Cambridge Chadwick became a
Fellow of
Queens' College, Cambridge, with his appointment as chaplain in 1946, and in 1950 advanced to the position of
dean. His rising academic reputation was confirmed in 1953 with the publication of a project which had occupied him since the days of his curacy—his new translation of
Origen's
Contra Celsum, with introduction and notes. He had by now made himself an expert in
Patristic Greek; only an inexactness in
philology marking his earlier abandonment of Greek for music.
Oxford at
Christ Church, Oxford, where Chadwick and his family lived during his time at Christ Church Chadwick moved to Oxford in 1959, to take up the position of
Regius Professor of Divinity (and with it the associated
canonry at Christ Church Cathedral) at the relatively young age of 39. and in 1962
Gifford Lecturer at the
University of St Andrews lecturing on
Authority in the Early Church. He gave a second series of lectures in 1963–64, on
Authority in Christian Theology. 1963 also saw him appointed to an early Anglican inquiry into the issues surrounding the
ordination of women. In the 1960s, along with scholars like
E. R. Dodds,
Peter Brown, and John Matthews, Chadwick helped make Oxford a centre in the developing study of
Late Antiquity. He clarified the classical philosophical roots of Christian thinkers from
Justin Martyr and
Clement of Alexandria to
Augustine of Hippo, In 1968 he was appointed a vice-president of the British Academy. This period was not entirely happy; a scholarly ability to see all sides of a question, along with an ingrained desire not to upset his colleagues, sometimes made it hard for him to make a quick or firm decision. However, during his time as Dean the college benefited from a continued programme of renovation with internal changes that provided more student accommodation. as a Delegate of
Oxford University Press, as one of the curators of the
Bodleian, and as
Pro-Vice-Chancellor 1974–75. He was a master of the Anglican approach of producing statements capable of a range of interpretations to enable common ground to be reached; this worked well for simpler historical differences, but did not always impress the Roman Catholic members of the commission when it came to questions of
ecclesiology and church authority. Although his scholarly output suffered from the pressures on his time, he was editor of
Oxford Early Christian Texts (from 1970), and was able to work on two major
monographs,
Priscillian of Avila: the occult and the charismatic in the early Church (published 1976) and
Boethius: the consolations of music, logic, theology and philosophy (published 1981). The second of these in particular allowing him to draw on the full range of his interests. returning to Cambridge to take up the Regius Chair of Divinity. Additionally, he became a Syndic of
Cambridge University Press, a Fellow of Magdalene, and was installed as an honorary canon of
Ely Cathedral. He gained a reputation as a popular lecturer in Cambridge, and between 1982 and 1983 gave the
Sarum Lectures in Oxford, for which his subject was
Augustine of Hippo. Edited, these lectures became the basis for his 1986 book,
Augustine. He retired from the professorship in 1983 and settled in Oxford. In 1991 he published a new translation of Augustine's
Confessions, with extensive notes revealing Augustine's debt to
Plotinus. Chadwick also edited
Oxford Early Christian Studies (from 1990). With his brother Owen, he edited
The Oxford History of the Christian Church (12 vols., 1981–2010). His own volumes in this series were
The Church in Ancient Society: from Galilee to Gregory the Great (2001) and
East and West: The Making of a Rift in the Church: From Apostolic Times until the Council of Florence (2005). His final work was to have been on
Photios I of Constantinople, research for which covered many of his interests, particularly classical learning and Christianity, and ecumenism. Some of his material on the topic was published in
East and West. He was also an Editorial Advisor of
Dionysius. He died in Oxford on 17 June 2008. ==Reputation and recognition==