John William Colenso

COLENSO, John William. b. St Austell, Cornwall, UK, 24 January 1814; d. Durban, Colony of Natal, 20 June 1883. He was the first Bishop of Natal (1853–1883), biblical critic, missionary linguist and controversial figure within Victorian Anglicanism. Colenso’s contribution to South African hymnody lies in two principal areas: his Zulu hymn translations and his distinctively edited English-language collection Psalms and Hymns for Use in the Cathedral Church of St Peter’s, Maritzburg and in the Diocese of Natal (1866), which reflected his developing liberal theology and Christology.  One of four children born to a mineral agent in Cornwall, Colenso was raised a Nonconformist, though his family...