Mervyn Himbury: Principal and Preacher
- History & Biography
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Published: 2022
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Publisher's Description
Mervyn Himbury migrated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1959. Through the sheer force of his personality, he led the transformation of a small, impoverished Baptist seminary to the premier Baptist institution in Australia. From the humble life of a Welsh mining village, Himbury proceeded to university studies in Cardiff and then Oxford. The story begins with the cultural and religious background of Himbury's early life as a Welsh Baptist, exploring the distinctive ethos of the institutions where he studied during and just after the Second World War. Himbury's lifelong passion for history is revealed through an examination of his Oxford thesis and subsequent publications about the puritan groups from which the Baptist movement arose. In Melbourne, he quickly became known as a brilliant preacher and media presenter. As professor and principal of Whitley College, Himbury's central concern was ministerial education that would serve the churches in a rapidly changing world. For Himbury, the central task of ministry was preaching, and it is with this dimension of his life that the biography begins and concludes, drawing upon sermon records to demonstrate his commitment as a servant of the word of God.
Endorsements (5)
“Those who tell our stories show us who we are. Frank Rees’s biography of the great Baptist preacher, historian, and educator D. Mervyn Himbury provides the most telling insight into who we are as Victorian Baptists and, even more, who we are still called to be. The life story of this exceptional man is a gift to all of us who remain invested in the Australian church and its mission.”
“Rees succeeds magnificently in his aim of offering a biography which enables the reader to do theology better. In relating the life and thought of Mervyn Himbury, an exceptional preacher and theological educator, the author tells a good story very well indeed, exploring Baptist tradition in both British and Australian cultures, and exposing the theological roots of a radical religious and political freedom.”
“This is an excellent theological biography of Mervyn Himbury, a Welsh Baptist preacher and teacher who became a pioneering theological college principal in Australia. In his affectionate, readable, and scholarly account, Frank Rees has not only made an important contribution to Australian religious history but provided a model of how such biographies may have a theological relevance far beyond any provincial interests.”
“Here is the story of one of the great nonconformist (unusual) Australian Baptist leaders of the past one hundred years. After reading this book, written by the student of his who perhaps knew him best, I am reminded of the personal debt I owe to Mervyn Himbury as well as the debt all Victorian Baptists owe to him whether they knew him or not, whether they liked him or not.”
“In his finely researched biography, Rees sheds light on a complex character, D. Mervyn Himbury. Rees expertly sketches the diverse forces that shaped Himbury and deals sympathetically but not uncritically with his subject’s passions, struggles, and faith. This book is not just for Baptists (that curious breed emerging in tumultuous seventeenth-century Europe) but for anyone who steps into the unknown in response to a persistent ‘inner call.’”
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