Sir Anthony Buzzard, 3rd Baronet

{{Short description|Royal Navy officer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} '''Sir Anthony Farquhar Buzzard, 3rd Baronet''', [[Royal College of Music|ARCM]] (b. 28 June 1935), is a [[biblical criticism|biblical scholar]], Biblical [[unitarianism|unitarian Christian]] [[Christian theology|theologian]], author and professor on the faculty of Atlanta Bible College.

==Early life== Anthony was born on 28 June 1935 in [[Surrey]], [[England]], the son of prominent [[Royal Navy]] officer and Director of [[Naval Intelligence Division (United Kingdom)|Naval Intelligence]] [[Sir Anthony Buzzard, 2nd Baronet|Anthony Buzzard]], and grandson of the [[Regius Professor of Medicine (Oxford)|Regius Professor of Medicine]] at the [[University of Oxford]] [[Farquhar Buzzard|Sir Edward Farquhar Buzzard]]. He succeeded to the title of Baronet of Munstead Grange in the Parish of [[Godalming]], co. Surrey on the death of his father in 1972, and has a younger brother Tim and younger sister Gill.

==Education==  Buzzard was educated at [[Charterhouse School|Charterhouse]], and served in the Royal Navy as a sub-lieutenant in the secretarial branch between 1954 and 1956. In 1960 he graduated in Modern Languages in French and German from the [[University of Oxford]].

Anthony Buzzard was a 1963 graduate of [[Ambassador College]], part of the [[Worldwide Church of God]] founded by [[Herbert W. Armstrong]]. Upon graduation in [[Pasadena, California]], Buzzard then transferred to teach music at its campus in [[Bricket Wood]], England. In the early 1970s, Buzzard left the Worldwide Church of God and published theological views refuting those of Armstrong. He became a close associate of Charles F. Hunting, an American evangelist who had been an official of the Bricket Wood campus.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hwarmstrong.com/hunting.htm |title=Charles F. HuntingRadio Interview |publisher=Hwarmstrong.com |accessdate=7 December 2010}}</ref>

==Education and teaching== Buzzard gained a Diploma in [[Biblical Hebrew]] from the [[University of Jerusalem]] in 1970. He attended the [[University of London]]. He gained a Masters in Theology from [[Bethany Theological Seminary]], [[Chicago]], in 1990.

Buzzard taught French and German at [[The American School in London]] and taught theology and [[Biblical languages]] for 24 years at Atlanta Bible College, [[McDonough, Georgia]] (formerly Oregon [IL] Bible College).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://focusonthekingdom.org/about_anthony.html |title=Restoration Fellowship - About Anthony |publisher=Focusonthekingdom.org |accessdate=7 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207013417/http://focusonthekingdom.org/about_anthony.html |archive-date=7 December 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Restoration Fellowship== Following his break with Armstrong, in 1981 Buzzard, founded with the help of Charles F. Hunting, the [[Restoration Fellowship]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://focusonthekingdom.org/ |title=Restoration Fellowship |publisher=Focusonthekingdom.org |accessdate=7 December 2010}}</ref> a Christian group dedicated to missionary and teaching work all over the world. It is affiliated with the [[Church of God General Conference]], a group founded in 1921, holding [[Adventism|Adventist]] and [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] beliefs, similar to the [[Church of the Blessed Hope]] and [[Christadelphians]].

Buzzard publishes a monthly newsletter ''Focus on the Kingdom'', and is co-editor of ''A Journal from the Radical Reformation'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc-coggc.org/jrad.html |title=Church of God General Conference - Journal for the Radical Reformation |publisher=Abc-coggc.org |accessdate=7 December 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702052220/http://www.abc-coggc.org/jrad.html |archivedate=2 July 2010 }}</ref> which explores continuity between the beliefs of Reformation groups - such as some [[Anabaptists]], [[Socinians]], early [[Unitarianism|Unitarians]] and "[[Biblical Unitarian]]" groups today. Buzzard has been noted as one of the principal writers seeking a revival of early Unitarian beliefs.<ref>J. D. Bowers Joseph ''Priestley and English Unitarianism in America'' Pennsylvania State University Press | 2007-06-15 | {{ISBN|0-271-02951-X}} - chapter The Death and Resurrection of English Unitarianism - "There are others who even hope to bring back Priestley's theology. They see Socinianism as a potentially important and shaping force in the (re)creation of a new Unitarian theology, one that returns to the old principles and teachings. Anthony Buzzard has been a leading Unitarian proponent in arguing for a return to Christian ... Buzzard has written numerous "evangelical" works (from a Unitarian standpoint), that argue for a return to a belief in Jesus as the Messiah" p251</ref>

==Music== Apart from excelling in languages and biblical studies, Anthony also has a love of classical music. He studied at the [[Royal College of Music]], [[London]], where he gained Diplomas in [[oboe]] in 1959 and [[piano]] in 1961.

==Theological views== Buzzard shares the following beliefs, as expressed on his Restoration Fellowship website: * There is one God, the Father (1 Cor. 8:6), the one God of the creed of Israel affirmed by Jesus Christ (Mark 12:28ff). The Father is "the only true God" (John 17:3). * There is one Lord Messiah, Jesus (1 Cor. 8:6), who was supernaturally conceived as the Son of God (Luke 1:35), and foreordained from the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20). * The Holy Spirit is the personal, operational presence and power of God extended through the risen Christ to believers (Ps. 51:11). * The Bible, consisting of the Hebrew canon (Luke 24:44) and the Greek New Testament Scriptures, is the inspired and authoritative revelation of God (2 Tim. 3:16). * In the atoning, substitutionary death of Jesus, his resurrection on the third day, and his ascension to the right hand of the Father (Ps. 110:1; Acts 2:34-36), where he is waiting until his enemies are subdued (Heb. 10:13). * In the future visible return of Jesus Christ to raise to life the faithful dead (1 Cor. 15:23), establish the millennial Kingdom on earth (Rev. 20:1-6, etc.) and bring about the restoration of the earth promised by the prophets (Acts 1:6; 3:21; 26:6, 7). * In the regenerating power of the Gospel message about the Kingdom (Matt. 13:19; Luke 8:12; John 6:63), enabling the believer to understand divine revelation and live a life of holiness. * In baptism by immersion upon reception of the Gospel of the Kingdom and the things concerning Jesus (Acts 8:12; Luke 24:27). * In the future resurrection of the saved of all the ages to administer the renewed earth with the Messiah in the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:2; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 2:26; 3:21; 5:10). *In the existence of supernatural, cosmic evil headed by (the) Satan (Matt. 12:26) or Devil, as distinct from and in addition to human enemies and the natural evil of the human heart. Satan is the name of a wicked spirit personality, "the god of this age" (2 Cor. 4:4; cp. Eph. 6:12). And in the existence of demons (daimonia) as non-human personalities whom Jesus addressed and they him (Luke 4:41; James 2:19). * In the freedom "under grace" and not "under law," inaugurated at the cross in the New Covenant, in contrast to and replacing the Mosaic covenant enacted at Sinai (Gal. 3 and 4; 2 Cor. 3). Issues of physical circumcision and "the whole law" (Gal. 5:3) associated with circumcision, including calendar and food laws, are concerns of the old and not the new covenant. Compare Col. 2:16-17 where the temporary shadow is contrasted with the permanence and newness of Christ. * Christians ought never to take up arms and kill their enemies and fellow believers in other nations (Matt. 26:52; John 15:19; 18:36; 1 Pet. 2:9-11; 1 Chron. 22:8).

==Books== * ''The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah: A Solution to the Riddle of the New Testament'' (1988) * ''Our Fathers Who Aren’t in Heaven: The Forgotten Christianity of Jesus the Jew'' (1995) * ''The Doctrine of the Trinity: Christianity's Self-Inflicted Wound'' (1998) – original edition with Charles F. Hunting * ''The Law, the Sabbath and New Covenant Christianity'' (2005) * ''The Amazing Aims and Claims of Jesus'' (2006) * ''Jesus Was Not a Trinitarian'' (2007)

==Booklets== * "Who Is Jesus? A Plea for a Return to Belief in Jesus the Messiah" (1984) * "What Happens When We Die? A Biblical View of Death and Resurrection" (1986)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120526055041/http://focusonthekingdom.org/index.html Restoration Fellowship] *[http://www.thejournal.org/issues/issue89/onegod.html Charles F. Hunting - initial partner after leaving Armstrong church organizations] - details of conference with Hunting and others.

{{s-start}} {{s-reg|uk-bt}} {{s-bef | before= [[Sir Anthony Buzzard, 2nd Baronet|Anthony W Buzzard]] }} {{s-ttl | title=[[Buzzard baronets|Baronet]]<br>'''(of Munstead Grange)''' | years=1972–present }} {{s-inc}}  {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buzzard, Anthony}} [[Category:1935 births]] [[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:British Unitarians]] [[Category:English Unitarians]] [[Category:Former Anglicans]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Military personnel from Surrey]] [[Category:People educated at Charterhouse School]] [[Category:Royal Navy officers]] [[Category:Translators of the Bible into English]] [[Category:Christian pacifists]]