This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2019) |
Martyn Percy | |
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![]() Percy in 2017 | |
Born | Martyn William Percy 31 July 1962 |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour Party |
Spouse | Emma Percy (m. 1989) |
Ecclesiastical career | |
Religion | Christianity (Anglican) |
Church | Church of England |
Ordained |
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Offices held | Dean of Christ Church (2014–2022) |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Thesis | "Signs, Wonders and Church Growth" [1] (1993) |
Doctoral advisor |
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Academic work | |
Discipline | Theology |
Sub-discipline | |
Institutions |
Martyn William Percy (born 31 July 1962) is a British academic and theologian. Ordained as a priest in the Church of England,in 2022 he announced that he was leaving the church. He had been Dean of Christ Church,Oxford,from 2014 to 2022 and principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon,Oxford,from 2004 to 2014.
Percy taught in the Faculty of Theology and Religion,University of Oxford,and was a fellow of the Said Business School at the university. He has also been Professor of Theological Education at King's College London and a professorial research fellow at Heythrop College,University of London. He is also a visiting professor of the Institute for the Study of Values at the University of Winchester,a founding fellow of the Center for Theologically Engaged Anthropology at the University of Georgia,and an adjunct professor at Hartford Seminary,Connecticut. He is an emeritus canon of Salisbury Cathedral,having previously served as an honorary canon. He has also been an honorary canon,serving later as canon theologian,at Sheffield Cathedral. He became a fellow of King's College London in 2018.
Percy's theological outlook is rooted in his long-standing commitment to middle-way Anglicanism. His writings fall into three distinct-but-related groups:ecclesiology;contemporary Christianity,religious movements and sociological trends;and anthropological interpretations of denominations and congregations;and spiritual devotional writings. [2] He has also written extensively about theological education,as well as contextual,pastoral and practical theology.
In 2013, The Times Literary Supplement praised Percy for his work towards unity within the Anglican Communion and the Church of England,describing him as displaying a "peaceable,polite and restrained" approach whilst "making peace between competing communities of conviction". [3]
Percy was born on 31 July 1962. [4] He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School,Northwood,the University of Bristol (BA),the University of Durham (Cert. Counselling),King's College London (PhD,1993) and the University of Sheffield (MEd). [5] After a short career in publishing (1984–1988), [6] he trained for ordination at Cranmer Hall,Durham,from 1988 to 1990. [7]
Percy was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1990 and as a priest in 1991. [7] He served as a curate at St Andrew's,Bedford (1990–1994),and was then appointed chaplain and director of studies at Christ's College,Cambridge. In 1997 he was appointed as the founding director of the Lincoln Theological Institute –a research and consultancy body specialising in faith and society (initially based at Sheffield University but now a research centre within Manchester University). He left in 2004 to become principal at Cuddesdon.
Ripon College Cuddesdon developed significantly from 2004,during Percy's tenure as principal:it incorporated the Oxford Ministry Course (OMC) in 2006,and the West of England Ministerial Training Course (WEMTC) in 2011, [8] making it the largest provider of Anglican ordination training in the UK. The college became internationally more active during Percy's period as principal:it works closely with the Anglican Church in Hong Kong and continues to have links with Anglican colleges in the United States,Canada,South Africa,Australia and New Zealand. During Percy's time at Cuddesdon,the college moved from a distinctively liberal catholic ethos and progressively to the broader centre ground of Anglicanism,welcoming ordinands from across the ecclesial spectrum,thereby reclaiming the "non-party" ethos that Bishop Samuel Wilberforce had founded the college with in 1854.
During Percy's tenure,the multi-award-winning Bishop Edward King Chapel (which was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2013) and a new education centre (Harriet Monsell House) were built. [9] [10] [11] The college also became the first to incorporate a community of Anglican religious sisters,and to work alongside staff and students offering support in prayer and spirituality,whilst continuing to develop their own ministries of spiritual direction.
Percy was the (45th) Dean of Christ Church in Oxford from 2014 to April 2022. [12] He was the first dean to be democratically elected by the governing body,and was instituted to the deanery on 4 October 2014. [13] Christ Church is the only academic institution in the world which is also a cathedral –being the seat of the Bishop of Oxford. In common with other cathedral deans,Percy,as Dean of Christ Church,was the senior priest of the Diocese of Oxford. Percy's closing years in office as Dean of Christ Church (roughly from 2018 onwards) were marked by protracted disputes around reformation of the governance of the College. [14]
On February 4th 2022 Christ Church agreed to pay Percy a sum in excess of £1 million in compensation and for settlement of the legal fees he had incurred equivalent to ten years’of salary and benefits. [15] From 2018 Percy had faced over 40 different allegations from members of the Governing Body. All of the charges or allegations Percy had faced had either failed,dismissed or successfully defended. [16] [17] He resigned effective 26 April 2022. [18]
In May 2022 he announced that he was leaving the Church of England because of his concerns over the management and 'weaponization' of safeguarding,as well as bullying and harassment within the church. [19] [20]
In November 2018,Percy was suspended from office and an independently chaired internal tribunal was established. This followed a formal complaint which had been made against him concerning his attempts to clarify and reform competence of the institution's governance. [21] Percy was at the time in the bottom 25% of Oxford college heads by remuneration. [21] [22] There were later claims that Percy was the victim of a "bullying campaign" by some members of the college governing body who opposed his reformist agenda. [22] [23] In January 2019,the acting chair of governing body of Christ Church) sent a letter to college alumni inferring that Percy's suspension was triggered by a pay dispute,though this was disputed. [24] Supporters of the dean criticised Christ Church's complaints process,as it was claimed no investigation or disciplinary hearing was necessary prior to his suspension from office and putting him on trial. Angela Tilby,a canon emeritus of Christ Church,wrote in the Church Times that Percy faced hostility for desiring to make the institution "more inclusive,more open to the outside world,and,perhaps,more aware of its wealth and vested interests". [25] Paul Bayes (Bishop of Liverpool) and Alan Wilson (Bishop of Buckingham) also conveyed public messages of support.
The statutory tribunal process Percy was subject to was presided over by Sir Andrew Smith,a High Court judge and estimated to have cost the college at least £1.9m. Percy faced 27 charges. On 21 August 2019,the college's governing body confirmed that the tribunal had concluded that all of the charges brought against Percy had been dismissed. [26] [27] [22] The college's legal fees are not known. [28] The governing body declined to read the whole text of the judgement provided by Smith. [29]
During the period of dispute,supporters of Percy raised over £150,000 to help cover the cost of his legal fees,which Christ Church had refused to pay. [30] [22]
On 4 March 2020,the college announced that the dean was to be investigated by the Church of England's National Safeguarding Team (NST) over four alleged failures to report safeguarding cases in 2017. [31] Two further allegations were later added.
In May 2020,41 members of Christ Church's governing body published a letter addressed to the Charity Commission accusing Percy of "unsound judgment" and of having breached his legal,fiduciary and safeguarding duties since the Smith tribunal. It was subsequently confirmed that the Charity Commission had never received this letter. [32]
A subsequent investigation by the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team over the course of six months cleared the dean of any safeguarding wrongdoing and on 8 September Bishop Jonathan Gibbs,the Church of England's lead safeguarding bishop said:"An independent investigation into allegations that the Dean,Martyn Percy,failed to fulfil his safeguarding responsibilities has concluded the Dean acted entirely appropriately in each case. At no point was there any allegation or evidence that the Dean presented a direct risk to any child or vulnerable adult." [33] Each of the six complaints were sponsored by Christ Church,yet no individual had ever made any complaint about Percy’s safeguarding practice.
Four weeks after being cleared by the NST on 8 September,(and during Covid-19 restrictions),a female employee of the cathedral alleged Percy had stroked her hair in the cathedral sacristy after a service on 4 October 2020. [34] [35] The complainant wrote a letter to the Church Times to defend her allegation, [36] and eventually decided to forego her anonymity in an interview with The Daily Telegraph on 13 May 2022. [35] The woman also reported the matter to Thames Valley Police,the NST and was party to bringing a case under the 2016 Clergy Discipline Measure. The allegation was dismissed by all these parties. Despite these outcomes,the college once again sought to subject Percy to an internal tribunal at which he would have to bear his own legal costs. [37]
On 17 November 2020,it was announced that Percy had voluntarily withdrawn from his duties as Christ Church dean in response to the allegations. [38] He did not resign,but "stepped back from his duties in the College and Cathedral". [39] One of Britain's most senior Court of Appeal judges,Dame Sarah Asplin,President of Tribunals for the Church of England,ruled on 28 May 2021 that it would be "entirely disproportionate" for the sexual harassment claim to be referred to a clergy disciplinary tribunal. [40] On 27 May 2022 some members of the college governing body published a statement "Christ Church and Dr Martyn Percy:Our Response". [22] The statement came two weeks after Percy had published an article which included extensive reference to his experience with Christ Church titled "Martyn Percy:Why I'm Leaving the Church of England",citing the deliberate weaponization of safeguarding as one of his major concerns. [41]
On November 10 2022,the Charity Commission,the government regulator,issued an Official Warning to the Governing Body of Christ Church under Section 75 of the 2011 Charities Act for “mismanagement and/or misconduct by the trustees”in their campaign against the Dean,and recorded that £6.6 million had been spent in their actions taken against Percy. [42] [43] The published Christ Church accounts also recorded an £8 million decline in donations during the four year dispute. [44]
The warning stated that “in the context of a long running dispute with the former Dean,the Commission has determined there has been mismanagement and/or misconduct in the management and administration of the Charity”(para. 9) and “that whatever the cost of taking action against the Dean,the Charity was prepared to take it,which is not consistent with managing the Charity’s resources responsibly”(para. 72). The same paragraph noted that “having read the case files,that the trustees,or a proportion of them,were determined to remove the Dean from the Charity at almost any cost and this is exactly why the Commission has had such concern about the size of the costs incurred in the dispute with him and that this warranted consideration of an Official Warning.” [45]
In response to The Daily Telegraph article of May 13 2022,Percy made a complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). They undertook an investigation into the matter and published a judgement,dismissing the complaint. IPSO made no findings as to the truthfulness or accuracy of the claims made by The Daily Telegraph,stating “the publication had not adopted or accepted the woman’s claims,nor was there any suggestion that an objective finding of fact had been made in relation to these claims”.
Regarding the woman attributing the loss of her housing,job and PhD to the alleged incident,IPSO adjudicated “...these claims were contained within quotation marks and clearly attributed to her within the text of the article,rather than published as statements of fact”. IPSO concluded:"In this case [we] decided that the publication made it clear that the woman’s allegations were not facts,and that it was providing her account of events that were contested”. [46]
Percy has undertaken a number of roles in public life,specialising in media and consumer affairs. He has served as a director and council member of the Advertising Standards Authority (1999–2006). He was previously an advisor on the "Faith Zone" for the New Millennium Experience Company and the Millennium Dome in London (1999). From 2006 to 2008,he was a member of the Theology and Religious Studies Panel for the HEFCE Research Assessment Exercise. He has served as a member of the Independent Complaints Panel for the Portman Group,the self-regulating body for the alcoholic drinks industry. He has served as commissioner for the Direct Marketing Authority (2008–2014),and currently serves as an advisor to the British Board of Film Classification. He was the elected chair of the Cuddesdon and Denton Parish Council from 2007 to 2014. Percy is also the patron of St Francis' Children's Society (an Adoption and Fostering Agency with a Roman Catholic foundation),and as part of his role as dean was a governor of Christ Church Cathedral School,Westminster School and St Edward's School,Oxford,a trustee of the Grubb Institute,Gladstone's Library (Harwarden) and the Li Tim-Oi Foundation.
Percy's theology is generally considered to represent the liberal tradition in the Church of England. [47] [48] [49] His viewpoints typically argue for the "middle ground" between evangelical and catholic positions,with appeals to Anglican comprehensiveness,and the tradition of respecting theological differences. [50] Percy's main interlocutors in his writings comprise a trinity of American theologians:Daniel W. Hardy,Urban T. Holmes III,and James F. Hopewell. Percy is a proponent of "generous orthodoxy",and argues for a theological approach that copes with "serious forms of dispute and threat[s] of schism." [51] [52] In 2018,a group of scholars from the fields of sociology,anthropology,musicology,theology and ecclesiology published a book (edited by Ian Markham and Joshua Daniels) on Percy's work to date,based on an earlier symposium engaging with Percy's writings,held at Virginia Theological Seminary (Washington DC) in 2016. The subsequent Reasonable Radical? Reading the Writings of Martyn Percy offers a broad guide to the compass of Percy's work. [53]
Percy has adopted a progressive outlook on a number of social issues,such as LGBTQ rights and the ordination of women. [54] [55] However his writings affirm orthodox Christian positions on the incarnation,atonement,resurrection and ascension;he has consistently defended the historicity of Jesus’healing and nature miracles. [56] Noted for his work on fundamentalism and revivalism,for which he engages with sociology and anthropology,he was described in the academic journal Theology ,by Nigel Rooms,as the British theologian who is the closest to being a "missionary anthropologist". [57]
In 2002,Percy co-founded the Society for the Study of Anglicanism with Tom Hughson,which meets annually at the American Academy of Religion and is now in a full partnership with Virginia Theological Seminary. Percy has served as chair of committee (the oversight body) for Cliff College –a Methodist Bible college in the evangelical-charismatic tradition –and also works with a number of other evangelical groups. He is a vice-president of Modern Church [58] and has been a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford since 2004. From 2014 he has also taught for the Said Business School and for the Department of Sociology at the university.
Percy has been a regular contributor to The Guardian ,BBC Radio Four,and the BBC World Service.
Percy is a social thinker,moralist and commentator,with his activism and writings addressing concerns for social justice and equality. He has spoken and written about the threat of schism in the Anglican Communion,arguing that churches should embrace the diversity of belief that exists,rather than allowing such divisions to result in separation. [59] In anticipation of the October 2003 Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting,which took place in the wake of the ordination of Gene Robinson as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire,the communion's first openly gay bishop,he wrote of the need for a "slight loosening of the ties",to avoid a divorce. Illustrating this,he described Anglicanism as an "archipelago –a connection of provincial islands that shares doctrinal,liturgical and cultural aspects",as opposed to being "one vast,catholic continent". [60] He made similar remarks following Jeffrey John's withdrawal as Bishop of Reading,in July 2003,suggesting that the debate on gay rights should instead be shifted towards reflecting on the "more central gospel themes". [61]
Percy has been critical of Justin Welby's leadership as Archbishop of Canterbury,in particular his "managerial" style. [62] Percy described Welby's plans to send senior clergy on leadership courses,contained in the 2014 report of the Lord Green Steering Group, [63] as showing a poor judgment of the church's priorities and lacking in theological understanding. [64] He went on to say that Welby's targets for efficiency and growth were not reflective of the Christian mission,given that Jesus "didn't spend a lot of time going on about success." [65]
In August 2016,Percy renewed his criticism of Welby,describing the direction he was leading the Church of England as being "driven by mission-minded middle managers" that alienated congregations and the wider British public. He also raised further concerns about plans to divert funding away from traditional rural parishes and towards evangelical inner-city churches,warning that "it will take more to save the Church of England than a blend of the latest management theory". [66] Percy has also commented on an emerging theological anaemia among bishops in the Church of England,and highlighted the weaknesses and risks this poses for Anglican polity. [67] Percy's 2021 book focuses on the "humble church" and "commends humble leadership",criticizing church leadership. [68]
In an essay published in December 2015,Percy outlined his views on homosexuality,questioning the teaching that it is sinful and unnatural. Regarding the controversy surrounding the issue in the worldwide Anglican Communion,he noted that the church's position has alienated an increasingly progressive country,particularly the younger generation of Christians in Britain; [62] he also called on Justin Welby to formally apologise for the church's role in introducing homophobic teachings to cultures across the British Empire,during the 19th century: [69]
In 41 of the 53 countries within the British Commonwealth, homosexual conduct is still regarded as a serious crime. This categorisation and legal stigmatisation of homosexuality was largely 'made in England' in the nineteenth century, and imposed on cultures and emerging countries and that had not been, hitherto, homophobic. This is one of England's less wholesome exports. The Archbishop of Canterbury could begin the Primates' meeting by accepting responsibility for the part the Church of England has played in perpetrating this discrimination and the subsequent injustices – and publicly repenting of them. [70]
Just days before the commencement of the January 2016 Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting, Percy joined with over 100 other senior Anglicans, including Alan Wilson (Bishop of Buckingham) and David Ison (Dean of St Paul's), [71] in calling on archbishops Welby and Sentamu to acknowledge the failings of the Anglican Communion in its treatment of LGBTQ people. [72] Following the decision of the primates to penalise the US Episcopal Church, for voting to redefine marriage at its 2015 general convention, Percy expressed his disappointment. He went on to say that the meeting's statement regarding this action, "had nothing to say about LGBT Christians, and that's a lost opportunity". [73]
In the wake of the United Kingdom EU membership referendum in June 2016, Percy has argued that a national "failure of liberal values" was made evident by the result. [74] He has also suggested the need for a more "broad church" approach to British party politics, potentially in the form of a new centre-left party that is "authentically rooted in modern, progressive socialism, and equally true to modern, progressive, democratic liberal values". [75]
Since 2015, Percy has been actively involved in the campaign to restore the reputation of Bishop George Bell, following the Church of England's decision to compensate a woman who alleged that she had been sexually abused by Bell. He is a member of the George Bell Group and has published a number of key articles questioning the competence of those who have presumed Bell to be a perpetrator of abuse. [76] A subsequent independent report by Lord Carlile of Berriew found that there was no basis in law for presuming that the allegations made against Bell could have been sustained. [77] [78]
In March 2018, Percy called for the church to develop an independent self-regulating authority to handle safeguarding issues, arguing that the churches can only be ultimately trusted as public bodies if they voluntarily relinquish some control over their own policies and practices. [79]
Percy’s work on behalf of victims of sexual abuse in the church has continued alongside IICSA (Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse) reports focussing on the Church of England. This has included calling for better training and regulation in the churches, and greater fairness, justice and remedy for both the victims of abuse and those who may be falsely accused. [80] [81]
In an article concerning the release by international artists of a music video about victimisation in Church of England safeguarding, Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 abuse complaints as well as the Church's employment of reputation management company, Luther Pendragon, and law firm, Winckworth Sherwood, the Editor of the Church of England Newspaper cited a detailed statement by Percy which he had published on the Surviving Church website:
The collusion, coverups, misconduct, incompetence and corruption in safeguarding are well known. The Archbishops do nothing. That is why we must all protest, and invite everybody to show solidarity with the abused, and stand apart from the Church of England until such time as it submits, completely, to public standards of justice and truth…then repents, apologises and starts full and proper redress for its victims. Until then, the Church of England remains unsafe, and is in unsafe hands. [82]
Following the General Synod's narrow rejection of a motion to legalise the ordination of women as bishops in November 2012, Percy wrote in The Daily Telegraph criticising church leaders for failing to create sufficient consensus about the issue. He described the view of opponents to the motion as maintaining a "conceit of modern times" by their fundamentalist rejection of diversity. He also voiced the need for the church to be "transformed by the renewal of our minds" in its approach to the inclusion of women in the Anglican Communion, by moving towards a "new future". [83]
In February 2017, he suggested that Bishop Philip North either decline his nomination as Bishop of Sheffield or renounce the views of The Society, a conservative body which does not recognise or receive the ministry of ordained women, or men ordained by women bishops. [84] North later withdrew his acceptance of the nomination, citing "personal attacks". [85] In a radio discussion of North's decision, Percy refuted the accusation that his position demonstrated a form of "liberal intolerance". He reasoned that resistance to discrimination is not equivalent to intolerance. [86]
Percy has the distinction of being the only living theologian mentioned and quoted in Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (chapter 55), where Sir Leigh Teabing says, "Everything you need to know about the Bible can be summed up by the great canon doctor Martyn Percy: 'The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.'" [87]
Percy is married to Emma Percy, who is chaplain and fellow at Trinity College, Oxford, and together they have two sons. He is a member of the Labour Party, a teetotaler and a lifelong supporter of Everton Football Club. His hobbies include running, playing squash, cinema, and listening to jazz.[ citation needed ]
In addition to the work edited by Markham and Daniel, Reasonable Radical? Reading the Writings of Martyn Percy (2017), which focuses on Percy's theology, the Northern Irish poet Peter McDonald's Five Psalms for Martyn Percy reworks Psalms 8, 25, 94, 98 and 114 in poetic form to explore aspects of Percy's life using elegy, lament, hope, justice and vindication.
Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN | Notes |
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The Precarious Church: Reforming the Body of Christ | SCM-Canterbury Press | 2023 | ||
The Spirit of Witness | SCM-Canterbury Press | 2023 | ||
An Advent Manifesto | BRF | 2023 | ||
Forty Psalms of Solace | Bloomsbury | 2023 | ||
Faiths Lost and Found: Understanding Apostasy | Darton, Longman & Todd | 2023 | ||
Others: A Very Short Book About Beliefs | John Hunt Publishing | 2022 | ISBN 978-1119424383 | |
The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Peace | Blackwell | 2022 | ISBN 978-1803410685 | |
The Humble Church: Renewing the Body of Christ | SCM-Canterbury Press | 2021 | ISBN 978-1786223159 | |
The SPCK Handbook of the Study of Ministry | SPCK | 2019 | ISBN 9780281081363 | Edited with Ian Markham, Emma Percy and Francesca Po |
Reasonable Radical?: Reading the Writings of Martyn Percy | Pickwick Publications | 2018 | ISBN 9781532617836 | Edited by Ian Markham and Joshua Daniel |
Untamed Gospel: Poems, Prose and Protests | Canterbury Press | 2017 | ISBN 9781848259904 | Co-authored with Nigel Biggar, Jamie Coates, Jim Cotter, Sarah Foot, Carol Harrison, Sylvia Sands and Graham Ward |
Clergy, Culture and Ministry The dynamics of Roles and Relations in Church and Society | SCM Press | 2017 | ISBN 9780334056188 | Editor |
The Future Shapes of Anglicanism: Currents, Contours, Charts | Routledge | 2017 | ISBN 9781472477170 | |
The Oxford Handbook of Anglican Studies | Oxford University Press | 2015 | ISBN 9780199218561 | Edited with Mark Chapman and Sathianathan Clarke |
Curacies and How to Survive Them | SPCK | 2015 | ISBN 9780281073436 | Co-authored with Matthew Caminer and Beaumont Stevenson |
The Wisdom of the Spirit: Gospel, Church and Culture | Routledge | 2014 | ISBN 9781472435651 | Edited with Pete Ward |
The Bright Field: Meditations and Reflections for Ordinary Time | Canterbury Press | 2014 | ISBN 9781848256125 | Editor |
Anglicanism: Confidence, Commitment and Communion | Routledge | 2013 | ISBN 9781409470366 | |
Thirty Nine New Articles: An Anglican Landscape of Faith | Canterbury Press | 2013 | ISBN 9781848255258 | |
The Ecclesial Canopy: Faith, Hope, Charity (Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Empirical Theology) | Routledge | 2012 | ISBN 9781409441205 | |
A Point of Balance: The Weight and Measure of Anglicanism | Canterbury Press | 2011 | ISBN 9780819228444 | Edited with Robert Slocum |
Shaping the Church: The Promise of Implicit Theology | Routledge | 2010 | ISBN 9780754666059 | |
Apostolic Women, Apostolic Authority | Canterbury Press | 2010 | ISBN 9780819224507 | Edited with Christina Rees |
Christ and Culture: Communion After Lambeth | Canterbury Press | 2010 | ISBN 9780819227980 | Editor |
Evaluating Fresh Expressions | Canterbury Press | 2008 | ISBN 9781853118166 | Edited with Louise Nelstrop |
Darkness Yielding: Liturgies, Prayers and Reflections for Advent, Christmas, Lent, Holy Week and Easter | Canterbury Press | 2007 | ISBN 9781853118449 | Co-authored with Jim Cotter, Sylvia Sands, William Hubert Vanstone and Rowan Williams |
Clergy: The Origin of Species | Continuum International | 2006 | ISBN 9780826482877 | |
Why Liberal Churches are Growing | T&T Clark | 2006 | ISBN 9780567081636 | Edited with Ian Markham |
Engaging with Contemporary Culture: Christianity, Theology and the Concrete Church | Routledge | 2005 | ISBN 9780754632597 | |
The Character of Wisdom: Essays in Honour of Wesley Carr | Routledge | 2004 | ISBN 0754634183 | Edited with Stephen Lowe |
Fundamentalism, Church and Society | SPCK | 2002 | ISBN 0281051887 | Edited with Ian Jones |
The Salt of the Earth: Religious Resilience in a Secular Age | Continuum International | 2001 | ISBN 9781841270654 | Re-published in Bloomsbury Academic Collection (2016) |
Restoring the Image: Essays in Honour of David Martin | Sheffield Academic Press | 2001 | ISBN 1841270644 | Edited with Andrew Walker |
Previous Convictions: Conversion in the Present Day | SPCK | 2000 | ISBN 0281051801 | Editor |
Managing the Church? Order and Organisation in a Secular Age | Sheffield Academic Press | 2000 | ISBN 1841270628 | Edited with Gillian Evans |
Calling Time: Religion and Change at the Turn of the Millennium | Sheffield Academic Press | 2000 | ISBN 1841270636 | Editor; re-published in Bloomsbury Academic Collection (2016) |
Intimate Affairs: Sexuality and Spirituality in Perspective | Darton, Longman & Todd | 1997 | ISBN 0232522073 | Editor |
Power and the Church: Ecclesiology in an Age of Transition | Cassell | 1997 | ISBN 9781441113580 | |
Words, Wonders and Power: Understanding Contemporary Christian Fundamentalism and Revivalism | SPCK | 1996 | ISBN 9780281048557 |
Title | Publisher | Year | ISBN | Notes |
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‘Religion, Mobilisation and Power’ in The International Encyclopaedia of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Vol. 19 | Elsevier | 2001 | ISBN 9780080430768 | |
‘Whose Time is it Anyway? Evangelicals, the Millennium and Millenarianism' in Christian Millenarianism | Indiana University Press | 2001 | ISBN 9780253340139 | Edited by Stephen Hunt |
‘Falling Far Short: Taking Sin Seriously’ in Reinhold Niebuhr and Contemporary Politics | Oxford University Press | 2010 | ISBN 9780199571833 | Edited by Richard Harries and Stephen Platten |
‘The Future of Religion’ in the Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare | Oxford University Press | 2012 | ISBN 9780199571390 | Co-authored with Grace Davie, Edited by Mark R Cobb, Christina M Puchalski, and Bruce Rumbold |
‘Jazz and Anglican Spirituality’ in Christian Congregational Music: Performance, Identity, Experience | Routledge | 2013 | ISBN 9781409466024 | Edited by Monique Ingalls, Carolyn Landau & Tom Wagner |
‘The Anatomy of Fundamentalism’ in Fundamentalisms: Threats and Ideologies in the Modern World | I.B.Tauris | 2015 | ISBN 9781780769509 | Edited by James Dunn |
‘Protestantism’ in The Handbook of Christian Movements | Brill | 2015 | ISBN 9789004265394 | Edited by Stephan Hunt |
‘Class, Ethnicity and Education: Leadership, Congregations and the Sociology of Anglicanism’ in The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume IV: Global Western Anglicanism, c. 1910-present | Oxford University Press | 2017 | ISBN 9780199641406 | Edited by Jeremy Morris |
’The Household of Faith: Anglican Obliquity and the Lambeth Conference’ in The Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Communion | Bloomsbury | 2017 | ISBN 9780567662316 | Edited by Paul Avis and Benjamin Guyer |
‘Mood, Identity and Character in Anglican Congregations’ in Theologically-Engaged Anthropology | Oxford University Press | 2018 | ISBN 9780198797852 | Edited by J.Derrick Lemons |
‘A Critical Theology of Megachurches’ in Handbook of Megachurches | Brill | 2019 | ISBN 9789004399884 | Edited by Stephen Hunt |
‘Christmas in the Anglican Tradition’ in The Oxford Handbook of Christmas | Oxford University Press | 2020 | ISBN 9780198831464 | Edited by Timothy Larsen |
‘Bread and Honey: Social Flourishing and the Economics of Mutuality' in Putting Purpose into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality | Oxford University Press | 2021 | ISBN 9780198870708 | Edited by Colin Meyer & Bruno Roche |
“’The Myth of Impartiality: Moral Questioning in the BBC and the Church of England’” CRUCIBLE | SCM | 2022 | ISBN | Edited by Angela Tilby |
‘Crown, Constitution and Church: A Crisis for English Religion’” PROSPECT | London | 2022 | ISBN | Edited by Alan Rusbridger |
‘Moods, Memes, Mood and Music: Understanding Ecclesiology’ | Oxford University Press | 2023 | ISBN | Edited by Steve Guthrie & Bennett Zon |
Percy is the founding commissioning senior editor for three current book series with the publisher Routledge. The Explorations in Practical and Pastoral Theology Series (since 2002, with Jeff Astley, Leslie Francis and Nicola Slee – to date, 50 publications); the Contemporary Ecclesiology Series (since 2010 with Bruce Kaye and Tom Hughson SJ – to date, 20 publications); and the Congregational Music Studies Series (since 2016, with Monique Ingalls, Zoe Sherinian and Mark Porter – to date, 10 publications). From 2010-2014, Percy was commissioning series editor with Ian Markham for the Canterbury Press Studies in Anglicanism (comprising 7 edited volumes).
Using three different pseudonyms,[ specify ] Percy has also written other essays, papers, humour, articles, blog contributions and a number of shorter books.[ citation needed ]
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The traditional origins of Anglican doctrine are summarised in the Thirty-nine Articles (1571). The Archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, recognised as primus inter pares , but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside of the Church of England. Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional Anglican churches.
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the largest branches of Christianity, with around 110 million adherents worldwide as of 2001.
Arthur Michael Ramsey, Baron Ramsey of Canterbury, was an English Anglican bishop and life peer. He served as the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed on 31 May 1961 and held the office until 1974, having previously been appointed Bishop of Durham in 1952 and the Archbishop of York in 1956.
A dean, in an ecclesiastical context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and many Lutheran denominations. A dean's assistant is called a sub-dean.
Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village 5.5 miles (8.9 km) outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local ordained and lay ministry, through a wide range of flexible full-time and part-time programmes.
The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, frequently referred to as the Lambeth Quadrilateral or the Lambeth-Chicago Quadrilateral, is a four-point articulation of Anglican identity, often cited as encapsulating the fundamentals of the Anglican Communion's doctrine and as a reference point for ecumenical discussion with other Christian denominations. The four points are:
An open evangelical attempts to uphold evangelical doctrines, morality, and spirituality, while also being inclusive of others. It is a term which is commonly used in the United Kingdom in reference to both individuals and institutions.
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported 974 congregations and 122,450 members in 2021. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014.
Michael Francis Perham was a British Anglican bishop. From 2004 to 2014, he served as the Bishop of Gloucester in the Church of England.
Humphrey Ivo John Southern is a British Anglican bishop. From 2007 to 2015, he was Bishop of Repton, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Derby. In April 2015 he was appointed Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon, an Anglican theological college.
Steven John Lindsey Croft is a Church of England bishop and theologian specialising in mission. He has been Bishop of Oxford since the confirmation of his election on 6 July 2016. He was the Bishop of Sheffield from 2008 until 2016; previously he was Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions, a joint Church of England and Methodist initiative. He falls within the open evangelical tradition of Anglicanism.
Graham Kings is an English Church of England bishop, theologian and poet. In retirement in Cambridge, having served as Bishop of Sherborne and then Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion, he is an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Ely and Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, which he founded in 1996. His latest books are: Nourishing Connections , Nourishing Mission: Theological Settings , Exchange of Gifts: The Vision of Simon Barrington-Ward , edited with Ian Randall.
Modern Church is a charitable society promoting liberal Christian theology. It defends liberal positions on a wide range of issues including gender, sexuality, interfaith relations, religion and science, and biblical scholarship. In church affairs it supports the role of laity and women ministers. Members receive the journal Modern Believing and the newsletter Signs of the Times. A substantial account of its theology is Paul Badham’s The Contemporary Challenge of Modernist Theology. From 2011-2013 it published a series of short books introducing some of its themes. It has a large website. There is a regular annual conference. The theological principles behind its liberalism are that
Martyn James Snow is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2016, he has been the Bishop of Leicester. He previously served as Bishop of Tewkesbury from 2013 to 2016, and as Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham from 2010 to 2013.
Timothy John Dakin is a retired Anglican bishop. He was the general secretary of the Church Mission Society (CMS) and the South American Missionary Society (SAMS) prior to his consecration. He was appointed as Bishop of Winchester in 2011, and, as such became an ex officio member of the House of Lords. From 2013 he served as the Bishop for Higher and Further Education.
Jonathan Lee Draper is an American Anglican priest, theologian, and academic. Since 2017, he has been the general secretary of Modern Church. From 2012 to 2017, he was the dean of Exeter, at Exeter Cathedral in the Church of England Diocese of Exeter.
Helen-Ann Macleod Hartley is a British Anglican bishop and academic. She has been the Bishop of Ripon in the Church of England, an area bishop of the Diocese of Leeds, since 2018; and the Bishop-elect of Newcastle since 2022. She previously served as Bishop of Waikato in New Zealand from 2014 to 2017. She was the first woman to have trained as a priest in the Church of England to join the episcopate, and the third woman to become a bishop of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.
Evangelical Anglicanism or evangelical Episcopalianism is a tradition or church party within Anglicanism that shares affinity with broader evangelicalism. Evangelical Anglicans share with other evangelicals the attributes of "conversionism, activism, biblicism and crucicentrism" identified by historian David Bebbington as central to evangelical identity. The emergence of evangelical churchmanship can be traced back to the First Great Awakening in America and the Evangelical Revival in Britain in the 18th century. In the 20th century, prominent figures have included John Stott and J. I. Packer.
James Leslie Houlden was a British Anglican priest and academic. He served as Principal of Cuddesdon Theological College from 1970 to 1975, and then, after its amalgamation with Ripon Hall, Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon from 1975 to 1977. He then joined the staff of King's College, London, rising to become Professor of Theology between 1987 and 1994.
The Ven. Percy Hartill was an Anglican priest and author.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link)The prayer then, for all liberals in the third Millennium, is that we will continue to recover and rediscover the graciously liberal God