MAN-10265 MAGAZINE.indd - Mansfield College - University of Oxford

issues.” Dorothy was still busy in Amnesty International.
There were rallies and marches of which he wrote, such as
opposition to war in Iraq.
Although from 1980 an Australian citizen, John remained
loyal to English cricket! But above all, “to think of John is
to be confronted with an image of a tenderness not found
in every man, or every woman…A remarkable forgiver, a
way of seeing in others what many could not see. A Jesuslike
capacity. Or, as John had said, “We don’t have to prove
ourselves worthy of God’s love…but gladly to accept it, to
live in it day by day, and to share it with others.” ●
Geoffrey Beck
The 1943 (Trinity Term) photograph of the Mansfi eld College Senior
and Junior Common Rooms. The back row from right reads
John Bennett, Vernon Thomas, Geoffrey Beck. Also of note are
Dr CJ Cadoux (Vice-Principal, front row 3rd from right),
Dr N Micklem (Principal, 2nd from right), John Marsh (Chaplain and
future Principal, far right), George Caird (future Principal, middle
row, far right).
‘Geoffrey
Beck and
John Bennett
enjoying a brief
interlude on
the Cherwell in
the Summer of
1943. Geoff is
the handsome
one.’ (!)
Obituary
David Kerr
1945-2008
Theology 1966-68
by Sidney Blankenship,
MA (1967)
Yesterday I received the
New College, Edinburgh,
Bulletin 2008 in which I
read with great sadness of the death of David Kerr who
was a contemporary (1967-1969) at Mansfi eld. I last saw
him in 1996 at the 150th Anniversary of New College
which houses the Divinity School on the Mound in
Edinburgh, an impressive week-long celebration with
HRH Prince Philip and the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Photo: Divinity School, Edinburgh
David Kerr was for a number of years Director of the
Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western
World at Edinburgh; and his perspective on Islam is
especially one which I can appreciate. Having received
his D.Phil. from St. Antony’s College after I left Oxford,
he concentrated on Christian/Muslim relations at Selly
Oak College in Birmingham and Hartford Seminary in
America. His openness to the positive history of other
traditions was a window into his soul. He came to
Edinburgh in 1995 and drafted the World Council of
Churches’ guidelines on “Dialogue and Community.”
He lamented the polemical approach of alienating
other faiths.
This is the fi rst I had heard of his death which occurred
on 14th April of this year, after a debilitating illness in
Sweden, where he had taken up a new appointment.
He was an inspiration to his fellow students at a unique
period in Mansfi eld’s history, having previously studied
Arabic and Islam at London’s School of Oriental and
African Studies. He was highly critical of the post 9/11
governmental response from the West. During our days
at Oxford, he and I shared notes from George Caird’s
lectures on Romans, the occasional tutorial, and one of
the intimate dinner invitations with John and Gladys
Marsh in the Principal’s Lodgings, as well as another
with Professor Zaehner at an Italian restaurant in Queen
Street. Long-lost friendships never really come to an end.
Once when I came back to Oxford, I decided to visit
Professor Zaehner at All Souls. I inquired for him at the
Porter’s Lodge, and was informed that he had “passed
on”; to which I replied without thinking, “Oh, well I
guess I’ll see him there.” Somehow, I would expect that
from David Kerr, as well. ●
Sidney Blankenship
ALUMNI NEWS 30