He was born in London and educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and Oxford University. Subsequently, he studied German theological methods at Göttingen. He was ordained in 1864 and held a fellowship at Balliol College, Oxford, 1868–1882. During the earlier part of this period he stood alone in the university as a teacher of the main conclusions of Old Testament criticism at that time. In 1881 he was presented to the rectory of Tendring, in Essex, and in 1884 he was made a member of the Old Testament revision company. He resigned the living of Tendring in 1885 on his appointment to be Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, which carried with it a canonry at Rochester. In 1889 he delivered the Bampton lectures at Oxford. In 1908 he resigned his professorship. In June 1901, he received an honorary doctorate of Divinity from the University of Glasgow, and in March 1902 he was awarded the degree Doctor of Letters from the University of Oxford. He consistently urged in his writings the necessity of a broad and comprehensive study of the Scriptures in the light of literary, historical and scientific considerations. His publications include commentaries on the Prophets and Hagiographa, as well as lectures and addresses on theological subjects. He was a joint editor of the Encyclopaedia Biblica, a work embodying the more advanced conclusions of Englishbiblical criticism. In the introduction to his Origin of the Psalter he gave an account of his development as a critical scholar. His publications include translations, commentaries, and supplemental research. He became a member of the Baháʼí Faith by 1912.
Publications
Books
In his lifetime Cheyne published over a dozen volumes.
The Relations Between Civilized and Uncivilized Races: A Prize Essay Read in the Theatre, Oxford was perhaps his first publication in 1864.
Encyclopaedia Biblica co-edited with J. Sutherland Black in 1903, revised 1907, is still widely cited, even in Wikipedia.
The Reconciliation of Races and Religions may have been his last publication, August 1914, by A. and C. Black, and has been reprinted as late as 2004
Founders of Old Testament Criticism: Biographical, Descriptive, and Critical Studies - Wipf and Stock 9781592443789
Job and Solomon: Or the Wisdom of the Old Testament - Wipf and Stock 9781597521512
The Mines of Isaiah Re-explored - Wipf and Stock 9781597521550
Introduction to the Book of Isaiah - Wipf and Stock 9781592449095
