Hughes was born in
Sydney in 1915, one of two twin boys born to the literary critic Randolph William Hughes and Muriel Hughes (née Stanley Hall). He received his BA, MA, and DLH degrees from the
University of Cape Town, his BD degree from the
University of London, and his Th.D. degree from the
Australian College of Theology. Hughes grew up in
South Africa, and took his first degree there just before the
Second World War. While there he was a member of the
Church of England in South Africa, he briefly served as one of its ministers, and he was a commissary to the CESA Presiding Bishop. In 1940 Hughes moved to
England to attend
Tyndale Hall, Bristol, and was ordained priest in 1941. After some years of pastoral work, he returned to the institution from 1947 to 1953 as tutor and Vice-principal. Along with
Geoffrey Bromiley and
J. Stafford Wright, he established an enviable reputation for Tyndale Hall as a conservative evangelical college with a serious interest in theology and a loyalty to historic
Anglicanism. From 1953 to 1956 he was Secretary of
Church Society; and from 1959 to 1967 editor of Church Society’s journal,
The Churchman. From 1964 he moved to the
United States to teach at American seminaries, including
Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia (1964-1968),
Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA,
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, MA, and
Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, PA. While living and teaching in
Pennsylvania, he was Associate Rector at St. John's Episcopal Church,
Huntingdon Valley. In theology Hughes was a firm
Calvinist, but had the breadth of sympathies of a true scholar. As a staunch
Anglican, he threw himself into the life of
The Episcopal Church (United States) and sought to strengthen the cause of orthodoxy there in difficult times. His writings are solid in substance and graceful in prose style. His Greek was excellent, and three of his chief books are commentaries on the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the
Epistle to the Hebrews, and the
Book of Revelation. In doctrine, his great work is
The True Image: The Origin and Destiny of Man in Christ, on the Christian doctrine of man. He wrote studies on the precursors of the Reformers:
Lefèvre: Pioneer of Ecclesiastical Renewal in France and an unpublished thesis on
Pico della Mirandola. He also translated
Pierre-Charles Marcel's
Biblical Doctrine of Infant Baptism, which had great influence. For some years he ably edited
The Churchman. ==Personal life==