Bernard Orchard

Bernard Orchard OSB ( MA ) (born May 3, 1910 in Bromley ; † November 28, 2006 in Ealing , London) was an English Benedictine monk , school principal and theologian.

Life

Early years and education

John Archibald Henslowe Orchard, son of a farmer, was born in Bromley in Kent in southeast England . He attended the "Ealing Priory School", to which he would later return as school principal. He was able to leave it in 1927 as the first student since it was founded in 1902 to go to university by winning a place at Fitzwilliam House at the University of Cambridge , where he gave lectures in history and economics . At his former school, Ealing Priory , he gave lessons with Reginald C. Fuller; he later worked with him on university projects.

Life as a monk

After graduating, Orchard initially taught at a primary school. In 1932 he entered the Benedictine religious order of Downside Abbey , where he took the religious name Bernard . In 1939 he was ordained a priest . In the abbey he taught at the school, took on the role of choirmaster and began his career as a Bible scholar under the guidance of Abbots John Chapman and Basil Christopher Butler . From 1943 he benefited from the papal encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu by Pope Pius XII. which first allowed Catholics to use modern methods of historical criticism. Orchard wrote a Bible commentary that appeared in 1951: A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture .

Reorganization and management of the St. Benedicts School

After 13 years in Downside Abbey, then Abbot Sigebert Trafford gave Orchard the job of taking over the management of the Ealing Priory School . The school, which was founded in 1902 as an offshoot of the abbey, was in such poor condition by 1945 at the latest that it was more likely to close than to flourish again. Orchard plunged into the new task of revitalizing the school. He gave it the name St Benedict's School and in 1947 was recognized by the Ministry of Education as an "efficient school".

In 1951 Orchard was admitted to the Headmasters' Conference and his school received public recognition as a “public school” - at that time the only Catholic day school at all. At Abbot Rupert Hall of the now independent Ealing Abbey , concern grew that Orchard's efforts for the school were beyond the financial means of the monastic community. So in 1960 he demanded Orchard resign as director. Orchard then withdrew from his post. However, the death of his successor after only one semester and the termination of the second successor after five years meant that he was again entrusted with the management of the school in 1965. He did so until discussions about his ambitions and expansion efforts started again. In 1969 he finally resigned from his post.

Theological work

After completing his Bible commentary in 1951 and in addition to his duties as school principal, Orchard and Reginald C. Fuller, his former classmate from the Ealing Priory School, agreed to create a new translation of the Bible. It should be suitable for liturgical and academic use alike. It was published in 1967.

At the age of 60 and finally free from school responsibility, Orchard seriously resumed his career as a Bible scholar. In 1969 he took part in the "establishment" and was the second general secretary of the World Catholic Federation (1970–1972). With undiminished vigor, he organized and financed a number of international conferences on the gospels. In the 1970s he served as the spiritual director of Beda College in Rome for four years and was visiting professor of the New Testament at the University of Dallas, Texas before returning to his Ealing community for the end of his life.

In the footsteps of his mentor Basil Christopher Butler , Orchard advocated the spread of the Griesbach hypothesis, which he renamed the "two gospel hypothesis", in the face of a general skepticism among scholars . This theory holds that the Gospel of Matthew was written first and the Gospel of Mark as the last of the three Synoptics . Mark is a synthesis or summary of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke . He remained a familiar face in biblical circles until old age and gave lectures worldwide in support of his solution to the synoptic problem . At the age of 95 he publicly declined an invitation from Archbishop of Westminster Cormac Murphy-O'Connor to attend a lecture focusing on the Gospel of Mark as a priority.

death

On November 28, 2006, 96-year-old Orchard was praying on the bed of dying Father Kevin Horsey. They were the last surviving representatives of the Ealing community before its independence in 1947. They both died that night.

Publications

Books

As editor

• A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture , 1951.
• (with Reginald C Fuller :) Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible , London 1967.
• (with Reginald C Fuller :) The Common Bible , London 1973.
• A New Catholic Commentary , London 1969.

As an author

• Matthew, Luke & Mark , Koinonia Press: Manchester 1976.
• Synopsis of the Four Gospels in English , 1982.
• Synopsis of the Four Gospels in Greek , 1983.
• (together with H. Riley :) The Order of the Synoptics , 1987.
• Born to be King - The Epic of the Incarnation (A theological application of the Matthean Priority Hypothesis) , Ealing Abbey Scriptorium: London 1993.
• The Origin and Evolution of the Gospels , Ealing Abbey Scriptorium: London 1993.

Article (selection)

• " Thessalonians and the Synoptic Gospels ," Biblica 19 (1938) pp. 19-42.
• The Rejection of Christ , Downside Review LVI (1938) pp 410-426.
• The Persecution of Christ , Downside Review LVII (1939) pp 189-198.
• The Two Year Public Ministry Viewed and Reviewed , Downside Review LVII (1939) pp. 308-339.
• St Paul and the Book of Daniel , Biblica : 20 (1939), pp. 172-179.
• A Note on the Meaning of Galatians 2: 3-5 , Journal of Theological Studies Vol. 43 (1942), pp. 173-177.
• A New Solution of the Galatians Problem , Bulletin of the John Rylands Library No. 28: 154-174 (1944).
• The Problem of Acts and Galatians , Catholic Biblical Quarterly 7 (1945), pp. 377-397.
• Prayers We have in Common: The Biblical Aspect , Worship : 47 No. 3 (March 1973), pp. 144-149.
• The Meaning of ton epiousion (Mt 6:11 = Lk 11: 3) , Biblical Theology Bulletin III-3 (1973), pp. 274-282
• The Ellipsis between Galatians 2: 3 and 2: 4 , Biblica 54 (1973), pp. 469-481.
• Priestly Training according to the Gospels , Omnis Terra: 58 (February 1974)
• Once again the Ellipsis between Galatians 2: 3 and 2: 4 , Biblica 57 (1976), pp. 254-255.
• JAT Robinson and the Synoptic Problem , New Testament Studies : 22 (1975/1976), pp. 346-452.
• JJ Griesbach: Synoptic and Text Critical Studies 1776-1976 (PDF; 630 kB), Society for New Testament Studies , 1978.
• Are All Gospel Synopses Biased? , Theologische Zeitschrift 34 (1978), pp. 149-162.
• Ellipsis and Parenthesis in Gal 2: 1-10 and 2 Thess 2: 1-12 , Paul de Tarse - Apotre de Notre Temps (Rome: Basilica di San Paulo-f-1-m, (1979))
• Some Guidelines for the Interpretation of Eusebius HE Ill 34-39 , Festschrift in: Honor of Bo Reicke, Basel 1979.
• Why THREE Synoptic Gospels? , in: Irish Theological Quarterly: 46 No. 4 (1979).
• The Solution of the Synoptic Problem , Scripture Bulletin, XVIII, No. 1st Winter (1987)
• The Formation of the Synoptic Gospels , Downside Review, Vol. 106 No. 362 (Jan 1988), pp. 1-16.
• The Evolution of the Gospels , CTS Publications (SC60), London 1990.
• Response to H. Merkel (Ancient Patristic Testimony to the Gospels), The Interrelations of the Gospels, (ed. David L. Dungan ), Leuven 1990, pp. 591-604.
• Mark and the Fusion of Traditions , The Four Gospels - Festschrift Frans Neirynck, Leuven (1992), pp. 779-800.
• The Making and Publication of Mark's Gospel: An Historical Investigation (PDF; 234 kB), Annales Theologici 1, (1993), pp. 369-393.
• The Origin and Evolution of the Gospels (PDF; 70 kB), (1993)
• The Publication of Mark's Gospel , The Synoptic Gospels - Source Criticism and The New Literary Criticism, ed. Camille Focant, Leuven (1993), pp. 518-520.
• Josephus and the Unnamed Priests of his Roman Mission , Downside Review, Vol. 113 No. 393 (October 1995), pp. 248-270.
• Dei Verbum and the Synoptic Gospels. This Rock (1996)
• The Bethrothal and Marriage of Mary to Joseph. Homiletic and Pastoral Review, Volume CII No 2 (November 2001)

Web links

• biography
• Orchard's works

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Dom Bernard Orchard . The Telegraph. December 8, 2006. Retrieved May 30, 2008.