Introduction
Oliver Rainsford Barclay (22 February 1919 – 12 September 2013) was a British academic and prominent evangelical Christian. Originally a zoologist, he later turned his attentions to widening the influence of evangelical Christianity within universities and theological colleges. He was General Secretary of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship from 1964 to 1980, and also Chair of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students from 1971 to 1979. In 1989, he co-founded the journal Science and Christian Belief.
Early life and education
Barclay was born on 22 February 1919 in Kobe, Japan. He was a member of the Barclays family; his father was Joseph Gurney Barclay, a CMS missionary, and one of his great-great-grandfathers was Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a politician, reformer and brewer.His mother was his father's second wife, Gwendoline Watney, granddaughter of the brewer James Watney.