TONY LANE

Professor of Historical Theology

MA BD DD (Oxon)

Areas of special interest: Doctrine: especially Justification, Sacraments, Scripture & Tradition Historical Theology: especially Bernard of Clairvaux, Calvin, Moltmann 

Tony studied maths and theology at Oxford and Cambridge before joining the school's faculty in 1973. He has remained here since then, apart from a year away spent teaching in Kenya and researching in the USA. He was Course Leader for the School's BA programme for twelve years before becoming Director of Research from 1996 to 2008. In 2000 he was recognised by Brunel University as Professor of Historical Theology and in 2004 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Oxford University.

He is an enthusiast for Christian doctrine, and especially its history. His desire is for students to become more aware of the riches of the Christian heritage. He has the ability to express complex doctrinal concepts. This talent is visible in his Concise History of Christian Thought (2006) and The Lion Christian Classics Collection (2004). Most of his scholarly writings have been on Calvin, including his John Calvin: Student of the Church Fathers (1999). He has worked intensively on the doctrine of justification and has published Justification by Faith in Catholic-Protestant Dialogue (2002). His latest book is A Reader's Guide to Calvin's Institutes (2009). For many years Tony chaired the Tyndale Fellowship Doctrine Group and he is one of the Presidium that runs four-yearly international congresses on Calvin research. He has examined PhDs for various universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, London and Edinburgh.

Tony likes to travel and has worked as a computer programmer in Holland, studied in Germany and taught in Germany, Kenya, Canada, USA, Croatia,Romania and Russia. He is an ardent squash player and is both interested and involved in politics. He is a keen photographer and has an extensive collection of images relating to Church History, many of which have been published. He and his wife Maggie have two grown-up daughters and a grandson.

To buy a copy of any of Tony's books please visit our Online Catalogue.

Tony is interested in supervising students in historical theology. His prime specialisms are Calvin and Bernard of Clairvaux, though he has also supervised theses on other theologians from the Early Church, the Middle Ages and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as Jürgen Moltmann. Theological themes that are of interest to him are especially Scripture and tradition, sin and grace, justification, sacraments and Catholic-Protestant dialogue.

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