This biographical article is written like a résumé .(March 2024) |
Robert S. Heaney | |
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Born | Robert Stewart Heaney 15 March 1972 Newry, Northern Ireland |
Nationality | British/Irish/USA |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Virginia Theological Seminary |
Robert Stewart Heaney (born 15 March 1972) is a theologian and Anglican priest ordained in the Church of Ireland. A faculty member of Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) since 2013,he is Professor of Theology and Mission. [1] From 2013 to 2020 he served as Director of VTS's Center for Anglican Communion Studies. [2] As a theologian of culture,Anglicanism,missiology,and postcolonialism he teaches,writes,and consults internationally on these and related matters. [3]
Heaney was born in Newry,Northern Ireland on March 15,1972. Educated at Kilkeel High School he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in theology from the London School of Theology and a Master of Theology from the University of Oxford. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in theology from the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy where he worked with James Corkery S.J. [4] and he holds a Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) in theology from the University of Oxford where he worked with Christopher Rowland. [5]
Heaney was ordained deacon in the Cathedral Church of St. Patrick,Trim,Dioceses of Meath and Kildare in 2001 and ordained priest in the Cathedral Church of St. Brigid in 2002. [6]
From 2007 to 2010,he was a Tutor in Doctrine,Regent's Park College,University of Oxford and then from 2010 to 2013 Senior Lecturer in the School of Theology and Religious Studies,St. John's University of Tanzania,Director of Postgraduate Studies and Research,St. John's University of Tanzania and a member of the Senior Management Team,St. John's University of Tanzania. [7]
In 2013,he became assistant professor of Christian Mission,Virginia Theological Seminary and was promoted to associate professor in 2015. [8] Since 2020,he has been Professor of Theology and Mission,Virginia Theological Seminary. [9]
In 2016,the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed Heaney to serve on the Design Group for the fifteenth Lambeth Conference (the decennial assembly of Anglican bishops from the Anglican Communion). [10] He facilitated the two most contentious “Lambeth Calls”for the conference,the Call on “Anglican Identity”and the Call on “Human Dignity.”
In 2016,Heaney was awarded the Susan B. Thomas Prize for commitment to excellence in education and the mission of the Episcopal Church and in 2022,he was awarded the Cross of St. Augustine for outstanding service to the Anglican Communion. [11]
He is married to theologian,Sharon Elizabeth Heaney and has one son. [12]
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Formally 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 which 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.
The Lambeth Conference convenes as the Archbishop of Canterbury summons an assembly of Anglican bishops every ten years. The first took place at Lambeth in 1867.
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The Continuing Anglican movement,also known as the Anglican Continuum,encompasses a number of Christian churches,principally based in North America,that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion.
Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS),formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia,located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria,Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States.
The Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings are regular meetings of the primates in the Anglican Communion,i.e. the principal archbishops or bishops of each ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion. There are currently 38 primates of the Anglican Communion. The primates come together from the geographic provinces around the world for discussion and consultation. As primus inter pares of the communion,the Archbishop of Canterbury chairs the meetings,with the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) serving as secretary.
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.
The Anglican Church of Tanzania is a province of the Anglican Communion based in Dodoma. It consists of 28 dioceses headed by their respective bishops. It seceded from the Province of East Africa in 1970,which it shared with Kenya. The current primate and archbishop is Maimbo Mndolwa,enthroned on 20 May 2018.
Kallistos Ware was an English bishop and theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1982,he held the titular bishopric of Diokleia in Phrygia,later made a titular metropolitan bishopric in 2007,under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. He was one of the best-known modern Eastern Orthodox hierarchs and theologians. From 1966 to 2001,he was Spalding Lecturer of Eastern Orthodox Studies at the University of Oxford.
Ian Stephen Markham is an Episcopal priest and the Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) since August 2007. Previously,he served at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut as Dean and Professor of Theology and Ethics.
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The Cross of St Augustine is an award of merit in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is awarded to members of the Anglican Communion who have made significant contributions to the life of the worldwide Communion,or to a particular autonomous church within Anglicanism. It is also awarded to members of other traditions who have made a conspicuous contribution to ecumenism. It is the second highest international award for service within Anglicanism.
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David B. Barrett was a British visiting professor at Columbia University,an Anglican priest,and research secretary for the Anglican Consultative Council.
Duncan James Dormor is a priest in the Church of England. Since January 2018,he has been the General Secretary of the United Society Partners in the Gospel,the Anglican mission agency founded in 1701. He was Dean of St John's College,Cambridge,from 2002 to 2017.
The fifteenth Lambeth Conference was an assembly of bishops of the Anglican Communion convened by the archbishop of Canterbury,Justin Welby,between 27 July and 7 August 2022. It was the first Lambeth Conference to be held since 2008.
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John Hewitt Rodgers Jr. (1930–2022) was an American Anglican theologian and bishop. The author of multiple commentaries on the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion,he was a founding faculty member at Trinity School for Ministry and served as its dean and president from 1978 to 1990. In 2000,he played a role in the global Anglican realignment when he was consecrated as a bishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda to oversee congregations in North America through the Anglican Mission in America.