From the Revd Dr Jeremy Morris and 16 others
Sir, - The proposals contained in Resourcing Ministerial
Education are out for a second round of consultation. It is
clear that decisions of great importance - possibly decisive
importance - for the future of Anglican theological education
depend on the outcome of that consultation.
We the undersigned wish to express our great concern that,
should core funding from central funds disappear and be replaced
altogether with diocesan funding, a casualty will be the strong
links built up over many years with university theology and
religious studies departments, and that the public, intellectual
engagement of the Church of England with pressing contemporary
issues will suffer accordingly.
None of us disputes the importance of alternative modes of
educational delivery to the full-time residential one. Mixed-mode
and context-based training schemes, alongside part-time study, have
already contributed enormously to the development of new ways into
ordained as well as lay ministry, and there is no doubt that they
have much more to offer the Church in the future. The Church of
England needs a diversity of forms of theological education if it
truly desires a diversity of ordination candidates.
We are alert, too, to the differential costs of all these
various ways of pursuing study. Nor are we blind to the potential
that exists - though arguably it is severely underdeveloped - for
constructive relationships between university departments and the
newer forms of training.
But there is a particular advantage to the pursuit of
theological study in a full-time setting that can serve well the
deepest engagement possible with the challenges of contemporary
theology, and especially the development of an active research
culture. All of our universities have contributed significantly to
that in the past, and would hope to do so in the future. A key
element is the involvement of universities in the education of
clergy and laity, both through the contribution that academic staff
make to teaching and to debate in the wider Church, and through the
participation of students in graduate as well as undergraduate
courses.
It is essential that future proposals contain safeguards against
cost being the most important factor in determining an ordinand's
pathway of training and formation for ministry.
This will all be at risk if the present mode of supporting
students in colleges and courses is not sustained. We are
particularly concerned that shifting the burden of financial
support for students to sponsoring dioceses will widen the existing
disparities in educational provision across regions and dioceses,
undermine the selection of academically able, Church-sponsored
students for university study, and discourage diocesan boards of
finance from investing in what will inevitably look like a
higher-cost training route.
The Church of England has an impressive tradition, rooted in its
educational history, of being at the forefront of contemporary
theological scholarship. Is that all to come to an end? We strongly
support the maintenance of core, central funding for both academic
fees and maintenance, in order to protect the inclusion of
Church-sponsored students in university theological education.
JEREMY MORRIS, Master of Trinity Hall, University of
Cambridge
NIGEL BIGGAR, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology,
University of Oxford
SARAH FOOT, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University
of Oxford
ELAINE GRAHAM, Grosvenor Research Professor of Practical Theology,
University of Chester
DOUGLAS HEDLEY, Reader in Hermeneutics and Metaphysics, University
of Cambridge
CHRIS INSOLE, Professor of Philosophy of Religion, University of
Durham
DAVID LAW, Professor of Christian Thought and Philosophical
Theology, University of Manchester
DIARMAID MACCULLOCH, Professor of Church History, University of
Oxford
JUDITH MALTBY, Reader in Church History, University of
Oxford
DAVID MAXWELL, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History,
University of Cambridge
JOHN MILBANK, Professor in Religion, Politics and Ethics,
University of Nottingham
SIMON OLIVER, Nottingham University, and Van Mildert
Professor-elect, University of Durham
MARTYN PERCY, Dean of Christ Church, University of Oxford
CATHERINE PICKSTOCK, Reader in Philosophy and Theology, University
of Cambridge
BEN QUASH, Professor of Christianity and the Arts, King's College,
London
ALEC RYRIE, Professor of Church History, University of
Durham
GRAHAM WARD, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of
Oxford
Trinity Hall, Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TJ