John Vernon Taylor

John Vernon Taylor (September 11 1914 – January 30 2001) was an English bishop and theologian.

Taylor was educated at St Lawrence College, Trinity College, Cambridge, St Catherine's Society and Wycliffe Hall at Oxford, and the Institute of Education. [‘TAYLOR, Rt Rev. John Vernon’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U37137, accessed 24 March 2008] ]

He was ordained in the Church of England in 1938. [‘TAYLOR, Rt Rev. John Vernon’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U37137, accessed 24 March 2008] states that he was ordained deacon in 1956 and priest in 1957, which is presumably an error since it also states that he was Curate of All Souls, Langham Place from 1938 until 1940] After five years of Christian ministry in England, he moved to Mukono,Uganda, as a missionary working in theological education. He returned to England in 1954 and worked for the International Missionary Council. In 1959 he became Africa Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, and in 1963 he succeeded Max Warren as its General Secretary, remaining in post until 1973. He then served as Bishop of Winchester from 1974 to 1984.

He was the first priest to be consecrated directly to the See of Winchester since the Middle Ages, and was much respected throughout the diocese and beyond.

At the centre of his theology was the idea, inspired by his time in Africa, that - put a little crudely - God was to be found as much "between" people as "in" them. That is to say, in a gathering of people, God was as much in the space in-between them as He was in each of them as different people. This was an insight from "The Primal Vision" which he took and expanded in "The Go-Between God".

The most notable of his books were "The Go-Between God" (1972) and "The Christlike God" (1992), both of which remain in print.

Bibliograpy

*"The Primal Vision: Christian Presence amid African Religion" (London: SCM 1963; New Edition, SCM Classics 2001)
*"The Go-Between God: The Holy Spirit and the Christian Mission" (London: SCM 1972; New Edition, SCM Classics 2002).
*"For All the World" (1966)
*"Enough is enough" (London: SCM: 1975)
*"The Growth of the Church in Buganda: An Attempt at Understanding" (1980)
*"Weep Not for Me: Meditations on the Cross and the Resurrection" (1986)
*"The Christlike God" (London: SCM 1992).
*"Bishops on the Bible: Eight Bishops on the Role and Relevance of the Bible Today" (1994)
*"A matter of life and death" (London: SCM 1986)
*"Kingdom Come" (1989)

Posthumous collections:

*"The Easter God and his Easter People" (2003)
*"The Incarnate God" (2006)

Biographical:
* "Poet, Priest and Prophet" by David Wood.

External links

Obituaries
*http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,434565,00.html
*http://archive.thisisdorset.net/2001/02/08/104848.html

Christian Mission with John V Taylor
*http://www.geocities.com/ccom_ctbi/CCOM_documents/waterloo_seminar_dwood_mission_with_jvt.htm

References