Fellow and
university lecturer in
divinity. During this time
Charles III, then reading archaeology and anthropology at
Trinity, was one of his students.
Frend inclined towards the
low church tradition. He was a sometimes reluctant liberal who cautiously supported the
ordination of women but criticised Bishop
David Jenkins of Durham over his non-traditional ideas about Christmas. He was considered a good and humble pastor and an enlightening, if theologically unconventional, preacher.
Frend was married to Mary Grace (née Crook; 1951–2002). They had one son, Simon, and one daughter, Sally. His father was a priest of
high church persuasion.
Major works
The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa (1951)
Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (1965)
The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa, 1951
Early Church, 1964
Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church, 1965
Saints & Sinners in the Early Church: Differing & Conflicting Traditions in the First Six Centuries, 1970
The Rise of the Monophysite Movement, 1972
Religion, Popular and Unpopular in the Early Christian Centuries, 1976
Town and Country in the Early Christian Centuries, 1980
The Rise of Christianity, 1984
Archaeology and History in the Study of Early Christianity, 1988
The Archaeology of Early Christianity: A History, 1996
Orthodoxy, Paganism and Dissent in the Early Christian Centuries, 2002
From Dogma to History: How Our Understanding of the Early Church Developed, 2003
Works co-authored with J. Stevenson
A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337 J. Stevenson (Editor of the 1957 First Edition), William H. C. Frend (Co-Revisor for the 1987 Second Edition)
Creeds, Councils and Controversies: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church, AD 337–461 J. Stevenson (Editor of the 1966 First Edition), William H. C. Frend (Co-Revisor for the 1989 Second Edition)