Education

Edwards was educated at the King"s School, Canterbury, and, Oxford, where he took a Bachelor in 1952 and Master of Arts in 1956.

Career

He was the Dean of Norwich, Provost of Southwark and a prolific author Edwards was elected a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, for a seven-year period from 1952 to 1959. He spent the academic year of 1953-1954 studying at Westcott House, Cambridge, and was ordained deacon in 1954.

He served as a tutor at Westcott House (1954-1955) and he was ordained priest in 1955.

In 1955, Edwards began his ordained ministry as an assistant curate at Street John"s, Hampstead, and also began his work with the Student Christian Movement as its secretary, remaining in both positions until 1958. Edwards was assistant curate of Street Martin-in-the-Fields (1958-1966), editor for the Student Christian Movement Press (1959-1966) and General Secretary of the Student Christian Movement (1965-1966).

From 1966 until 1970, Edwards was the Dean of King"s College, Cambridge. He was also a Six Preacher of Canterbury Cathedral (1969-1976).

Edwards was a canon of Westminster Abbey and the rector of Saint Margaret"s, Westminster (1970-1978).

He was additionally Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons (1972-1978) and Sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey (1974-1978). He was Chairman of the Churches" Council on Gambling (1970-1978) and of Christian Aid (1971-1978). He was the Dean of Norwich from 1978 to 1983 and the Provost of Southwark from 1983 to 1994.

Edwards retired to Winchester, becoming an honorary chaplain at Winchester Cathedral in 1995.

Achievements

• In 1990 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, conferred upon him the Lambeth degree of Doctor of Divinity. He wore the academic dress of his former headmaster, Fred Shirley (who had himself been a Doctor of Divinity) and of whom Edwards wrote a biography, F. J. Shirley: An Extraordinary Headmaster (1969). Also in 1990, Edwards was appointed an honorary fellow of the South Bank Polytechnic (later South Bank University and now called London South Bank University). In 1995, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Edwards an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Works

More photos

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  • What Anglicans Believe in the Twenty-first Century (Continuum Icons)

    ( This new edition of the 1974 classic What Anglicans Bel...)

  • Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years

    ("David Edwards provides a sensitive critique which is hel...)

  • Church that Could Be, The

    (An optimistic and forward-looking sketch of where the chu...)

  • Christian England: Its Story to the Reformation

    (Book by Edwards, David Lawrence.)

  • Christian England: From the Reformation to the 18th Century, Volume 2
  • What Anglicans Believe in the Twenty-First Century by David L. Edwards (1999-10-30)
  • Christianity: The First Two Thousand Years by David Lawrence Edwards (1999-08-04)
  • Christian England (Volume Two) from the Reformation to the Eighteenth Century
  • What Anglicans Believe in the Twenty-First Century by David L. Edwards (1999-10-03)
  • What Anglicans Believe in the Twenty-first Century (Continuum Icons) by David Edwards (2004-12-01)
  • Christian England. Volume 2 From the Reformation to the Eighteenth Century