Richard has spent much of his working life in the founding and development of several successful not-for-profit, community-owned, or co-operative enterprises that allow people to express constructive social and environmental values through their work, spending or saving. Amongst these are Traidcraft, the Fairtrade Foundation, Shared Interest, and Warm Zones. The majority have been focussed on fair trade, the problems of social exclusion, international development and sustainability. He continues to offer support to the College’s ongoing tradition of bringing a Christian perspective to the issues of trade justice.
Richard has degrees in sociology, theology and business with honorary doctorates from Durham and Newcastle Universities and is currently a Visiting Professor at Northumbria University. In 2006, he was listed by the Independent newspaper as one of the top 50 people in the UK who had had most impact in "making the world a better place" for his practical development of the concept of ethical shopping. From 2001-2015, he was a member of the European Union's Economic and Social Committee, and continues to chair the Fair Trade Advocacy Office in Brussels. His current interests are focused on the challenges of global sustainability and the contributions of social impact organisations.
Adesola (Sola) Akala is a biblical and theological scholar with a focus on Johannine and Pauline literature. Her published work includes The Son-Father Relationship and Christological Symbolism in the Gospel of John (London: T&T Clark, 2014), Exploring the Glory of God: New Horizons for a Theology of Glory, ed. (Lanham, MD: Lexington/Fortress Academic Press, 2020). Her upcoming publication entitled Context, Content, and Communion of Prayer in the Pauline Epistles (forthcoming 2026), entails an exegetical study of intersections between theology and spirituality in the Pauline prayer and praise texts. Other upcoming publications cover topics such as the glory of God, justice in John’s Gospel and intesections between the Gospel of John and Revelation.
As an ordained minister, Sola has held teaching, pastoral, and administrative positions in evangelical churches. In addition to establishing lay bible schools, ministry training institutes, and prayer programmes for local churches, she has travelled extensively, teaching and preaching in the UK, Europe, Africa, North America, South East Asia and Australia. Sola currently lectures and supervises dissertations for various theological colleges, and works with churches to develop biblical literacy programs. She sits on the steering committee of the Johannine Literature Committee of the Society for Biblical Literature and is an active member of the Evangelical Theological Society.
Alan was appointed tutor in Church History, Spirituality and Anglican Studies in February 1996 and remained on the College staff until October 2008. During this time he was also Programme Director for the newly-started MA in Theology and Ministry and DMin programmes and taught for the Dept of Theology and Religion. His appointment to teach ‘Anglican Studies’ was a new departure for Cranmer Hall, and indeed for a Church of England theological college. It marked St John’s College’s serious commitment to enriching and articulating its Anglican ethos. He is now Ministry Development Advisor for the Diocese of Durham and SSM Mission Priest in Bearpark.
Alan is the author of a key book on Anglican identity and spirituality, A Passionate Balance (DLT 2007). He has written a number of articles on Anglican history and ecclesiology and served as a board member for Anvil. He has particular expertise in the study of Richard Hooker, though he also ranges more widely through Classic Anglicanism (Anglicanism of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries). He has also published Humane Christianity (DLT 2004), based on the Durham Cathedral Lent Lectures in 2002, which offered a method for bringing the resources of historic Christian spirituality into intelligent and honest conversation with the needs and values of the modern Church. Most recently he published a book on the value of parochial ministry, Vicar (SPCK 2019), described as "magisterial" in the Church Times.
Dr Batey's main research interests lie in the field of Viking and Late Norse archaeology with particular reference to the Northern Isles and Caithness and the North Atlantic region. She has excavated widely on several major sites, including Jarlshof in Shetland, "Westness" on Rousay, Birsay, Orkney and Hofstađir in Iceland.
Currently Dr Batey is involved in bringing together the excavation work undertaken at the Earl’s Bu, Orphir, Orkney which she directed. This discovered a Norse horizontal mill as part of the Earl’s complex and provides evidence of local agricultural exploitation. In addition, she is actively involved in the research of Viking pagan graves in Scotland, providing specialist input into a number of ongoing projects, such as the Loch Lomondside Viking Cemetery and the Ardnamurchan boat grave.
A major area of Dr Batey's work focuses on the promotion of Orkney (and to a some extent Shetland) as centres for cultural tourism. She has spent nearly 20 years working with small expedition ships which undertake day-long visits to the main UNESCO sites in Orkney for example. Committed to ensuring that the archaeology of the region is showcased to the largest possible international audience, Dr Batey now lives in Orkney permanently.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleen-batey-54b63830
After gaining a First in his two-year Theology BA, Mark was awarded a British Academy grant to write a thesis on The Antioch Episode of Galatians 2.11-14 in Historical and Cultural Context with John Muddiman and Maurice Casey. He was Tutor in New Testament at Cranmer Hall from 1995-2006 where his teaching focussed on Pauline Theology, the Gospels and the Apocalypse. He taught New Testament at Leeds University for three years and Romans and Charismatic Theology at St John’s College, Nottingham. Mark currently teaches MA courses in Acts and Charismatic Theology and an Introduction to Free Church History and Ministry for the Free Church Track at Cranmer Hall.
Kings is linked to Ichthus Christian Fellowship in London, led by Roger and Faith Forster. It has grown into a missional church with strong community involvement and training programmes and with a large student ministry. For six years Mark was a trustee of UCCF – The Christian Unions, has run the Christian Leaders’ Forum in the North East, currently chairs the Regional inter-church body, North East Churches Acting Together, and represents the New and Independent Churches on the Church Leaders’ Group for the North East.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-bonnington-67972159
Gillian Boughton teaches in the Durham Department of Theology and Religion as an Honorary Fellow, directing the MA module Literature and Religion. She was a Resident Tutor at St John's from 1983 - 1985 when studying for a Durham M Litt (later commuted into a PhD). She was elected Staff Representative on the St John's College Council from 1988 until 2000.
She worked in St John’s College as Assistant and then Acting Senior Tutor from 1994 until 2000 alongside teaching in the Department of English Studies, completing her PhD in Durham in 1995: a diplomatic and critical edition of six unpublished 1860s MSS narratives by Mary Arnold, later Mrs Humphry Ward. Gillian is a founder member of the International Society for Literary Juvenilia and organised three of the current total of six international conferences in Durham,. Her more recent writing related to the Department of Theology teaching and interests have concerned the poetry of Stevie Smith and Elizabeth Jennings.
From 2000 until December 2013 she held the post of Vice-Principal and, as interregnum, Acting Principal of St Mary's College. Here, she had a special pastoral involvement with the Durham Afghan Scholarship scheme.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillian-boughton-0212138
Melody is a PhD candidate at the University of Sheffield, and a former tutor at St John’s College, Durham. She has worked in theological education for over 20 years, in a range of church, academic, and mission contexts. Her current work has a particular focus on how children read scripture, drawing on her academic background in the fields of both theology and children’s literature. Her goal is to use her research to help develop the way the church resources children and young people reading scripture.
She currently teaches Historical Theology and Mission Studies at Kings Church, Durham, building on her experience teaching such modules as Christian Identity & Tradition, The Theology of Youth Work, and Interpreting the Bible at St John's College. She has a number of publications under her belt, including the co-written book Living for God. Studies for Disciples in the 21st Century, and articles such as The Boy who Lived and Died for the Wizarding World: Concepts of Salvation in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Reshuffling Representations of Reality: Responses of a 21st Century Child to Early 20th Century Texts.
Kate was ordained in 2001, after seven very happy years as a secondary school English teacher in Yorkshire. Following a curacy in Ripon, she worked as Associate Priest at St Oswald’s Durham and was Chaplain to Van Mildert and Trevelyan Colleges, Durham University. Following this she was appointed as Chaplain to St John’s College, a post she combined with PhD research as Fellow in Preaching with CODEC which included teaching preaching and apologetics at Cranmer Hall. She took up her post as Deputy Warden and Tutor in Homiletics in April 2013 and was awarded her doctoral thesis on imagination and preaching in 2014.
She has written a number of books and articles on preaching, including: Igniting the Heart: Preaching and Imagination (SCM; 2014) (based in part on her PhD); Out of the Shadows; Preaching the Women of the Bible. Vol 1 (SCM:2021, and Vol 2 (SCM 2024). She writes regularly for The Preachers’ Companion and Reflections for Daily Prayer. She is also a contributor to the Church of England’s Everyday Faith App. Kate teaches, researches and writes about preaching, leading courses and day conferences in preaching.
She has been a full time RAF chaplain since 2018, holding the relative rank of Squadron Leader, enjoys meeting new people and experiencing service life in the UK and further afield.
Dr Jocelyn Bryan has spent over twenty years working in ministerial formation at St John’s College. She joined the tutorial staff of the Wesley Study Centre in 1999 taking responsibility for the Foundation Training Programme and then became its Director Of Studies in 2008. From 2009 Jocelyn was appointed Director of Postgraduate Studies at Cranmer Hall, overseeing both the MATM and DThM programmes. In January 2017 she became Academic Dean and a Cranmer Hall Officer. Throughout this time, she has taught extensively in the field of practical and pastoral theology, drawing on her particular expertise in psychology which is the discipline of her PhD.
Over the past thirty years Jocelyn has served the Methodist Church and more recently the Church of England in lay ministry. She was a Methodist Local Preacher from 1992-2014 and served on the Faith and Order Committee of the Methodist Church from 2002-2013. In 2016 she became a licensed Reader in the Church of England and is currently licensed to Easington Deanery. Jocelyn continues to teach Psychology and Christian Ministry and Issues in Pastoral Ministry at Cranmer Hall. She also teaches a module on the MA programme at ETF Leuven.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyn-bryan-35978342
Jason Byassee is a full professor and the inaugural holder of the Butler Chair in Homiletics and Biblical Hermeneutics at the Vancouver School of Theology in British Columbia. His primary vocation is to reinvigorate today’s church with the best of ancient and contemporary wisdom for creatively faithful living. At VST, he directs the summer school program and the school’s joint PhD program with Durham University. He teaches subjects as various as preaching, biblical interpretation, leadership, church history, and writing.
Jason studied at Davidson College and Duke University in his native North Carolina, and earned a Ph.D. in systematic theology from the latter in 2005. He is also a contributing editor to Christian Century magazine, where he served in Chicago as an assistant editor from 2004-2008. He has served previously as a Fellow in Theology and Leadership at Duke Divinity School and as a Research Fellow in the New Media Project at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He is a visiting fellow of St. John’s College and of the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. He is the author or editor of eighteen books, including, most recently, Northern Lights: Resurrecting Church in the North of England.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbyassee
Dr Miro Cafolla
After working for the University of Rome, Oxford and Cambridge, Miro is currently based in Durham where he conducts experimental research on nanoscience and nanotechnology. His background is wide and includes a solid knowledge of both biomedical sciences and of physics and chemistry. His research is indeed interdisciplinary and focuses on different areas including friction and lubrication, electromagnetic phenomena like skyrmions and multiferroics, as well as pharmacology on model systems and on voluntary subjects. It aims to answer questions in fundamental science, and develop new medical devices and technological applications.
Maggi Dawn is an author and theologian. She began her professional life as a singer-songwriter, but later after reading for a degree and a PhD in theology at the University of Cambridge, she turned her creative talents to writing books. After eight years at Yale University, Maggi returned to the UK as Professor of Theology and Principal of St Mary’s College, Durham University. She teaches courses on Songwriting, Poetry for Ministry, Coleridge and the Bible, Designing and Curating Worship, and Performative Theology. Her books include The Accidental Pilgrim, which traces the history of pilgrimage within a theological memoir.
https://maggidawn.net/
Nancy worked in the charity sector for 15 years – most recently as Chief Executive of Oasis Community Housing - before joining Virgin Money Foundation in 2016 as its Executive Director. She brings extensive knowledge of how charities effect change within local communities. As well as her role as a Visiting Fellow at John's, Nancy is a Trustee of The Common Room of the Great North. She graduated from Oxford University and has a postgraduate certificate in Charity Finance and Accountancy.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-doyle-hall-68257630
Rae Earnshaw is Professor of Electronic Imaging at the University of Bradford since 1995 (now Emeritus). He gained his PhD at the University of Leeds and is a chartered engineer and chartered information technology professional. He was Dean of the School of Informatics (1999-2007) and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Systems Development) (2004-09). He has been a Visiting Professor at Illinois Institute of Technology, George Washington University, USA, and Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. He is a member of ACM, IEEE, CGS, and a Fellow of the British Computer Society and the Institute of Physics. He has authored and edited 43 books on computer graphics, visualization, multimedia, design, and virtual reality, and published over 200 papers in these areas. He is on a number of Editorial Boards of international journals and is a Top Management Programme Fellow of the Leadership Foundation. In his role as Pro Vice-Chancellor, he led a broad range of 60 linked projects over 5 years which developed the University’s electronic information and communications capability and infrastructure. Although playing a significant role in academic leadership and management over the past 15 years, he has maintained his research and publication record and has been included in all the RAEs/REFs since 1996.
More on Professor Earnshaw
Richard Everett was educated at Mill Hill public school in the 1960s. Immediately after leaving he became an actor, appearing many times on London’s West End stage and on Broadway, New York. He also worked in films, on television and on radio before forming The Upstream Theatre Company near London’s South Bank, where he was Artistic Director for 3 years in the late 1970’s. He also helped to set up the now established Riding Lights Theatre Company in York.
Richard then turned to writing and is the author of 7 published stage plays, including the much-acclaimed Entertaining Angels. Richard also has 200 animation scripts to his credit, including the BAFTA-nominated Joseph for the BBC’s Testament Series. He has written 2 feature films, 3 plays for BBC radio 4, and a published collection of award winning sketches and meditations and a published collection of award winning sketches and meditations entitled ‘Sound Bites’ (see website below). Richard has spent 5 years running weekly drama workshops for Additional Needs Adults with the L’Arche community. A short film he made with them, The Most Important Person in the World, won 3rd place at a film festival in Poznan, Poland.
https://richardeverett.co.uk/
Will Foulger is vicar at St Nicholas Church in Durham city-centre. During his four years at Cranmer Hall he taught mission and evangelism and missional entrepreneurship at BA, and mission and ecclesiology and theological Reflection at MA, alongside supervising students at BA, MA and DThM level. He led on the establishing of the Centre for Church Planting Theology and Research, serving as director for 18 months. CCPTR exists to carry out original theological-empirical research into church planting activity within the UK. In 2023 Will organised and led an international conference on church planting theology, which saw over 60 delegates come to Durham. His book, ‘Present in Every Place: The Church of England’s New Churches and the Future of the Parish’, was published by SCM Press in 2023.
Before moving back to Durham in 2019 to take up the role at Cranmer Will was part of a team that planted Trinity Church Nottingham, a city-centre resource church. His ordination training took place at Cranmer Hall (2013-2016) during which time he completed by DThM on new churches as they relate to the parish structure within the CoE. Prior to ordination Will was a Secondary Religious Studies teacher in South East London. He completed my MA at Princeton Seminary in New Jersey, and his undergraduate degree at St Andrews University in Scotland. He has a wife, Vikki and four children: Iris and Jonah, Jesse, and Huck.
James Francis grew up in Aberdeenshire and studied classics and then theology at Edinburgh University and Yale Divinity School. While training for ministry at Edinburgh he was influenced by the worker-priest movement of Roland Walls and the Community of the Transfiguration at Roslin. He was for a number of years parish minister of Coldingham Priory with St Abbs, Berwickshire, in the Church of Scotland. In 1987, he became a non-stipendiary minister of the Church of England in the Diocese of Durham.
He taught New Testament Studies at Sunderland University, while serving in two parishes in Sunderland (St Chad’s East Herrington and Sunderland Minster). He was latterly principal of the Durham Diocese Ordained Local Ministry Course, and was the founder and director of a diocesan adult learning programme called “Living Theology Today”. He is a non-residentiary canon (emeritus) of Durham Cathedral. He was for eighteen years the Durham Diocese Adviser for Self-Supporting Ministry. Jim has written, co-edited and contributed to a number of books and articles on self-supporting ministry, and on childhood in the ancient world and the New Testament. He also edits a book series Religions and Discourse for Peter Lang Publishers.
Heinz studied modern languages at Bonn and Toulouse and after completing his PhD he decided to become a librarian. He has spent most of his professional life in academic libraries. Through his work, he came in contact with Cambridge University and was elected to a visiting fellowship at Sidney Sussex College in 1997. He has extensive experience in both alumni relations and development as a volunteer. Heinz's link with St John’s comes through his son, Matthias, who studied for a Master of Science degree in psychology at Durham. Heinz has since contributed to College by teaching, tutoring and consulting in the fields of alumni relations and fundraising.
Richard Giles grew up in Birmingham and gained degrees in town planning and theology at Newcastle University. After training at Cuddesdon, he served as a priest in the Midlands and the North of England before becoming parish development officer and canon theologian for the Diocese of Wakefield, working with parishes to rethink and redesign their buildings as part of mission strategy. His particular expertise in the design of liturgical space bore fruit in the publication of Re-Pitching the Tent, now in its third edition, Creating Uncommon Worship (2004) and Times and Seasons (2008). Other titles include Mark my Word (1995), How to be an Anglican (2003), Here I Am (2006), At Heaven’s Gate (2010) and Walk in this Light (2013). From 1999 to 2008 he was Dean of Philadelphia Cathedral in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, USA, where he oversaw the radical renovation of the cathedral to become a place of transformative worship.
Michael recently retired as Academic Registrar of Durham University, having been responsible for a very broad range of institution‐wide responsibilities and having taken on national roles such as chair of the Academic Registrars Council. Prior to Durham, Michael was Director of Governance, Planning and Registry at the University of Leicester, and before that he taught in the philosophy faculty at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana in Rome and served as the Vice-Rector of the Venerable English College there.
Michael is a member of Durham University’s Centre for Catholic Studies. His current research in applied theology reflects on his experience as a ‘bureaucrat’, asking questions that are pertinent to contexts such as education, the public sector, charity administration and church bureaucracy. From a Christian perspective, beyond being efficient and effective, what could redeem bureaucracy, as a human construction, so that it could mediate divine purpose and enable human flourishing?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichaelgilmore/
David Goodhew is a Fellow of St Johns College and Vicar of St Barnabas Church, Middlesbrough where he has served since 2019. Prior to this David was on the staff of Cranmer Hall, for eleven years. David has published widely on patterns of church growth and decline, theologies of growth and decline and South African social and religious history. Most recently he edited (with Mark Smith), the volume Christianity in Britain since 1914 (Palgrave Macmillan 2024) and is working on a new volume, Christianity in Britain, 1789 to 1914. Further back, David edited a series of academic studies: Church Growth in Britain, 1980 to the Present Day; Towards a Theology of Church Growth; Growth and Decline in the Anglican Communion, 1980 to the Present and (with Anthony Paul Cooper) The Desecularisation of the City: London’s Churches, 1980 to the Present. He is heavily involved in the Centre for the Study of Modern Christianity, based at St Johns and periodically teaches an MA module for the MATM programme. David is a long-standing contributor to 'Covenant', a blog run by the American Anglican organisation, Living Church.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-goodhew-81728623
Andrew gained a degree in theology and a PGCE at St John’s, then worked as a youth worker at churches in Hull and Chester-le-Street. In 1995, Andrew joined the BBC as a producer in the Religion and Ethics department, then became Development Executive responsible for the commissioning of religious programmes across BBC radio and TV. After leaving the BBC, he worked as a freelance journalist, media analyst and communications consultant. He is a frequent contributor to radio and TV programmes, and writes for a wide variety of outlets from Prospect to Private Eye. Andrew’s book about Everyday Activism Faith, Hope and Mischief was published by Canterbury Press in 2021.
In 2016, in the course of his journalistic work, Andrew uncovered extensive abuse in a church related setting. His book on the subject Bleeding for Jesus: John Smyth and the Cult of Iwerne Camps was published by Darton, Longman and Todd in 2022. Since then he has been dedicated to advocating for victims and survivors of such abuse. In 2025, Andrew was awarded a doctorate from Durham University. His thesis focussed on the theology of touch in digital culture.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-graystone-6163807
Jamie Harrison is a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Research Fellow in Healthcare and Religion at St John's College, Durham University. He was until recently a GP Specialist Adviser to the English Care Quality Commission. Previously he was Deputy Director of the North East Postgraduate School of Primary Care, and a GP Adviser to the Department of Health from 2001 until 2006. Following his appointment as a Sir William Leech Fellow in Applied Christian Theology (2012-2013) he established the Centre for Healthcare Resourcing at St John's College. Among many Church roles, Jamie is Chair of the House of Laity of the Church of England's General Synod, which he has been a member of since 1995.
Jamie has written widely on vocation, clinical governance, medical careers, the NHS, and the nature of trust. With Professor Tim van Zwanenberg, he received the 2000 Baxter Award of the European Health Management Association for their book Clinical Governance in Primary Care. He contributed to the Department of Health Report of the Working Group on Doctors Working in Prisons, 2001, and to Good Medical Practice for Doctors providing Primary Care Services in Prison, 2003.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-harrison-90991166
Mrs Anne Harrison is an Oxford music graduate with an MA in Music and Liturgy from the University of Leeds; she was Music Co-ordinator at St John’s College with Cranmer Hall, Durham, in the 1990s, and then worked for the Royal School of Church Music, spending ten years editing the RSCM's liturgy planner Sunday by Sunday. She also served on the Durham Diocesan Liturgical Committee for a number of years and has belonged to GROW (the Group for the Renewal of Worship) since 1998.
A member of the Executive Committee of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, she has been a trustee of the Song and Hymn Writers Foundation (which supports the work of the Jubilate Group and Resound Worship); having chaired the editorial team for the hymn book supplement Sing Praise (2010), she helped to produce Ancient and Modern: Hymns and Songs for Refreshing Worship (2013). Her two Grove booklets on congregational song (Sing it Again: The Place of Short Songs in Worship, 2003, and Recovering the Lord’s Song: Getting Sung Scripture Back into Worship, 2009) reflect her passion for enriching the sung worship of the people of God.
Anne is music editor for the quarterly Transforming Worship News (formerly Praxis News of Worship). One of her particular interests is the sung prayer of the Taizé Community. She has also set to music, in an informal style, several hymn texts by the late Timothy Dudley-Smith, whose hymn-writing she spoke about at the 2024 Hymn Society conference.
Canon David Kennedy is Vice-Dean and Precentor of Durham Cathedral. He read Theology at St John’s College, Durham, trained for the ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham, and after curacies in Spennymoor and Kirk Merrington taught Liturgy and Spirituality for 9 years at The Queen's College, Birmingham. He returned to the North East in 1996 as Rector of Haughton-le-Skerne in Darlington and was appointed to the Cathedral as a Residentiary Canon in 2001. He is a member of the Church of England Liturgical Commission, Chair of PRAXIS and Chair of Durham Diocesan Liturgical Committee. He also undertakes teaching in the Department of Theology and Religion, Cranmer Hall & the Wesley Studies Centre and the Durham Reader Training Course.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kennedy-14a51633
David Lindon Lammy, FRSA is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tottenham, first winning the seat for Labour in 2000. He studied law at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, obtaining a first-class degree, before studying an LL.M. at Harvard Law School. In 2002, David became Parliamentary under-Secretary in the Department of Health, and in 2003, he was appointed as a Minister in the Department for Constitutional Affairs. Since then, he has served as Minister for Culture, Minister in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, and Minister for Higher Education. After Labour lost the 2010 general election, David turned down a post in the Shadow Cabinet and asserted a need to speak on a wide range of issues that would arise in his constituency due to the cuts in the public services that his constituents rely on. In November 2011, he published a book – Out of the Ashes: Britain after the Riots – that serves as his account on the causes and consequences of the August 2011 riots.
https://www.davidlammy.co.uk/
David Marshall is a priest in the Church of England and a scholar in the field of Islamic Studies. After undergraduate studies in Modern Languages and then Theology at Oxford University, and a couple of years working with homeless people, he studied for a Master’s in Islamic Studies at Birmingham University. After ordination training at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and a curacy in Leeds, David returned to Birmingham for doctoral studies on the Qur’an.
He has since served in a variety of contexts, including as a parish priest, Chaplain of Exeter College, Oxford, Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and on the staff of the World Council of Churches in Geneva. He has for 20 years served as the Academic Director of the Building Bridges Seminar for Muslim and Christian scholars. However, most of David's work has been in the field of theological education. He has taught at St Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya, Edinburgh University, Georgetown University, and Duke Divinity School. He currently teaches at the University of Bern and assists his wife Helen in her ministry as Anglican Chaplain in Bern.
Revd Canon Dr Ashley Null is an internationally respected scholar on the grace and gratitude theology of the English Reformation. Holding a MDiv and STM from Yale and a PhD and BD form the University of Cambridge, Ashley has received numerous academic awards for his work, including Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities and Guggenheim fellowships as well as being elected fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Society of Antiquaries in London. He currently holds a research post funded by the German Research Council at Humboldt University of Berlin.
In addition to his scholarly activities, Ashley is an ordained Episcopal priest, Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas as well as the Anglican Diocese of Egypt. Finally, he serves as a chaplain to elite athletes and coaches. He is the author of Real Joy: Freedom to be Your Best and served for six years as chairman of the Major Sport Event Chaplaincy Commission. Ashley himself is a veteran Olympic chaplain, serving most recently at Rio 2016. In Berlin, he sits on the board of directors for the Arne Friedrich Foundation.
Glenn Packiam is one of the associate senior pastors at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the lead pastor of New Life Downtown, a congregation of New Life Church. He is the author of Discover the Mystery of Faith, LUCKY: How the Kingdom Comes to Unlikely People, Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith, and Butterfly in Brazil: How Your Life Can Make a World of Difference. He was one of the founding leaders and songwriters for the Desperation Band and has been featured on several Desperation Band and NewLifeWorship recordings. He has also released three solo projects with Integrity Music, "The Mystery of Faith", "The Kingdom Comes", and "Rumors and Revelations".
Glenn has spoken at many conferences for pastors and worship leaders, and has taught seminars, modules, and chapel services at Biola University, Asbury Seminary, Calvin College, and Trinity School for Ministry. He earned a Doctorate in Theology and Ministry from Durham University. He also holds a BA in Theological/Historical Studies and Masters in Management from Oral Roberts University, and a Graduate Certificate in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is an ordained priest with the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA).
https://www.glennpackiam.com/
Richard Roberts BA, TEP, CTAPS has been a private client solicitor for over 40 years, all of which was with Gedye and Sons of London and Grange over Sands. He was a student at St Johns from 1976 to 1979. His practice areas covered a wide range of work with the emphasis on trusts, contentious probate, wills and estate planning. He has a wide range of experience with both Court of Protection matters and estate administration. He was a member of the Law Society’s Wills and Equity Committee for nine years, the last three (2011-2014) as its Chair. The Committee regularly responded to Consultation Papers on all aspects of wills, probate, charity law, trusts, and associated taxation.
During his career Richard frequently lectured to professional and lay groups alike and he has also written regularly for legal periodicals, primarily on the softer skills aspects such as the emotional side of dealing with probate.
As he approached retirement he moved back to Durham, to live in one of the apartments behind the Cathedral and has increasingly contributed to the daily life of Johns. He is a trustee of a number of charities and tries to play a significant role within each one. His real love though is a good classic car - and currently he runs a 1974 Rover 3500 V8 as well as two rather more modern ‘classics’. All are driven regularly as he enjoys his other love - good food in the countryside.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-roberts-21350814
Jonathan Ruffer left Cambridge in 1972 to become a stockbroker. He trained as a barrister, and worked in the Corporate Finance Department of Schroders. In 1980 he returned to investment, first with Dunbar; on its takeover by Allied Hambro, together with Micky Ingall, they set up a new business which became Rathbones, following a merger with the Liverpool company of that name. In 1994, he left to set up Ruffer Investment Management Limited, which took partnership status as Ruffer LLP in 2004. He is also Churchwarden of St Peter’s Church, Ugley, and is a speaker both on the rubber-chicken circuit, and on Christian topics.
Jonathan has written two books: The Big Shots (1977), about rich people behaving badly in the Victoria countryside, and Babel, the Breaking of the Banks (2009), a chronicle of rich people behaving badly before and during the credit crunch. In 2017, he received an Hon D Litt. The Auckland Project and the Modern Language Department have a joint venture in the Zurbaran Centre, which has an acuerdo with a number of Spanish Institutions - the Real Academia and the Prado included.
https://www.ruffer.co.uk
Roy was born and grew up in Tyneside and North Yorkshire. He came to faith when he was training as an Outward Bound instructor in Scotland before going on to prepare for ministry at Lebanon Missionary Bible College, Berwick-upon-Tweed and University College, Cardiff. He began his church ministry at Portrack Baptist Church on Teesside, before becoming Senior Pastor at Enon Baptist Church in Sunderland. He is one of the founders of the Northumbria Community, and has been one of its leaders since 1992.
Roy works ecumenically and has served in various aspects of denominational ministry, is a former President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and from January 2016 is working part time as the Baptist Union Coordinator for Pioneering in the North of England. He is a visiting lecturer at several colleges including Spurgeon’s College, London, South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff and the former International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague. He has worked as a consultant, associate and adviser to individuals, several church, charity and secular organisations. He is also one of the writers and contributors of the Northumbria Community’s very popular daily office, Celtic Daily Prayer.
https://northumbrianreflections.org
The Revd Dr Sarah St Leger Hills was born in South Africa, brought up in Northern Ireland, and has lived in Sheffield since the mid 1980’s. She qualified in medicine and worked as a psychiatrist, specialising in psychotherapy. She trained for ordination on the Northern Ordination Course. She was ordained in 2007, and is curate at Holy Trinity Church, Millhouses, Sheffield. She holds an MA in Theology and Pastoral Studies, which focused on the theology and psychology of reconciliation in South Africa. Her research interests also include healing in terms of the crossover between theology and medicine; and the role of supervision for clergy. Sarah is Pastoral Care Advisor to the Yorkshire Ministry Course, and serves on a Diocesan mental health working group. She is Chaplain to the RSCM Easter Courses for choristers. She is also a researcher for St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, on an apartheid memory project; and is Advisor to the Foundation for Church-Led Restitution.
Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at the think tank Theos. His first degree was in English Literature and History from Jesus College, Oxford, followed (many years later) by a doctorate in political theology from Jesus College, Cambridge. In between, he has worked in research, at first quantitative and qualitative commercial and social research, and thereafter academic research into Christianity in contemporary British society. He has a particular interest in the history of ideas, in political theology and rhetoric, and in the relationship between science and religion.
His central concern throughout recent work has been on the interface of theological anthropology and wider scientific, legal and humanistic conceptions of the person. Nick is the author of twelve books, most recently The Landscapes of Science and Religion: what are we disagreeing about? (OUP, 2025), Playing God: science, religion and the future of humanity (SPCK, 2024), Magisteria: the entangled histories of science and religion (OneWorld, 2023). In addition, he has edited or contributed to a further eight volumes, and has written or edited over fifty research reports for Theos. In 2019, he presented a three-part series on BBC Radio 4 entitled The Secret History of Science and Religion and has made many appearances on BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, Radio 5, BBC News, Times Radio, etc. and occasionally TV, to talk about science and religion. He is the host of the ideas podcast Reading our Times.
Muthuraj researches in the fields of Religious Studies, Theology and World Christianity with the focus on religious pluralism, interfaith dialogue, ecumenism, contextual theologies, Christian public engagement, and science-faith relations. Muthuraj is currently the Director of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide (since 2018). As part of this role, he teaches and supervises in the University of Cambridge and in the Cambridge Theological Federation. He has also been working at the Anglican Communion Office since 2018 – as Project Manager for Theological Education until 2024, and currently as Theological Facilitator and Researcher for the Equipping Christian Leaders in an Age of Science (ECLAS) through the Anglican Communion Science Commission.
Muthuraj is the author/editor of several works, including the books The Problem with Interreligious Dialogue: Plurality, Conflict and Elitism in Hindu-Christian-Muslim Relations (Bloomsbury, 2016) and Reconciliation: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2019 (SPCK, London & Delhi). Together with Stephen Spencer, he has edited three Preparing for the Lambeth Conference 2022 books on Reconciliation, Evangelism & Witness, and Prayer – published as Walking Together (2019), Witnessing Together (2019) and Listening Together (2020). He is a contributing editor to the International Bulletin of Mission Research. His forthcoming books include Connecting Christianities: World Christianity and Mission in the Twenty-first Century, coedited with Jenny Leith (Brill, 2025); New Wine in New Wineskins: Theological Education in South and Southeast Asia after the Covid-19 Pandemic, co-edited with Israel David (ISPCK, 2025) and Poverty and the World Church, coedited with Philip Powell (CCCW, 2025).Muthuraj is an ordained priest in the Church of England and currently an Associate Priest at St John the Evangelist, Hills Road, Cambridge
Bishop David Thomson was born in Sunderland and grew up in Sheffield before going up to Oxford to read English and take a DPhil in mediaeval studies. After a short teaching career he was ordained, and after twenty years of parish ministry served as Archdeacon of Carlisle and then Bishop of Huntingdon and Vice-Chair of the Church of England’s Board of Education. He was a regular participation in the Equipping Religious Leader in an Age of Science programme at St John’s and continues to act as a judge for the Scientists in Congregations awards programme.
As part of his ministry David has spoken widely and written four devotional books, while at the same time maintaining his academic work as a mediaevalist. He is a core member of the Durham-based team producing a new edition of the scientific works of Robert Grosseteste and is an Honorary Fellow of the Department of History. He continues to publish regularly on mediaeval topics.
Gavin Wakefield is a Church of England priest, living in the Durham area. He has retired from fulltime ministry but remains engaged in supporting local church ministry, spiritual accompaniment, supervising postgraduate students, mentoring ministerial students and as a volunteer chaplain at Durham Cathedral. Previously he was the Director of Training for Missional Ministry for the Diocese of York, where he led the Diocesan Training Team in its work of developing the formation of lay and clergy people. Before that, he was at Cranmer Hall, Durham for over 10 years, as Deputy Warden and the mission tutor. His first ministerial posts were in parish ministry in the dioceses of Sheffield and Chelmsford, including a spell church planting in a former mining area.
His academic interests are mainly in the area of missiology and include issues in evangelism, the origins of Pentecostalism in the UK, and the development of mission in the north east of England. He has a passion for learning from Christian history and making it live for today’s concerns. Since retiring he has taken up volunteer roles with a community choir, a local National Trust garden, and campaigning with environmental groups. His publications include Alexander Boddy: Pentecostal Anglican Pioneer (2007), Holy People, Holy Places (2008), Northern Gospel, Northern Church: Reflections on Identity and Mission (2016), Saints and Holy Places of Yorkshire (2020), and most recently, St Nicholas’ Church Durham: Episodes and Themes from a 900 year history (2024). He is currently working on a major revision and expansion of his book on northern saints.
Professor Peter Ward's academic research has its origins in the practice of mission and ministry in the Christian Church. For more than 15 years, he worked as a Christian youth worker and then 5 years working as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Adviser for Youth Ministry. His doctoral research developed these concerns by examining the phenomenon of contemporary worship. He currently teaches Religion Media and Popular Culture, which is a strand in the Research Project and Colloquium second year undergraduate module. He also teaches a Masters Module in Ecclesiology and Ethnography.
In 1996, Peter joined King’s College London, where he established the DThM and the Masters Programmes in Theology and Ministry. In 2012, he became Professor of Theology and Ministry at King’s. He is currently Chair of the Ecclesiology and Ethnography Network and he was editor of the Journal Ecclesial Practices published by Brill. The Ecclesiology and Ethnography Network hold their annual conference in Durham at St John’s College. There is a book series linked to the network and he edited the first volume, which was published as Perspectives on Ecclesiology and Ethnography. He is also Programme Director for the DThM in Durham, which is co-taught with Cranmer Hall.
https://twitter.com/petewarddurham
Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. He has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, he has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia.
Ben has written over forty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.
http://www.benwitherington.com/
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