Frederick John Foakes-Jackson papers, 1916 -- 1945

Frederick John Foakes-Jackson was an ecclesiastical historian born on August 10, 1855. He was the son of Reverend Stephen Jackson, the proprietor of the Ipswich Journal. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge and in 1879 was awarded first class honors. Throughout his university career he won a number of awards including the Jeremie Septugint and Scholefield prizes, the Corsse scholarship, and the Lightfoot scholarship. During this time he established an interest in the field of ecclesiastical history. Jackson was ordained a deacon in 1879 and became a priest in 1880. During this period he served as curate at Ottershaw in Surrey and at the Cambridge churches of St. Giles and St. Botolph. In 1882 he was appointed lecturer and chaplain in divinity and Hebrew at Jesus College, Cambridge where he worked for thirty four years, being elected Fellow in 1886 and serving as the Dean from 1896-1916. In 1916 Jackson was offered the Briggs graduate professorship of Christian institutions at Union Theological Seminary where he taught for seventeen years. This position saw him develop a reputation as a teacher and lecturer. Jackson taught in areas including worship, sacraments, councils, creeds and the English prayer book. He retired in 1933 and became emeritus that same year. Jackson was married twice: first to Anna Maria Everett in 1895, and a second time after Maria's death in 1931 to Clara Fawcett. Jackson died in Englewood, New Jersey on December 1, 1941. Jackson was a prolific author and published a number of scholarly books, including the first History of the Christian Church in 1891, followed in 1921 by Introduction to Church History (590-1314), with his most noteworthy work being the five volume The Beginning of Christianity, formulated and edited with New Testament scholar Kirsopp Lake. This study of the Acts of Apostles was released between 1920 and 1933. Jackson's last book, A History of Church History was published in 1939, two years before his death.