COLENSO, JOHN WILLIAM. — Missionary and Anglican bishop, born in Cornwall in England on 24 January 1814, died at Natal on 20 June 1883. Having completed his studies at Cambridge, he was ordained an Anglican minister and then served for some time as pastor of an Anglican parish. In 1853 he was elected the first bishop of Natal in Africa, where he succeeded in winning the esteem and affection of the Zulu of his diocese.
He published a Zulu grammar and dictionary, translated the Power Book and part of the Bible into the same language; but, faced with the difficulty of converting old polygamists, he maintained that Baptism could be conferred upon them. It seems that it was precisely in order to resolve various difficulties raised by some Zulu that in 1861 he wrote the Commentary of the Epistle to the Romans, and, under the pretext of commenting on them « from the missionary standpoint », denied the eternity of the punishments of hell. The following year, in The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua critically examined, he denied the historicity of these sacred books. His writings caused a great sensation among Anglicans, and many bishops wrote to him advising him to resign his see, which he refused to do. Deposed in 1863 by his metropolitan, Roberto Gray of the Cape of Good Hope, he appealed to the « Privy Council » (v. CANTERBURY), and this tribunal declared the metropolitan’s sentence null and invalid; but since the latter had retained administration of the property of the diocese of Natal, C. had it returned to him by a decree of the Supreme Court of Natal; the metropolitan then also appealed to the « Privy Council », which upheld the judgment of the Supreme Court of Natal (1866). The scandal caused by this affair was immense in the Anglican world. When the bishops of the Anglican Communion met for the first time in 1867 at the Lambeth Conference, they dealt with the question in depth; almost all the resolutions adopted reflect some aspect of the South African struggle; Resolution VI deals directly with the « scandal of the Church of Natal », and VII with the consecration of another bishop to replace C. This was done, but C., relying on the decrees and judgments of the civil courts, remained in his post, sharing, by arrangement, the offices in the Cathedral with the other bishop, and retaining administration of the property of the diocese until his death. This unfortunate affair revealed to the world the weak cohesion of the Anglican episcopate, since there were some who defended C., or at least did not agree with the others on how he should be treated; and it demonstrated the dependence of ecclesiastical authority upon civil authority, as well as the insubordination of a bishop, not only unpunished but triumphant. The Zulu, whom C. defended against the arrogance of the English colonists, remained ever faithful to him and called him « father of the people ».