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Canon John Fenton
One of the Church of England's leading New Testament scholars
� The Guardian, Monday 26 January 2009 

The clergy of the Church of England contain many human riches within their
ranks. John Fenton, who has died aged 87, was one of the church's greatest
treasures throughout his long ministry. Priest, preacher, scholar, prophet,
spiritual guide, he was all of these and more. Not many retired priests of
such great age can fill a cathedral for their funeral, but Christ Church,
Oxford, was packed for his, filled by those whose lives he had touched. 
Fenton was born in Liverpool, his parents having the characterful names of
Cornelius O'Connor Fenton and Agnes Claudina Ingoldby. After attending St
Edward's School, Oxford, he read theology at Queen's College, Oxford, arriving
there at the outset of the war. He was one of a group of pupils who received
their New Testament teaching from RH Lightfoot. From him, a cautious but
courageous scholar, Fenton learned an approach to the material of the New
Testament that was both critical and reverent. Lightfoot showed Fenton and
others how to hear the voice of the earliest church and its experience
sounding in the pages of the gospels. This approach valued the gospels not
less, but more discerningly. 

Away from his studies, Fenton continued the rowing he had learned at school on
the same river, rising to captain the university boat club in its wartime
guise. He trained for ordination at Lincoln, being ordained in 1944 to a
curacy in Wigan. It was clear that his ministry would lie in academic work,
though it would never be removed from the life of the church and, in
particular, of those preparing for ordination. In 1947 he joined the staff of
Lincoln Theological College, where he remained for seven years, for the last
three of them as sub-warden. There he laid the foundation of his teaching
technique, eliciting thought from his pupils with gently probing questions,
while also observing their personal development. 
It was significant that Fenton did not proceed from Lincoln to another
academic post but to the parish of Wentworth, near Rotherham, in the diocese
of Sheffield. He never wanted to be far from the grassroots of the church;
where better to be involved in those than in a Yorkshire parish? Ever
afterwards he acknowledged the influence of those four parochial years. 
By 1958 he was back at theological college as the principal of Lichfield,
where he remained for seven years. But in that time he was assailed by
tragedy. His wife, Mary, whom he had married during his curacy, died over a
weekend from sudden and pernicious leukaemia, leaving him with four young
children (one of whom, James, would become a prominent poet). Three years
later he married Linda Brandham, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. 
He returned to a university setting in 1965 as the principal of St Chad's
College, Durham, which was both a theological college and a college of the
university. In his 13 influential years there Fenton worked hard both at the
training of ordinands and at making the college an integrated part of the
university. His final appointment, to a canonry at Christ Church, Oxford, was
a true climax. There he was part of a team of equals, with daily worship in
the cathedral, and endless opportunities for teaching the New Testament and
for spiritual guidance of the young. He worked prodigiously, not least in
administration, yet he still found the space to conduct retreats and lead
courses away from Oxford, in addition to regular preaching in the cathedral. 
He published substantially, his major work being the Pelican Commentary on St
Matthew's Gospel (1963), though he also wrote often on St Mark, with whom he
had a profound relationship, sensing an affinity with the ruggedness and
starkness of that gospel. But his written achievement, great as it was, was
only an aspect of a formidable but gentle man with passions that included
Oxford United FC and washing up. He struggled with hard questions, above all
the question of faith itself, but with humour as well as devotion. A typical
observation, in the course of a lecture to some Oxford ordinands, was: "The
most obvious characteristic of God is his silence. He does not cough or mutter
or shuffle his feet to reassure us that he is there." Fenton knew much about
suffering, and it is no accident that a large portion of his writing dealt
with the Passion-narratives of the gospels, and that he made a speciality of
preaching the Passion. 

His instructions for his funeral forbade a eulogy and enjoined a sermon on the
forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life. Despite these restrictions,
and while being largely faithful to them, the preacher was able to liken
Fenton to a mountain that influences all around it in the landscape. It was an
apt metaphor. Fenton - radical, devout, enduring and humorous - was indeed a
mountain of a man and a true servant of God. 

He is survived by Linda and his children. 

John Charles Fenton, priest and theologian, born 5 June 1921; died 27 December
2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/26/obituary-canon-john-fenton


-- 
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web:  http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
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