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Richard Holloway FRSE (born 26 November 1933) is a Scottish writer, broadcaster and cleric. He was the Bishop of Edinburgh from 1986 to 2000 and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1992 to 2000.
Holloway is well known for his support of Progressivism causes, including campaigning on human rights for gay and lesbian people in both church and state. He is a patron of LGBT Youth Scotland, an organisation dedicated to the inclusion of LGBT young people in the life of Scotland. He has questioned and addressed complex Ethics issues in the areas of Human sexuality, drugs and bioethics. He has written extensively on these topics, being the author of more than 20 books exploring their relationship with modern religion.
Holloway was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1997) and holds honorary degrees from the universities of Strathclyde (1994), Aberdeen (1997), Napier (2000), Glasgow (2002) and St Andrews (2017). He was professor of divinity at Gresham College in the City of London. From 1990 to 1997, he was a member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and held the position of chair of the British Medical Association's Steering Group on Ethics and Genetics. He was also a member of the Broadcasting Standards Commission and is a former chair of the Scottish Arts Council and Sistema Scotland.
Holloway has been a reviewer and writer for the broadsheet press for several years, including The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Sunday Herald and The Scotsman. He is also a frequent presenter on radio and television, having hosted the BBC television series When I Get to Heaven, Holloway's Road and The Sword and the Cross. He currently hosts the BBC Radio Scotland book review programme Cover Stories. He presented the second of the Radio 4 Lent Talks on 11 March 2009. On 28 May 2012 he began presenting a 15-minute programme about faith and doubt, following The World at One on Radio 4, called Honest Doubt: The History of an Epic Struggle and in 2016 he presented the Radio 4 series Three Score Years and Ten, a reflection on human mortality.
His 2012 book, Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt, talks about his life from childhood, and his 2016 book, A Little History of Religion (published by Yale University Press), has received positive reviews from Peter Stanford of The Observer, Ian Thomson of The Financial Times ("exhaustive account"), Stuart Kelly of The Scotsman and John Charmley of The Sunday Times ("Holloway's technique, like his prose, beguiles"), among others. His book Waiting For The Last Bus was published in early 2018 and contains his reflections upon death and mortality. It has been praised for its "erudite quotes" on the subject. His 2021 book, The Heart of Things, is a personal reflection on his life with extracts from favourite poems. In the final chapter, on forgiving, he stresses that people can read their lives through the prism of heroism or defeat or resignation or shame. Only admitting their own weakness will make people kind, help them identify with others and act kin to kin. In his closing verses he concludes that, in the absence of certainty about God or an afterlife, "I, who walked the hills, I, who saw white hares dancing in the snow on Lammermuir, should be grateful for life, even as it passes."
In his 2024 book, On Reflection: Looking for Life's Meaning, he thinks back on some of the questions that have shaped his life. With the help of poets, writers, musicians and artists, Holloway offers his reflections on how a good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
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