[3] Bromiley was educated at Bolton School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, receiving first-class honours in Part II of the modern and medieval languages tripos in 1936.
[4] During his time at Cambridge he was a member of the Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, and upon receiving his degree he completed further studies in theology at Tyndale Hall in Bristol.
[5] Ordained in the Church of England in 1938, Bromiley briefly served as an Anglican priest in Cumbria before commencing postgraduate research in history at the University of Edinburgh, where he received a PhD in 1943 with a dissertation on Johann Gottfried Herder and German Romanticism before Schleiermacher.
[5] Bromiley returned to Tyndale Hall shortly after receiving his doctorate, becoming a lecturer in theology and, later, vice principal of the college (1946–51).
[2] He helped to launch the seminary's PhD degree programme in history, supervising several students using the Oxbridge tutorial method of one-to-one engagement.