The episcopal gadfly of the Church of England

From The Telegraph-

When Herbert Hensley Henson was named bishop of Hereford, the Archbishop of Canterbury considered resigning, and told him so.

That was in 1917. We may think bishops are a funny lot now, but, though Henson (1863-1947) was a bundle of eccentric contradictions, the biggest objection to his being consecrated was his inability to assent to the Virgin Birth of Jesus and his bodily Resurrection. He was consecrated (on the day the Bolsheviks confiscated all property of the orthodox Church), and the C of E did not fall apart.

It is unlikely today that such a figure would be made a bishop. His father had refused to send him to school. He was not baptised until 14. The Warden of All Souls called him the proudest man he’d known (and that was saying something). His colonialist brother was renowned as the rudest man in Calcutta.

The sequicentenary of his birth provoked a new biography, but I thought I’d read Owen Chadwick’s biography from 1983 first, and I’m glad I did. Chadwick writes beautifully and puts at least two interesting facts on each page. His judgments are so convincing that the risk is being won over entirely by his interpretation of a life that baffles by its lurches.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10714400/The-episcopal-gadfly-of-the-Church-of-England.html