Obituary: The Right Rev Lord Harries of Pentregarth (1936-2026)

It is with much sadness that we in the Parkes Institute mark the death of Richard Harries (1936-2026), the former Bishop of Oxford. Here, Professor Tony Kushner reflects on his life and relationship with James Parkes and the Parkes Institute.

Richard Harries was very much in the spirit of James Parkes as radical figures within the Church of England. Indeed, James Parkes was highly influential in the career of Richard Harries, especially in his intense interest and work in Jewish-Christian dialogue. In his autobiographical After the Evil. Christianity and Judaism in the Shadow of the Holocaust (2003), Richard Harries recalls being a student at Cuddesdon Theological College in the early 1960s. It was the custom to have a weekly after-dinner speaker:

"One week we had James Parkes to talk to us, the man whose pioneering work revealed the extent of antisemitism in Christian history and who strove for a new relationship between Church and Synagogue. It was only many years later that I became aware of the true importance of Parkes. But it was symptomatic that what he had to say to us should have been, as it were, fitted in as an optional extra. It is still the case that the radical reappraisal that is required of Christianity’s approach to Judaism is not reflected in the main curriculum of biblical studies, in Church history and systematic theology. Most ordinands, in most denominations, still go through their training with the old stereotypes about the Pharisees, Jewish legalism and with Judaism simply presented as a foil to Christianity."

Richard Harries was a great friend of the Parkes Institute and a very active and supportive Patron. Aside from sage advice at critical moments in our development, he contributed to our programme, most notably in giving the 21st Parkes Lecture in 2011 on the theme ‘Jewish artists and Christian faith’. In 2016 he took part in a very powerful and thoughtful Jewish-Christian-Muslim interfaith debate at West London Synagogue, part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Parkes Library coming to the University of Southampton.

We are delighted that we recorded Richard in his later years in the following interview with Professor Neil Gregor. Richard Harries maintained his clarity and passion for genuine Jewish-Christian dialogue to the very end. And as with James Parkes, Richard Harries was a fundamentally kind and decent man, and one not afraid to ruffle feathers in his pursuit of social justice.