Kirsopp Lake

Ordained in the Church of England, he studied at St. Paul's School in London and Lincoln College, Oxford, then served at St Mary the Virgin in Oxford before moving fully into academic life. He later taught at Leiden and went on to Harvard Divinity School, where he became Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History.

He was best known as a New Testament scholar, church historian, and expert in Greek manuscripts. His work ranged from textual criticism and palaeography to archaeology, and he became especially associated with major studies of early Christianity, including The Beginnings of Christianity.

What makes his career especially memorable is its breadth: he was not only a scholar of texts, but also an investigator of the physical evidence behind them. That mix of close reading, historical curiosity, and field research gave his writing an energy that still makes it interesting to readers today.