Chadwick, Owen, 1916–2015, British religious historian and educator, b. Bromley, grad. St. John's College, Cambridge (1938, 1939), ordained Anglican priest (1941). He held several positions at Cambridge including Regius professor of modern history (1968–83) and later was (1985–94) chancellor of the Univ. of East Anglia. As head of the Archbishops' Commission on Church and State (1966–70), he was instrumental in producing the Chadwick Report, which altered the constitutional relationship between the Church of England and Parliament and led to the government of the church and its forms of worship by a general synod. A vivid and prolific author, he published his first book, a biography of John Cassian, in 1950. Other works include The Reformation (1964), The Victorian Church (2 vol., 1966–70), A History of Christianity (1995), and biographies of J. H. Newman (1983) and A. M. Ramsey (1990). Together with his brother, Henry Chadwick, 1920–2008, a priest and historian of the early church, Owen Chadwick also edited the Oxford History of the Christian Church (16 vol., 1981–2010), and contributed three volumes to the series.
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