author
Edwin Hatch
1835–1889
A 19th-century English theologian and church historian, he is best remembered for exploring how Greek thought shaped early Christianity. He also wrote the hymn "Breathe on Me, Breath of God," which has kept his name familiar far beyond academic circles.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Derby in 1835, Edwin Hatch studied at Pembroke College, Oxford, and went on to become an Anglican priest, scholar, and teacher. Early in his career he spent several years in Canada, where he worked at Trinity College in Toronto and helped lead its non-resident university work before returning to Oxford.
Hatch became known for serious, clear-minded scholarship on the early church. He served as Vice-Principal of St Mary Hall, Oxford, and later as Reader in Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford. His best-known book, The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church, grew out of his 1888 Hibbert Lectures and remained influential after his death.
He died in Oxford in 1889. Alongside his academic writing, he is still warmly remembered as the author of the hymn "Breathe on Me, Breath of God," a rare example of a scholar whose work has lived on both in universities and in worship.