Professor Nicholas Lash has died

Nicholas Lash

Fisher House has just issued the following statement:

With deep sadness we announce the death early this morning of Professor Nicholas Lash, who had been struggling with illness for some time. From an army background, he became in 1978 the Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at Cambridge - the first Catholic to serve in such a post since the Reformation.

Brilliant and imaginative Professor Lash was the author of numerous theological books, and a regular contributor to theological journals. A loyal and obedient Roman Catholic, we were proud to host his reception of a Papal Knighthood at Fisher House in May 2017,. He and his wife Janet were stalwarts of the chaplaincy and Margaret Beaufort Institute , and among out most beloved members.

May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

The Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology tweeted: 'We pray for the repose of the soul of Professor Nicholas Lash who died this morning. A great friend and supporter of the Margaret Beaufort Institute. May he rest in peace and rise in glory. Our prayers too for Jan and family.'

Professor Anna Roper Rowlands, St Hilda Associate Professor of Catholic Social Thought and Practice at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Durham University tweeted:

'Thinking with sadness & gratitude about friend & mentor of so many of us Nicholas Lash, intellectually brilliant, cutting, no-fools-suffering, funny. The only person to fall asleep briefly during a paper I gave & still ask the best question. May the angels come to greet him.'

ICN will be publishing a full obituary in due course.