Hanson, Richard Patrick Crosland (1916–88), Church of Ireland bishop and scholar of historical and contemporary theology, and his brother (Anthony) Tyrrell Hanson (1916–91), clergyman and theologian, were born 24 November 1916 in London, twin sons of Sir Philip Herbert Hanson (private secretary to George Wyndham (qv), former chief secretary for Ireland) and his Irish wife Geraldine, daughter of Robert Y. Tyrrell (qv), professor in TCD. Richard P. C. Hanson was educated at Cheltenham College and at TCD where he graduated (1938) with a first-class honours degree in classics and ancient history; in 1941 he was awarded a BD. He completed his education with a DD (1950) and an MA (1961). Throughout his career Hanson continued in the great tradition of anglican divines, mixing scholarly pursuits with pastoral devotion. Despite an early book, subtitled A dissuasive against the church of Rome, he was a committed ecumenist. In 1941 he was ordained to the Church of Ireland and became an assistant curate at St Mary's, Donnybrook, and later (1944–5) he served at Seapatrick, in the diocese of Dromore. In 1945 he was appointed vice-principal of Queen's College, Birmingham, a position he held until 1950, when he became vicar of St John's, Shuttleworth, in the diocese of Manchester. From 1952 he lectured in the department of theology in the University of Nottingham. Durham University appointed him Lightfoot professor of divinity in 1962, and he was also canon residentiary in Durham cathedral, positions he held until 1964. However, he preferred Nottingham and was enticed back to the University in 1964, when he was appointed professor of Christian theology and head of the department of theology. During this later stay in Nottingham he was honorary canon of Southwell, canon theologian of Coventry cathedral (1967–70), and examining chaplain to the bishop of Southwell (1968).
His continuing interest in the pastoral responsibilities of the church led to his decision to agree to become bishop of Clogher; he was consecrated 17 March 1970. His liberalism and outspoken denunciations of the Orange order, as the troubles in the north of Ireland worsened, caused increasing hostility in his diocese and made his position impossible, and he resigned in 1973. He resumed his academic career as professor of historical and contemporary theology in the University of Manchester, a post he held until his retirement in 1984. He published widely, often with his twin brother. The last decade of his life was spent preparing his magnum opus on Arianism, The search for the Christian doctrine of God, which was published just before his death. On 23 December 1988 he died in Cheshire. He married (1950) Mary Dorothy Powell; they adopted two sons and two daughters.
Anthony Tyrrell Hanson also attended Cheltenham College, and also graduated BA from TCD in 1938. He had had a glittering career in college, winning several prizes, and graduated with a first-class moderatorship and the gold medal in classics. He was awarded the degrees of BD (1941) and DD (1953). In 1941 he was ordained deacon in the Church of Ireland, and priest in 1942; he was curate in Bangor Abbey (1941–3), in the diocese of Down, and then lectured in the London diocesan college. From 1947 to 1955 he was in India, lecturing on theology in a divinity school in southern India; from 1955 to 1959 he was a lecturer in Bangalore. He returned to Belfast (1959) as canon theologian in St Anne's cathedral, Belfast, and from 1960 to 1962 was examining chaplain to the bishops of Down and of Connor. In 1963, he was appointed first professor of theology in the University of Hull, and established the department's reputation as a leading centre, especially for New Testament studies. In 1983 he moved to a group of parishes in north Yorkshire as an assistant. Hanson, like his brother, published a great deal – over twenty books and many articles. He also wrote two theological books with his wife; he married (25 September 1945) in Neasden in London, Miriam, daughter of Edward Joselin of Stratham, London. His books on St Paul, notably The pastoral letters (1966), Studies in the pastoral epistles (1968), and Studies in Paul's technique and theology (1974), established his reputation as one of the foremost Pauline scholars of the time, but Hanson also wrote on the Old Testament and on other topics of biblical scholarship and exegesis. His books on the role and nature of ministry were well regarded.
In a particularly forthright article in The Times (13 Nov. 1976), ‘The reign of Our Lady of the Simper’, Hanson attacked what he described as the ‘bad degenerate sentimental religious art’ of the statues of the Madonna in Ireland. As one of the foremost ecumenists of his day, Hanson practised what he preached, according equal obloquy to ‘the flashy, purse-proud vulgarity’ which he said epitomised the ecclesiastical architecture of the Church of Ireland in west Cork. Furious letters to the editor included one from the Mothers’ Union, which was not prepared to accept as a compliment Hanson's remark that in some objectionably effeminate representations of Christ in religious art, only the beards distinguished them from Mothers' Union members. Anthony Tyrrell Hanson died 28 May 1991, survived by his widow and two of their three sons.