A History of Greek Literature: From the Earliest Period to the Death of Demosthenes
(A scholarly survey of Greek literature from its earliest ...)
A scholarly survey of Greek literature from its earliest period to the death of Demosthenes. The work remained in print for many years and reflects Jevons's classical scholarship.
Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples: A Manual of Comparative Philology and the Earliest Culture
(An English version of Otto Schrader's Sprachvergleichung ...)
An English version of Otto Schrader's Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte, presenting comparative philology and the earliest culture of the Aryan peoples.
An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion
(Based on the Hartford-Lamson Lectures on The Religions of...)
Based on the Hartford-Lamson Lectures on The Religions of the World, delivered at Hartford Theological Seminary, and published by Macmillan. The book traces the development of religious ideas through an evolutionary framework and remains in print.
(A volume in the Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literatu...)
A volume in the Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature series, offering a broad historical survey of religious viewpoints from magic and ancestor-worship to Buddhism and monotheism.
Frank Byron Jevons (1858–1936) was a British classical scholar, philosopher and academic administrator at Durham University. He served as Master of Hatfield College, Vice-Chancellor of the university and Professor of Philosophy, and he wrote widely on Greek literature, comparative religion and evolution.
Background
Frank Byron Jevons was born on 9 September 1858 in Doncaster, a town in the south of Yorkshire in northern England. Doncaster was a growing town during the Victorian period, when industrial and railway development was transforming the towns of the north of England.
He was educated at Nottingham High School, an established school in Nottingham, before going up to Wadham College, Oxford. His education there prepared him for the classical scholarship that became the foundation of his early career.
His interests extended across classics, philosophy, sociology, history, anthropology and comparative religion, and he is remembered as one of the last Victorian polymaths. He was also concerned with social and national issues, especially the education of the working classes and of women. He died at Radcliffe-on-Trent, a village in Nottinghamshire, on 29 February 1936.
Education
Nottingham High School was an established secondary school in Nottingham, the city in which Jevons received his early schooling. The school's grammar-school tradition provided a rigorous grounding in languages and literature for boys preparing for the universities.
Jevons went on to Wadham College, Oxford, one of the colleges of the University of Oxford, founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham. Oxford's collegiate system combined college tutorials with university examinations, and classical studies held a central place in the undergraduate curriculum of the period. Jevons's later appointment as a lecturer in Classics at Durham indicates that his Oxford training in the classics formed the basis of his early academic career.
Jevons began his academic career at Durham University, which had been founded in 1832 and was organized around residential colleges and university teaching. He was appointed a lecturer in Classics in 1882 and worked in the classical field until 1910. For a time he also had charge of the free students, those not enrolled in any college, which placed him among the university's arrangements for students outside the collegiate system.
In 1892 he became the first Censor of St Cuthbert's Society, a body established in 1888 as a community for students who were not members of colleges. He held the post until 1897, and a history of the society records that he performed the role with "skill and humanity". His early work in Durham thus combined classical teaching with responsibility for student life outside the colleges.
In 1897 he was appointed Master of Hatfield College, then known as Bishop Hatfield's Hall, one of the colleges of Durham University. He remained in that post until 1922. Between 1902 and 1909 he also served as Sub-Warden of the Durham Colleges, a university office concerned with the shared arrangements of the colleges.
In 1910 Jevons became Professor of Philosophy, a chair he held until 1930, and in the same year he began his term as Vice-Chancellor of the university, which lasted until 1912. He then served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 1912 to 1914 and again from 1916 to 1921. In 1923 he presided at a meeting recorded as the inaugural meeting of the World Congress of Philosophy, an international body whose earlier form, the International Congress of Philosophy, had been established in 1900.
Jevons played a significant role in popularizing the comparative study of religion in the English-speaking world during the two decades before the First World War. He applied the evolutionist anthropology of his time to the interpretation of Greco-Roman texts, working alongside contemporaries such as R. R. Marett, Andrew Lang and Gilbert Murray.
In 1923 Jevons presided at the meeting recorded as the inaugural meeting of the World Congress of Philosophy, a body that developed from the International Congress of Philosophy first held in 1900.
(A study of masks and acting in the ancient world.)
Religion
Jevons is described in a standard reference on the study of religion as a liberal Anglican. Anglicanism is the tradition of the Church of England and the churches in communion with it, and it developed from the English Reformation, retaining episcopal government and a liturgical heritage. Its liberal wing, which flourished in the nineteenth century, encouraged historical and critical study of scripture and welcomed the application of scientific and historical methods to religious questions.
Jevons's religious outlook was shaped by this liberal current. He held that the religious quest of humanity reflected the divine will, and he maintained that all religions found their fulfilment in Christianity. His comparative work nevertheless treated other religions as products of historical development, and this combination of Christian conviction and evolutionary method was characteristic of many Edwardian scholars of religion.
Views
Jevons thought that the religious quest of humanity reflected the divine will, and he maintained that all religions found their fulfilment in Christianity. This conviction sat alongside an evolutionary approach to religious history.
In his comparative studies he argued that Buddhism was not a religion in its own right but a development of tendencies already present in ancient Brahmanism. He regarded religious evolution chiefly as the process by which the truth of monotheism came to be discerned. His writings on the origins of ideas about God, magic and ritual applied evolutionary anthropology to Greek and comparative material.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
A history of St Cuthbert's Society records that Jevons performed his role as its first Censor with "skill and humanity".
Interests
Jevons was concerned with social and national issues, especially the education of the working classes and of women.
Connections
Jevons married Ellen Louisa Cox. Their marriage is the principal personal connection recorded in his biography, and it is noted alongside his long service at Durham University.
Wife:
Ellen Louisa Cox
References
Frank Jevons
An encyclopedia article on Jevons as a polymath, academic and administrator of Durham University, covering his offices at Hatfield College and the university, his philosophy chair, and his publications.
Frank Byron Jevons, 1858-1936: An Evolutionary Realist
A study by Douglas J. Davies of Jevons's thought, examining his evolutionary approach to religion and philosophy.
1991
Jevons Papers
The Durham University Archives collection of Jevons's research, lecture and sermon notes, covering his work on philosophy, personality and comparative religion, ca. 1885-1936.
Jevons, Frank Byron
A reference index entry giving Jevons's dates of life (1858-1936) and place of birth as Doncaster.
Jevons, F. B.
An encyclopedia entry describing Jevons's role in popularizing the comparative study of religion in the English-speaking world, his liberal Anglican outlook, and his work at Durham and Hatfield Hall.
