelicals. C.T. played in the first “Ashes” contest in 1881 and later was one of the Cambridge Seven, high-profile university students who became missionaries in China. Their fame propelled the fledgling China Inland Mission founded by Hudson Taylor. In 1885, when the Cambridge Seven first arrived in China, the CIM had 163 missionaries; this doubled by 1890 and reached 800 by 1900.

Reactions to Obergefell
Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, continues to prompt responses across the Anglican Communion. The Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, Archbishop of Nigeria, has warned the country’s federal government that it should not think of legalizing same-sex marriage, saying most Nigerians would reject it. The Most Rev. John Holder, Bishop of Barbados and Primate of the West Indies, told reporters that the Anglican Church would not accept or perform same-sex marriages in his province, holding to the historic definition of marriage as the union of a man and woman.