Editing Thomas Kelly Cheyne

{{Short description|English divine and biblical critic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
[[File:Portrait of Thomas Kelly Cheyne.jpg|thumb|Thomas Kelly Cheyne]]
'''Thomas Kelly Cheyne''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|commas=on|FBA|size=100%}} (18 September 1841{{snd}}1915) was an [[England|English]] [[Anglicanism#Anglican divines|divine]] and [[biblical criticism|biblical critic]].

==Biography==
He was born in [[London]] and educated at [[Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood|Merchant Taylors' School, London]], and [[University of Oxford|Oxford University]]. Subsequently, he studied German theological methods at [[university of Göttingen|Göttingen]]. He was ordained in 1864 and held a fellowship at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], from 1868 to 1882. During the earlier part of this period he stood alone in the university as a teacher of the main conclusions of [[Old Testament]] criticism at that time. In 1881 he was presented to the [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rectory]] of Tendring, in [[Essex, England|Essex]], and in 1884 he was made a member of the Old Testament revision company. He resigned the living of Tendring in 1885 on his appointment to be [[Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture]], which carried with it a canonry at [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]]. In 1889 he delivered the [[Bampton lectures]] at Oxford. In 1908 he resigned his professorship.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Cheyne, Thomas Kelly |volume=6 |page=116}}</ref>

In June 1901, he received an honorary [[Doctor of Divinity|doctorate of Divinity]] from the [[University of Glasgow]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-glasgow-university-jubilee/131294008/ |date=14 June 1901 |title=Glasgow University Jubilee |page=10 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |publication-place=London |issue=36481 |access-date=2024-01-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and in March 1902 he was awarded the degree [[Doctor of Letters]] (D.Litt.) from the University of Oxford.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-university-intelligence/138118871/ |newspaper=[[The Times]] |publication-place=London |title=University Intelligence |date=15 March 1902 |page=12 |issue=36716 |access-date=2024-01-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

In 1882 he married Frances Godfrey<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Cheyne, Thomas Kelly (1841–1915), biblical scholar|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32395|access-date=2021-09-21| date=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32395| isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> and she died in 1907.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Cheyne, Thomas Kelly (1841–1915), biblical scholar|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32395|access-date=2021-09-21| date=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32395| isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> Cheyne wrote a glowing a review of the work published by [[Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne|Elizabeth Gibson]] in 1911. The review was in the progressive ''Christian Commonwealth.'' Gibson had published about twenty books of poetry or prose and she was an established writer''.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Greenway |first=Judy |title=Gibson [married name Cheyne], Elizabeth [known as Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne] (1869–1931), poet and social activist |date=2023-07-13 |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-95466 |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |access-date=2023-08-24 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.95466 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8}}</ref>'' Their common interest fueled a whirlwind romance that resulted in their marriage in the Cornish village of [[Mawnan]] in Cornwall on 28 August 1911. Afterwards She joined Cheyne at his home in Oxford.<ref name=":0" />

He consistently urged in his writings the necessity of a broad and comprehensive study of the Scriptures in the light of literary, historical and scientific considerations. His publications include commentaries on the ''Prophets and Hagiographa'', as well as lectures and addresses on theological subjects. He was a joint editor of the ''[[Encyclopaedia Biblica]]'' (London, 1899-1903), a work embodying the more advanced conclusions of English biblical criticism. In the introduction to his ''Origin of the Psalter'' (London, 1891) he gave an account of his development as a critical scholar.<ref name="EB1911" /> His publications include translations, commentaries, and supplemental research.

He became a member of the [[Baháʼí Faith]] by 1912.<ref name="Sohrab1913">{{cite web |author=David Merrick |year=2011 |page=31 Dec 1912 |title=Abdu'l-Baha in the UK, 1913 (Sohrab's Diary) |url=http://www.paintdrawer.co.uk/david/misc/sohrab-diary-uk-1913.pdf}}</ref>
"If there has been any Prophet in recent times", he wrote in his 1914 work ''The Reconciliation of Races and Religions'', "it is to [[Bahá'u'lláh]] that we must go. Character is the final judge. Bahá'u'lláh was a man of the highest class – that of Prophets."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cheyne |first1=Thomas Kelly |title=The Reconciliation of Races and Religions |date=1914}}</ref>

His second wife's 1912 book ''The Voice of One Crying'' was "arranged in cycles by T. K. C. i.e. Thomas Kelly Cheyne".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elizabeth Gibson Cheyne (1869-1931) : Some Biographical and Bibliograpical Notes. {{!}} Hurqalya Publications: Center for Shaykhī and Bābī-Bahā'ī Studies |url=https://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/node/3771 |access-date=2023-08-26 |website=hurqalya.ucmerced.edu}}</ref>

==Publications==
===Books===
In his lifetime Cheyne published over a dozen volumes.
*''The Relations Between Civilized and Uncivilized Races: A Prize Essay Read in the Theatre, Oxford'' was perhaps his first publication in 1864.
*''[[Encyclopaedia Biblica]]'', co-edited with J. Sutherland Black in 1903, revised 1907, is still widely cited.
*''The Reconciliation of Races and Religions'' may have been his last publication, August 1914, by A. and C. Black, and has been reprinted as late as 2004 (as {{ISBN|1-4142-1939-3}},)
*''Founders of Old Testament Criticism: Biographical, Descriptive, and Critical Studies'' - Wipf and Stock  9781592443789
*''Job and Solomon: Or the Wisdom of the Old Testament'' - Wipf and Stock  9781597521512
*''The Mines of Isaiah Re-explored'' - Wipf and Stock  9781597521550
*''Introduction to the Book of Isaiah'' - Wipf and Stock  9781592449095
*''The Origin and Religious Contents of The Psalter: In the Light of Old Testament Criticism and the History of Religions'' - Wipf and Stock  9781606082577
*''Aids to the Devout Study of Criticism: Part I: The David Narrative, Part II: The Book of Psalms'' - Wipf and Stock  9781606085004
*[https://books.google.com/books/about/Traditions_Beliefs_of_Ancient_Israel.html?id=2C9VAAAAMAAJ ''Traditions & Beliefs of Ancient Israel''] (1907)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Traditions and Beliefs of Ancient Israel'' by T. K. Cheyne|journal=The Athenaeum|issue=4160|date=July 20, 1907|pages=62–63|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__I_PcOFSw8C&pg=PA62}}</ref> - Various reprints

===Articles===
Several articles in the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', 9th edition (1875–89) and 10th edition (1902-03), including on [[Circumcision]], [[Flood myth|Deluge]] and [[Hittites]].<ref>[http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/contributors.html Important Contributors to the ''Britannica'', 9th and 10th Editions], 1902encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 29 November 2018.</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource author}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=2621| name=Thomas Kelly Cheyne}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Thomas Kelly Cheyne}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2994}}
*[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/02/18/100141314.pdf New York Times Obituary]
*[http://sites.rootsweb.com/~cheyne/p10807.htm Cheyne Family Website - Thomas Kelly Cheyne] - family history
*[http://hurqalya.ucmerced.edu/node/194 THOMAS KELLY CHEYNE (1841-1915), BIBLICAL SCHOLAR AND BAHĀ'Ī] by Stephen N. Lambden (Ohio University)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090805145632/http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/BIBLIOGRAPHY-HYP/0-T-K-CHEYNE.BIB/rev_t_k_cheyne-bib.htm Annotated Bibliography] by  Stephen N. Lambden (Ohio University)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheyne, Thomas Kelly}}
[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:1915 deaths]]
[[Category:Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford]]
[[Category:English Bahá'ís]]
[[Category:Oriel and Laing Professors of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture]]
[[Category:Converts to the Bahá'í Faith from Anglicanism]]
[[Category:20th-century Bahá'ís]]
[[Category:Cheyne family|Thomas Kelly]]
[[Category:Biblical criticism]]
[[Category:English biblical scholars]]
[[Category:Anglican biblical scholars]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]