Butler, Dr John Francis
1909-1982; e.m. 1933

Missionary in India, born at Ashby-de-la-Zouch on 19 September 1909. Educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, he gained his MA at Harvard (where he had a Henry Travelling Fellowship) and a PhD at Manchester for a thesis on the Epistemology of Theism. After two years as Assistant Tutor at Didsbury College, he was Professor of Philosophy at Madras Christian College 1937-41, then served in the Army as Captain and later chaplain. From 1947 to 1951 he worked for the Christian Literature Society in Madras and was examiner at Serampore and Madras Universities, before returning to English circuits. His research into inter-relationships between religions, art, architecture and culture world-wide led to two books, The Holiness of Beauty (1961) and Christian Art in India (1986) as well as contributions to other publications. His extensive library is housed in the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World. He died in Leicester on 29 June 1982.

Sources
  • Methodist Recorder, 22 July 1982