Donald Coggan
Frederick Donald Coggan, Baron Coggan, was the 101st Archbishop of Canterbury from 1974 to 1980. As Archbishop of Canterbury, he "revived morale within the Church of England, opened a dialogue with Rome and supported women's ordination". He had previously been successively the Bishop of Bradford and the Archbishop of York.
Childhood and education
Donald Coggan was born on 9 October 1909 at 32 Croftdown Road, Highgate, Middlesex, the youngest child of Cornish Arthur Coggan, at one time national president of the Federation of Meat Traders and mayor of St Pancras, London, and his wife, Fanny Sarah Chubb.Cornish Arthur Coggan "seems to have taken little interest in his family". Therefore, their three children were raised by their mother. During the First World War she took them to Burnham-on-Sea, in Somerset, for safety. It was there that young Donald was influenced by Ashley King, an evangelist who conducted missions for children on the beach. After the war ended, the family returned to London, but "the strains and stresses of the family’s life were so great that Donald became physically ill." This illness rendered him unable to attend school. Therefore, Donald was taught by a neighbour for four years. The neighbour helped Donald "develop what was to become a life-long love of music."
Early education
At the age of 14, Coggan was well enough to enter Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood. After his confirmation in 1924, he felt drawn to ordination. "His sisters had encouraged him by introducing him to an evangelical church, and these early influences never left him." At school Coggan studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew seriously.Cambridge
Having shown an unusual aptitude for languages, Coggan was awarded an open exhibition to St John's College, Cambridge. He entered St John's College in 1928 with an open exhibition, but he was so studious that it was later upgraded to a full scholarship. He was outstanding in oriental languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac, and won a first in both parts of the Tripos examinations in 1930 and 1931. He won the Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholarship, the Mason Hebrew Prize, and the Jeremie Septuagint Prize.During his time in Cambridge, Coggan helped found a branch of the Christian Union, an evangelical student movement. He also joined the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, serving as treasurer and vice-president. He became a member of the executive committee of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship.
Coggan "graduated with an impressive double first". He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1931 and a Master of Arts degree in 1932.
On graduating from Cambridge in 1931, Coggan decided to postpone preparation for ordination for three years. During that time he was an assistant lecturer in Semitic languages and Literature at the University of Manchester. There, he served on the board of management of the , and also edited the Inter-Varsity Fellowship magazine.
Oxford
In 1934, Coggan went to Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, to prepare for ordination. The next year he married Jean Strain. She was the daughter of a London surgeon and a member of the administrative staff of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship. The couple lived in modest circumstances. They both shared in pastoral and evangelistic work in the parish.The couple later had two children: Ann Coggan and Ruth Evelyn Coggan.
Curate and professor
As a youth, his mother took Coggan to an evangelical parish church in Upper Holloway. He remained "within the evangelical tradition" the rest of his life.Coggan served as a curate in the evangelical St Mary's Church, Islington, from 1934 to 1937. He was ordained a priest in 1935.
Canada
From 1937 to 1944, Coggan served as Professor of New Testament studies and Dean of Residence at Wycliffe College in Toronto. During those years, he helped "restore the reputation of the college after a period of serious decline". Coggan spoke and preached in many places.While in Canada, Coggan developed an interest in the theology and teaching of preaching and set up "schools of preaching". During that time, although an evangelical, meaning "a love of the Bible and a missionary dynamic", he dropped his "more fundamentalist attitudes".
Jean Coggan accompanied her husband to Canada. During their "happy years in Canada", Jean give birth to two daughters, Ann in 1938 and Ruth in 1940.
Wycliffe College awarded Coggan a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1941, and an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in 1944.
College principal (1944–1956)
Coggan returned to England in 1944 as principal of the London College of Divinity until he became a bishop in 1956. He was invited to be a vice-president of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship. But, in spite of his previous work in the organisation, he declined because he could no longer state a belief in the Bible as "infallible". In addition to serving as principal, Coggan served as Macneil Professor of Biblical Exegesis from 1952 until he left.When Coggan became principal, the college buildings at Highbury had been bombed by the Germans, and there were only a few students in residence. A new building was planned at Northwood, London. In the meantime, Coggan had to restore the college by using a manor house in Sussex. He recruited a gifted staff and imposed a strict regime. Under Coggan's leadership, the college "became one of the Church of England's most highly regarded theological colleges".
In addition to serving as principal and professor, Coggan served as a proctor in the Convocation for the Diocese of London from 1950 to 1956, as an examining chaplain in the Diocese of Lincoln from 1946 to 1956, the Diocese of Manchester from 1951 to 1956, the Diocese of Southwark from 1954 to 1956 the Diocese of Chester from 1955 to 1956.
When Coggan returned to England, wartime constraints on travel meant that his wife and their two children had to remain in Toronto temporarily. When the family returned, the situation was "appalling". Coggan was "permanently on duty" during the college's reconstruction, and the family's living conditions were inadequate. Jean "fell ill" as a result of this stress.
Coggan was awarded a Lambeth degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1957.
He served as a member of the Board of Governors of Monkton Combe School for nearly fifty years, from 1945 to 1994.
Bishop of Bradford (1956–1961)
Coggan was in great demand as a preacher and lecturer in all parts of the country. Therefore, "it was no surprise when in 1956 the Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, nominated him for the bishopric of the Diocese of Bradford." The previous bishop, Alfred Blunt, had triggered the King Edward VIII abdication crisis in 1936. From 1931 onwards, Blunt had suffered nervous illnesses, and in 1955 he was forced to retire after a stroke. Therefore, when Coggan became bishop "the life of the diocese was at a low ebb"."Coggan swept in with great energy and firm discipline, and in the space of five years organised the building of five new churches and new diocesan offices, the opening of Scargill House - a fine conference and retreat centre at Scargill, and the raising of much money. Parishes were visited, standards were raised, and the new bishop became a popular figure."
Coggan's success as Bishop of Bradford, as it had been in Canada and at the London College of Divinity, demonstrated that he was "thoroughly capable and balanced, colossally hardworking, a scholarly teacher, a fine preacher, and an increasingly irenic personality."
Coggan was given a Doctor of Divinity by the University of Leeds in 1958.
While Coggan served as Bishop of Bradford, he became a world vice-president of the United Bible Societies in 1957. He also served as Select Preacher for Oxford University from 1960 to 1961, as Chairman of the Liturgical Commission from 1960 to 1964, and Chairman of the College of Preachers from 1960 to 1980.
Archbishop of York (1961–1974)
Coggan was appointed Archbishop of York in 1961. Before his enthronement, he visited Israel and met with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.Coggan was enthroned on 13 September 1961. "At his 1961 enthronement in York Minster, Coggan’s evangelical friends were surprised that he wore a cope and mitre.
Coggan began his new ministry with the zeal he had shown in Canada and as Principal of the London College of Divinity. However, "his zeal sometimes outstripped his wisdom, and amid a plethora of activity in the diocese, involving the setting up of numerous councils and committees". After starting something new, Coggan "tended to become preoccupied with yet another initiative, or to find himself required overseas".
Overseas
Coggan visited four continents while at York. He played a leading role in the Anglican Congress in Toronto in 1963.In 1967, Coggan took a tour to Australia and New Zealand on behalf of the United Bible Societies. He "filled public halls and cathedrals with his lectures on the place of the Bible in modern society". He also visited the British armed forces bases in Singapore and Borneo, meeting with senior officers, leading retreats, and teaching schools for service chaplains.
In 1970, Coggan led a Canadian Congress on Evangelism. In 1971, he went to Belgium to meet Cardinal Suenens.
At home
At home, Coggan was chairman of the Church of England's recently formed Liturgical Commission. He also served as Pro-Chancellor of the University of York from 1962 to 1974, as Pro-Chancellor of Hull University from 1968 to 1974, as President of the Society for Old Testament Study from 1967, as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom from 1961 until his retirement in 1980 by virtue of his office, as the Shaftesbury Lecturer in 1973, and as Prelate of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.He played a leading role in the Lambeth Conference of 1968.
The then Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, once said that Coggan was "like a man with a wheelbarrow; however much you pile on him, he goes on pushing".
Coggan's concern "with Scripture translations, exegesis and preaching dominated his mind" His "interest in Biblical translation persisted in his ministry – he was actively involved in the preparation of new, clear and usable translations of biblical texts, including the New English Bible and the Revised English Bible ". He was chairman of the Joint Committee responsible for the translation of the New English Bible. and chairman of the Joint Committee responsible for the translation of the Revised English Bible.
Coggan was "in great demand as a preacher and lecturer in all parts of the country". Not only was Coggan in demand as a preacher and lecturer, his wife Jean was also. As a lay reader at York, she conducted services and preached. In addition, she was "a popular speaker, and much in demand".
Coggan was awarded a Doctor of Divinity by Cambridge University in 1962 and a Doctor of Divinity by the University of Hull in 1963.