Eric William Heaton (15 October 1920 – 24 August 1996) was an Old Testament scholar and a former Dean of Christ Church, Oxford (1979–1991).
Eric Heaton's father was a sheep farmer at Long Preston in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
He was educated at Ermysted's Grammar School and Christ's College, Cambridge (1939–1942) and a curate in Durham. He was appointed Chaplain of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1945. After seven years he was appointed a Canon of Salisbury Cathedral.
He was Fellow, Chaplain, and Tutor in Theology of St John's College, Oxford (1960–1974) and Senior Tutor (1967–1973). He was Dean of Durham Cathedral (1974–1979).
In 1951, he married Rachel Dodd, daughter of the eminent theologian C. H. Dodd whose work on the translation of the New English Bible Heaton much admired.
