Frederick Robert Tennant

Frederick Robert Tennant (1 September 1866 – 9 September 1957), best known as F. R. Tennant was a British theologian, philosopher of religion and author.

Frederick Robert Tennant
Born	1 September 1866 Burslem, Staffordshire, England
Died	9 September 1957 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Theologian

Career

Tennant studied mathematics, physics, biology, and chemistry at Caius College, Cambridge (1885–89) prior to becoming a theologian. After hearing the 1889 Huxley lectures, Tennant's interest in religion grew in the 1890s ultimately leading him to prepare for ordination in the Church of England.^[1] While he was ordained he taught science at Newcastle-under-Lyme High School (1891–94), and became a lecturer in Theology and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1913.^[2]

As an Anglican theologian, Tennant assimilated much of Huxley's lectures culminating in the 1901–1902 Hulsean Lecture entitled Origin and Propagation of Sin where he integrated evolutionary ideas into a Christian synthesis.^[3]

One of Tennant's goals in his writings was an integrative synthesis of the doctrines of the fall and original sin with Huxley’s claims of conflict between Darwinian thought and Christianity.^[4]

Evolution and purpose

Tennant believed that the existence of a god was needed to explain the alleged purposive quality of evolution. Tennant was the first theist widely known to put forward such an argument. In volume 2 of his book Philosophical Theology he says:

"The multitude of interwoven adaptations by which the world is constituted a theatre of life, intelligence, and morality, cannot reasonably be regarded as an outcome of mechanism, or of blind formative power, or aught but purposive intelligence."^[5]

He was an advocate of theistic evolution. Tennant made an argument from design from the "quality of the evolution process".^[6]

Publications

• The Nature of Belief The Centenary Press (1938)
• Philosophical Theology, Vol. 1: The Soul & Its Faculties Cambridge University Press (1968) (originally 1928)
• Philosophical Theology, Volume 2 The University Press, 1968 (originally 1930)
• The origin and propagation of sin;: being the Hulsean Lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge in 1901–1902 Cornell University Library (1 May 2009) (originally 1908)
• With Alan Tennant The Sources of the Doctrines of the Fall and Original Sin (2012) RareBooksClub.com ISBN 978-1152479906
• The Concept of Sin (2012) General Books LLC ISBN 978-1151101518