A THEOLOGICAL scholar who served as sub-dean of Westminster Abbey for more than a decade has died aged 87.

The Rev Dr Anthony Ernest Harvey was a student at Oxford and later returned to the city to lecture and take up a college chaplaincy.

A prominent theologian, Rev Dr Harvey, who died on January 9, produced an impressive body of work, including Jesus and the Constraints of History, a much-praised historical study of Christ based on lectures given at the university.

He was commended for his efforts to enhance the educational role of Westminster Abbey.

Rev Dr Harvey was born in London on May 1, 1930, the son of Cyril Harvey, a barrister, and his wife, Nina.

He attended the Dragon School in Oxford before continuing his education at Eton.

After Eton, Rev Dr Harvey attended Worcester College, Oxford, where he read classics and then theology.

He completed his training for Holy Orders at Westcott House, Cambridge.

Following a period serving as a curate (a vicar’s assistant) at Christ Church, in Chelsea, from 1958 to 1962, Rev Dr Harvey returned to Oxford as a research student at Christ Church.

It was during this time he began to write a single-volume companion to the New Testament.

The work was praised for its combination of scholarly insight and accessibility – which extended its usefulness to laypeople.

Meanwhile, in 1969, Rev Dr Harvey was appointed warden of St Augustine’s College, in Canterbury, a post he held for six years.

After his spell in Canterbury, he returned to Oxford where he served as a lecturer in the Faculty of Theology and as a Fellow of Wolfson College.

After a year of working for the university he became the chaplain at Queen’s College and also became a member of the Church of England’s Doctrine Commission.

Rev Dr Harvey was appointed as Bampton Lecturer in 1980. He used the lectures he delivered at the university as the basis of Jesus and the Constraints of History.

The book placed Christ within the context of other Jewish prophets.

His other works, many of which retained a focus on Christ and the New Testament, included Jesus on Trial (1976) and Strenuous Commands (1990)

Rev Dr Harvey was awarded an Oxford DD (Doctor of Divinity) in 1983.

After his time at Oxford Rev Dr Harvey went to Westminster Abbey, which he served as canon librarian, in 1982.

He went on to serve as sub-dean and archdeacon from 1987 until he retired in 1999.

During his time at Westminster, Rev Dr Harvey was the statutory theologian on various church commissions.

He did a great deal to enhance the Abbey’s educational role through the organisation of lectures and study courses.

Rev Dr Harvey also oversaw the refurbishment of the museum.

He was responsible for the installation on the West Front of the Abbey of 10 statues representing Christian martyrs of the 20th century including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King and Oscar Romero.

He was, for many years, co-chairman of the London Society for Jews and Christians and he did much to further closer Jewish-Christian relations.

In later life Rev Dr Harvey wrote Drawn Three Ways, which was published in 2016.

The book was a memoir of his marriage and was published following the death of his wife Julian, an artist and poet, in 2013. Through its pages, Rev Dr Harvey revealed how the stoic philosophy and religious faith he learned and taught when a younger man came to shape his response to his wife’s illness. The work also tackled the 2008 death of Christian, one of the couple’s four daughters.

He is survived by his daughters Marina, Helen and Victoria.