MR. THOMPSON AND MAGDALEN COLLEGE.
WE have been requested by the President of Magdalen Csllege, Oxford, to give publicity to the following statement with regard to the position of the Rev. J. M. Thompson, Dean of Divinity in the College, whose special licence as Dean of Divinity was withdrawn in July last by the Bishop of Winchester in consequence of his publication of the work entitled Miracles in. the New Testament:— "Statement as to the past and present position of the office of Dean of Divinity in Magdalen issued in view of the action taken by the College at the College meeting holden on November let, 1911.
"The office of Dean of Divinity is an ancient one, recognized both by the Founder's Statutes and by the Statutes under which the College is now governed. The present Statutes assign to the Dean certain administrative duties which had long been dis- charged by the holders of the office, and allow the College to assign to him duties of another kind. This course was taken by the College in 1838, when it made certain by-laws relating to the office. Under these by-laws, and with a view to the duties assigned by them, the Dean was required to apply to the Bishop of Winchester for a licence, and it was the licence thus received by Mr. Thompson which was withdrawn in July last. The College has now repealed the by-laws in question. The effect of this action is to bring about a return to the condition of things exist- ing before 1888, to relieve the Dean of Divinity of the duties in respect of which the licence was sought and granted, and to leave Mr. Thompson during the remainder of the term for which he was reappointed to the office in December 1910 charged only with tho duties assigned to him by Statute, or by other by-laws, for the performance of which no licence had been held by any of his predecessors. Neither Mr. Thompson's position as a Fellow of the College in Holy Orders nor such customary rights as he shares with the other clerical Fellows are affected either by the action of the Bishop in withdrawing the licence granted to him in his official capacity or by the subsequent action of the College."
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