WILES, Maurice 1923-2005

(Maurice Frank Wiles)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born October 17, 1923, in London, England; died June 3, 2005, in Oxford, England. Theologian, priest, educator, and author. Wiles was an influential Anglican theologian who strove to reconcile religious belief and tradition with fact-based reasoning. After attending Tonbridge School, he did war service with the British Army, and then returned to attend university, completing B.A., M.A., and B.D. degrees at Cambridge. Ordained a deacon in the Church of England in 1950, and a priest the following year, he worked as curate of St. George's Church in Stockport, England from 1950 to 1952. Next, he was a chaplain at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, for three years. From 1955 to 1959, Wiley taught at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria as a lecturer in the New Testament. Returning to England and to Cambridge University, he was a lecturer in divinity and dean of Clare College from 1959 to 1967, and then a professor of Christian doctrine at King's College London for the remainder of the 1960s. The rest of Wiley's academic career was spent at Oxford University, where he was Regius Professor of Divinity from 1970 until his 1991 retirement. As a theologian, Wiles believed that it is a valid pursuit to question Christian doctrine in light of modern knowledge and scholarship, holding that reason should always be employed when interpreting and re-expressing religious concepts. Furthermore, he felt that doctrine often clouds the true nature and meaning of Christianity, and that reason and research can illuminate God's teachings. These ideas formed the groundwork for his many articles and books, which sometimes provoked controversy among his fellow Christians. Among Wiles's works are The Making of Christian Doctrine (1967), The Myth of God Incarnate (1977), Faith and the Mystery of God (1982), and Scholarship and Faith (2003).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Daily Telegraph (London, England), June 7, 2005.

Guardian (London, England), June 10, 2005, p. 31.

Independent (London, England), June 11, 2005, p. 40.

Times (London, England), June 7, 2005, p. 58.