Barkley Thompson

Last updated
The Reverend

Barkley S. Thompson
Rector of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church - Little Rock, Arkansas
Barkley Thompson at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Texas, in 2020.jpg
Barkley Thompson at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Texas, in 2020
In office2022–present
Other post(s)Rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles (Collierville, TN), 2003-2007
Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church (Roanoke, VA), 2007-2013
Dean of Christ Church Cathedral (Houston, TX), 2013 - 2022
Personal details
Born
Barkley Stuart Thompson

1972
Paragould, Arkansas
Nationality American
Denomination Episcopal Church (USA)
Residence Little Rock, Arkansas
Alma mater Hendrix College
University of Chicago Divinity School
Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest

Barkley Stuart Thompson (born 1972) is a priest in the Episcopal Church who currently serves as the seventh Rector of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. Saint Mark's is in the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas. Before Saint Mark's, he served as the eighth Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, Texas. [1] Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral church for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.

Contents

Early life and education

Thompson was born and raised in Paragould, Arkansas. He is the younger brother of Robert F. Thompson, a former majority leader of the Arkansas state senate. Thompson was raised a Methodist, with his early formation in the United Methodist Church contributing to his vocation to pastoral ministry. [2] While in college, Thompson was encouraged to visit a local Episcopal parish church by one of his college professors. About his experience of walking into the church, Thompson has said, "The moment I crossed the threshold from narthex to nave, I had a deep sense that I had come home". [3] He joined the Episcopal Church shortly thereafter, which he has described as combining "the Methodist theology of hospitality and grace" with "Catholic sacramental and liturgical worship". [4]

Thompson graduated with a BA, magna cum laude, from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas in 1995, where he also received the college's President's Medal and the Robert C. Moore Religion Award. Thompson went on to earn an MA degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1998. [5] His oral defense paper was entitled, "Toward a Christology of Purpose: The Early Royce and the Incarnation." Thompson later earned the Master of Divinity degree from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas. From 2012 to 2021, Thompson served on the Seminary of the Southwest's board of trustees. [6]

Career

Following his seminary education, Thompson was ordained first a deacon and then a priest by Bishop Don E. Johnson in the Diocese of West Tennessee of the Episcopal Church. In 2003, he was assigned to his first pastoral appointment as vicar (and later rector) of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Collierville, Tennessee. The congregation numbered only about 40 communicants when he arrived. Under his leadership the parish reorganized and expanded, growing from 40 parishioners to over 400 in just four years. [7]

In 2007, Thompson became the rector at St. John's Episcopal Church in the heart of Roanoke, Virginia. [5] While there, he led the parish in pursuing “innovative-yet-still-traditional forms of worship, new programs for Christian formation, outreach initiatives and enhanced Christian community”. [2] His ministry at St. John's was marked by congregational growth, development of new programming, and the establishment of a parish endowment. [8] In 2009, Thompson also led the parish in a restoration of its historic 117-year-old church. [9]

Thompson was called in 2013 to be the eighth dean and twenty-second rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston, Texas. [8] In that capacity, he chaired the board of The Beacon, which is Houston's largest social service day center for the homeless. In 2022, he was called to serve as the seventh Rector of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thompson also serves on the North American Committee for St. George's College in Jerusalem, the Anglican Center in the Holy Land and on the board of St. Francis House, the Episcopal social service center in Little Rock.

Views

Theology

Thompson's theological approach emphasizes communicating the Christian gospel inductively and narratively through storytelling. This approach is visible both in his preaching and in his published work. Thompson's technique combines the presentation of biblical stories or doctrines with stories of common life to illuminate key themes of the gospel in a way intended to be accessible to Christian audiences. [10] It is a way of communicating theology practically that has been described as “[combining] stories from Scripture and stories from everyday life”. [11] Thompson's approach is developed most fully in Elements of Grace, where he couches his characteristically narrative style in meditations that are organized thematically into the "elemental" categories of Earth, Water, Spirit, Light, Darkness, Discipleship, and Word. [12]

In 2018, Thompson's second book, In the Midst of the City: The Gospel and God's Politics was published by Bright Sky Publishing. The book focuses on the intersection of the Gospel and civic life. In it, Thompson says, "The politics of God is commentary and action that proclaim the advent of God's kingdom in the world...It is central to the role of the Church to be the Body of Christ: to be Christ's voice, hands, and feet; to enact the commentary and action that proclaim the advent of God's kingdom in the world. Without politics, there is no church." [13] The book tackles such topics as the embrace of the LGBTQ+ community, anti-Semitism, gun regulation, and Civil War monuments. NPR personality Diane Rehm described the book as helping "interpret both the divisions and connections we experience as we move through this complex religious, secular, and political world." [14]

In addition, Thompson has published academic essays focusing on figures as diverse as the 19th-century philosopher Josiah Royce and the contemporary agrarian writer Wendell Berry. [15] [16] Thompson has also published a historical essay on the murder of his great, great, great-grandfather, potentially by his great, great, great, great-grandfather, Texas hero Colonel John Henry Moore (Texas settler). [17]

Ecclesiastical politics

The early years of Thompson's career coincided with a tumultuous time in the Episcopal Church, as tensions around human sexuality led to internal fractures in the denomination that spilled over into the Episcopal Church's relationships with other churches of the Anglican Communion. In response to the trend of individual parishes and dioceses separating themselves from the Episcopal Church, Thompson appealed the historic principle of conciliarism to advocate for a General Council of Anglicanism as the proper arena in which to adjudicate ecclesiastical disputes. [18] For Anglicans, according to Thompson, such a council should be in the form of a Lambeth Conference that would have juridical power.

Thompson has also disputed the practice of Anglican bishops foreign to the United States asserting episcopal supervision over Anglican/Episcopal bodies within US geographical boundaries. He has advocated that the fundamentally provincial character of Anglican polity ought to dictate that the various churches of the Anglican Communion respect one another's autonomy and independence. [19] This attitude, in Thompson's view, would be in conformity with the spirit of the Act in Restraint of Appeals, one of the foundational parliamentary acts of the English Reformation. Thompson has referred to the ideals contained in the Act in Restraint of Appeals the “First Principle of Anglicanism”. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church Cathedral (Houston)</span> Historic church in Houston, Texas, U.S.

Christ Church Cathedral, Houston is the cathedral church for the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. The congregation was established in 1839, when Texas was still an independent republic. It is the oldest extant congregation in Houston and one of the oldest non-Roman Catholic churches in Texas. Many Episcopal churches in Houston and the surrounding area were founded as missions of Christ Church, such as Trinity Church, Houston, founded in 1893.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Duncan (bishop)</span> American Anglican bishop

Robert William Duncan is an American Anglican bishop. He was the first primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) from June 2009 to June 2014. In 1997, he was elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. In 2008, a majority of the diocesan convention voted to leave the diocese and the Episcopal Church and, in October 2009, named their new church the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. Duncan served as bishop for the new Anglican diocese until 10 September 2016 upon the installation of his successor, Jim Hobby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Elliott (Canadian priest)</span> Anglican priest (born 1954)

Peter Elliott is a Canadian priest. He is the former (retired) rector of Christ Church Cathedral and Dean of New Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada. Elliott grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario. In 1976 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and philosophy from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. Subsequently, he attended and graduated from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1981 he was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Niagara. Prior to coming to Vancouver he was Director of Ministries in Church and Society with the Anglican Church of Canada. In 1994, Elliott was made rector of Christ Church Cathedral and Dean of New Westminster. He retired in October 2019 after 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande</span> Diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States

The Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande is the Episcopal Church's diocese in New Mexico and southwest Texas, the portion of the state west of the Pecos River, including the counties of El Paso, Reeves, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Brewster, Presidio, Terrell, Hudspeth and Pecos. The total area of the diocese is 153,394 square miles (397,290 km2). According to the 2006 parochial report, there are 57 active congregations within the diocese. The see is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and the diocesan cathedral is the Cathedral Church of St. John.

William Wesley Millsaps is a Continuing Anglican bishop. He is bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Church. He is the rector of Christ Church in Monteagle, Tennessee, and Presiding bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Church. He had served previously from 2001-2010. He was elected again in December 2014 at a Synod held at Christ Church, Warrenton, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Mayer (bishop)</span> American bishop

James Scott Mayer is the fifth and current Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas in The Episcopal Church. He was elected after two ballots in an electing convention at St. Paul's on the Plains Church in Lubbock, Texas on November 22, 2008, and was consecrated as Bishop of Northwest Texas on March 21, 2009. Prior to his election as Bishop of Northwest Texas, Mayer served as Rector of the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Abilene, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John E. Hines</span> American Episcopalian bishop

John Elbridge Hines was a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States. When he was elected the 22nd Presiding Bishop in 1965, at the age of 54, he was the youngest person to hold that office, which he held until 1974. Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town, said Hines' movement to divest church-held assets in that nation played an important role in the demise of apartheid.

Keith Lynn Ackerman is an American Anglican bishop. Consecrated as a bishop for the Diocese of Quincy in the Episcopal Church, he is currently bishop vicar of the Anglican Diocese of Quincy of the Anglican Church in North America and assisting bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Sutton</span> American Anglican bishop

Raymond Ronny Sutton is an American Anglican bishop. He was bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Mid-America of the Reformed Episcopal Church, since 1999, a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, in 2009. He is the former Rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas, Texas, president and Professor of Scripture and Theology at Cranmer Theological House in Houston, Texas, and headmaster of Holy Communion Christian Academy. Sutton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to Dallas at age thirteen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Bailey (bishop)</span> American Episcopalian bishop

Scott Field Bailey was the 6th diocesan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas in the Episcopal Church.

Royal Upton Grote Jr. was an American Anglican bishop. He served as the Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), from 2014 to 2016, which was a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America in June 2009. He also served as bishop ordinary of the REC Diocese of Mid-America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Bond Allen</span> American Anglican Bishop (born 1954)

Kevin Bond Allen is an American Anglican bishop. From 2011 to 2024, he was the first bishop of the Diocese of Cascadia in the Anglican Church in North America. Earlier in his career, as an Episcopal priest, he was a key figure in the Anglican realignment in the Pacific Northwest.

Michael Louis Vono was the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rio Grande.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles G. Marmion</span> American bishop

Charles Gresham Marmion Jr. was fifth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kentucky, serving from 1954 to 1974.

James Milton Richardson was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas from 1965 to 1980. A graduate of Emory University, the University of Georgia, and Virginia Theological Seminary, he was consecrated on February 10, 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claude E. Payne</span> American Episcopal bishop

Claude Edward Payne was the seventh Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas in The Episcopal Church between 1995 and 2003.

Charlie Holt is an American Episcopal clergyman. He became rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Jacksonville, Florida on August 13, 2023. Prior to this he was twice bishop coadjutor-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida. The first was from May 14, 2022 until August 19, 2022, when he renounced his election due to questionable irregularities in his election. He was elected a second time on November 19, 2022. Again, his election was contested and the objections forward to the presiding bishop. The Episcopal Church's court of review issued a report on February 16, 2023. In light of this report and other concerns, Holt did not receive the necessary consents from the bishops and standing committees of other diocese by July 20, 2023. This ended his status as bishop elect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quigg Lawrence</span> American bishop of the Anglican Church in North America

Raymond Quigg Lawrence Jr. is an American bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. He was consecrated in 2013 as bishop suffragan in the Atlantic coast network of PEARUSA, which in 2016 became the Anglican Diocese of Christ Our Hope. Since 1989, he has been rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Roanoke County, Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Andrews (bishop)</span> American Anglican bishop (born 1954)

Milton Keith Andrews is an American Anglican bishop. He is currently serving as the second bishop of the Diocese of Western Anglicans in the Anglican Church in North America. Ordained in the Episcopal Church, he was the rector of a congregation that split during the Anglican realignment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Saints Anglican Cathedral (Long Beach)</span> Anglican cathedral in Long Beach, California, that played a role in the Anglican realignment

All Saints Anglican Cathedral is an Anglican church in Long Beach, California. Founded in 1923 as All Saints Episcopal Church, it left the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles in 2004 as part of the Anglican realignment and joined the nascent Anglican Church in North America. In 2017, it was designated as the cathedral of the ACNA Diocese of Western Anglicans.

References

  1. ↑ "Clergy Archives". Christ Church Cathedral. Archived from the original on 2014-10-02. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  2. 1 2 "Episcopal Diocese of Texas". Epicenter.org. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  3. ↑ "An interview with the Rev. Barkley Thompson". Christ Church Cathedral. 2012-12-05. Archived from the original on 2017-07-08. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  4. ↑ "(accessed January 2, 2014)". Christchurchcathedral.org. 2012-12-05. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  5. 1 2 Podger, Pamela J. "Roanoke's St. John's Episcopal chooses new rector - Roanoke.com". Ww2.roanoke.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-03. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  6. ↑ "Board of Trustees - | Seminary of the Southwest". Ssw.edu. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  7. ↑ Tom Bailey, Jr., "Minister leaving for Va.--C'ville's Holy Apostles losing rector," Commercial Appeal (August 3, 2007).
  8. 1 2 "Barkley Thompson named dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Houston". Episcopaldigitalnetwork.com. 2012-12-06. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  9. ↑ "Parish Restoration Project | St. John's Episcopal Church | Roanoke VA". Stjohnsroanoke.org. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  10. ↑ See, e.g., Barkley Thompson, "The Barber Shop and Sabbath Time", Ratherview: Official Magazine of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest 23:2 (2001): 6–7.
  11. ↑ "Alumnus Thompson publishes Elements of Grace | Seminary of the Southwest". Ssw.edu. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  12. ↑ Barkley S. Thompson, Elements of Grace. Marion, AR: Trinity Books, 2013.
  13. ↑ Barkley S. Thompson. In the Midst of the City: The Gospel and God's Politics. Houston: Bright Sky Publishing, 2018. pp. 19-20.
  14. ↑ Barkley S. Thompson. In the Midst of the City: The Gospel and God's Politics. Houston: Bright Sky Publishing, 2018.
  15. ↑ Barkley Thompson, “Toward a Christology of Purpose: The Early Royce and the Incarnation,” American Journal of Theology and Philosophy 21:1 (2000): 39-57.
  16. ↑ Barkley Thompson, “Eschatological Moments in the Theology of Josiah Royce and the Novels of Wendell Berry”. Journal of Pastoral Theology 15:1 (2005): 39-47.
  17. ↑ Barkley Thompson, "'You Assassin!': Intrigue in Old Fayette County: The Murder of Captain Ira Griffin Killough," Journal of the West, 57:4, 2018.
  18. ↑ Barkley Thompson, "Conciliar Authority", The Living Church 229:21 (November 2004): 12-13.
  19. ↑ Barkley Thompson, “Anglican Essentials from the Reformation”, The Living Church 235:8 (August 2007): 15-16.
  20. ↑ Thompson, “Anglican Essentials from the Reformation”, The Living Church 235:8 (August 2007): 16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.