Kenneth Shenton writes:
ONCE labelled “the best preacher in England”, the Revd Andrew Macintosh was one of the most intellectually able and highly regarded priests of his generation. He emerged as a Hebrew scholar of world renown, and his many talents perhaps epitomised the clerical don of yesteryear, one whose distinguished scholarship combined vision, humility, and concern for the individual to an unusual degree. Such gifts won him the high regard and affection of countless generations of students at St John’s College, Cambridge.
A son of the manse, born on the south coast on 14 December 1936, Andrew Alexander Macintosh was the son of the Revd Felix Macintosh, Vicar of St Andrew’s, Eastbourne, and his wife, Winifred (née Jenkins). He was educated at Eastbourne College, and went up to St John’s College, Cambridge, where he read theology and religious studies. After graduating in 1959, he undertook a specialist course in Hebrew and the Old Testament, and was elected Wyndham Deedes Scholar to Jerusalem. Sharing his father’s Anglo-Catholic outlook, he stayed on in Cambridge to study for ministry at Ridley Hall. Ordained deacon in 1962, he began his career in the Lincolnshire Wolds, serving as a curate in the South Ormsby group.
The same year, he married a school teacher, Mary Browning. They had three children, adopted a fourth, and, over the years fostered more than 100, many of them handicapped. Mary was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1989. Any visitors to their home would, more often than not, be offered a cup of tea and then be handed a child to hold. In 1964, Macintosh returned to academia, as a lecturer at St David’s University College, Lampeter. Three years later, he was back at his Cambridge Alma Mater, as Chaplain and then Assistant Dean in 1969. While specialising in Hebrew studies, he directed the studies of the college theologians, and lectured regularly in both the Divinity and Oriental Studies faculties.
Influencing all aspects of college life throughout his long career, Macintosh remained an enthusiastic rowing coach and supporter of the Lady Margaret Boat Club, rowing in the successful Fellows’ boat in 1978. As secretary of the livings committee, he assisted in the selection of priests for some 40 parishes of which the college was the historical patron. While he was known for being something of a disciplinarian when he became Dean in 1979, one of his most difficult weeks came in November 2001. Then, he made national headlines by publicly naming and shaming seven undergraduates who had shocked college staff by throwing food and vomiting and urinating inside the college. For punishment, he made them clean the toilets.
Macintosh was long concerned that the college was never in residence during Holy Week, and so, in 1985, with the College Organist and Master of the Choristers, Dr George Guest, he conceived the idea of a Lenten carol service. Built around the story of the crucifixion and interspersed with carols and other suitable music, it was first broadcast in 1993. He regularly toured with the choir, and, when he was in Germany in 1980, Macintosh delivered his sermon in fluent German at St Sebald’s, Nürnberg. Three years later, at an event organised by the Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights at Holy Trinity, Clapham Common, where William Wilberforce once worshipped, the musical items were interspersed with readings by Macintosh to honour this most famous of all Johnians.
Amid all his many and varied talents, Macintosh proved to be a fine writer, making many definitive contributions to a wide range of specialist publications. In 1970, his monograph, Isaiah XXI: A palimpsest, published by Cambridge University Press, earned him the higher degree of Bachelor of Divinity. Throughout that era, he served as secretary of the translators appointed by the Liturgical Commission to produce a new edition of the psalter for use in worship. This eventually appeared as part of the Alternative Service Book. He later embarked on a revision that used more inclusive language. Latterly, he had provided a critical commentary on the prophet Hosea, published as part of the International Critical Commentary series. He also helped to revise the New English Bible, which, in 1989, became the Revised English Bible.
In 1995, Macintosh was elected by the Fellows to succeed Malcolm Schofield as President of St John’s College. Serving for four years, he was awarded a doctorate in divinity in 1997; he retired in 2002, as a Life Fellow.
He remained in constant demand as a keynote speaker at conferences, seminars, and workshops worldwide. For more than 20 years, he was the guest speaker on the Bible on expeditions to the Sinai desert. In 2013, former students and colleagues honoured him with a Festschrift: Leshon Limmudim: Essays on the language and literature of the Hebrew Bible in honour of A. A. Macintosh, edited by R. P. Gordon and D. A. Baer. He preached his final sermon in St John’s at the annual Commemoration of Benefactors service last May.
The Revd Andrew Macintosh died on 5 December 2024, aged 87.
