George Christopher Stead
The Revd George Christopher Stead was a British patristic scholar and Church of England clergyman who was the last Ely Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work on the philosophy of the Church Fathers. He studied under G.E. Moore and Ludwig Wittgenstein while an undergraduate at Cambridge. His academic career was combined with ministry as a college chaplain and then residentiary Canon of the Ely Cathedral; he also served briefly as Curate of St. John's, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1939.
Field of research
Stead was particularly interested in the application of the Aristotelian concept of substance to Christian theology and in the use of the term 'homoousios', initially in a context deemed heretical by the Council of Antioch, subsequently more authoritatively by the Council of Nicaea, which in turn gave rise to over half a century of heated discussion. His 1977 book Divine Substance is widely cited among patristic scholars. Stead's interest extended to Augustine and John Philoponus' use of the concept.Stead made numerous contributions to better understanding of the teaching of Arius, the Alexandrian theologian in opposition to whose teaching the Council of Nicaea adopted the term 'homoousios'. He also wrote on Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, and Valentinian Gnosticism, as well as on general philosophical issues such as the freedom of the will and concept of mind in the Church Fathers. See the two volumes of his collected papers which are listed below.
Academic career
- Marlborough College, graduated 1933
- King's College, Cambridge, B.A., 1935
- New College, Oxford, ?
- Cuddesdon College, Ordained Deacon 1938, Priest 1941
- King's College, Cambridge, Lecturer in Divinity, 1938–1949
- Eton College, Assistant Master, 1940–1944
- Keble College, Oxford, Fellow and Chaplain, 1949–1971
- University of Cambridge, Ely Professor of Divinity, 1971–1980
- University of Cambridge, D.Litt., 1978
- Elected Fellow of the British Academy, 1980
Works
- "Non-Responsible Morality",, 1949
- "On Total Depravity",, 1950Divine Substance, 1977Substance and Illusion in the Christian Fathers, 1985 Philosophie und Theologie I: Die Zeit der Alten Kirche, 1990Philosophy in Christian Antiquity, 1996Doctrine and Philosophy in Early Christianity, 2000
- "Kategorienlehre", Reallexikon fûr Antike und Christentum, Band XX, Stuttgart, 2004.
- Also: The Birth of the Steam Locomotive, 2002