St Michael's College

Andrew joined the staff in November 2006, to direct courses in Chaplaincy Studies and to develop a research centre focusing on the ministry of chaplains and the issues and theology with which they engage. Since June 2008, he has also been Director of the Cardiff Centre for Chaplaincy Studies. Before coming to St. Michael's, he was the Continuing Ministerial Education Officer for the Diocese of St.Edmundsbury and Ipswich and Sub-Dean of St. Edmundsbury Cathedral. Earlier in his ministry he was Chaplain of King Alfred's College, Winchester, and then Director of Studies and Vice-Principal of the East Anglian Ministerial Training Course. He is a past President of the Cambridge Theological Federation and Canon Emeritus of St.Edmundsbury Cathedral. With a broad background in theological education stretching back to 1991, Andrew enjoys the opportunity provided by his present post to engage thoroughly with Practical Theology in relation to chaplaincy, especially with issues relating to doing theology in secular, multi-cultural contexts. He recently successfully completed a PhD with Cardiff University, which was directed towards another key theological interest - hermeneutics. The research is a study of the way members of different Bible-study groups talk about the Bible.

Andrew is married to Catherine, an Anglican Priest, and they have three children. After spending much of his ministry in East Anglia, Andrew has welcomed a return to more mountainous territory and the walking possibilities it presents!

Andrew is a practical theologian, with the following particular interests:

• The hermeneutical dimension of practical theology
• Practical theology in dialogue with the social sciences, especially in relation to research methods
• Practical theology as public theology - addressing public agendas
• Practical theology in the context of professional development

These interests give rise to specific areas of research:

• Chaplaincy discourse and practice
• The issues raised by chaplaincy relating to religion, faith, spirituality and public life
• The interaction of theology and public policy
• Christian ethics in the public arena
• The practice of biblical interpretation
• Discourse Analysis - especially in relation to the interaction of authoritative and lay discourses

Publications:

Books

• In Press - Editor, Military Chaplaincy in Contention: Chaplains, Churches, and the Morality of Conflict (Ashgate)
• 1999 - With Michael West and Graham Noble Living Theology (Darton, Longman & Todd)
• 1997 - With Paul Oliver, Kate Lichfield & Martin Smith Tend my Flock: Good Practice in Pastoral Care (Diocese of Norwich)

Book Chapters

• 2011 - 'Responding to Diversity: Chaplaincy in a Multi-Faith Context', in ed. Miranda Threlfall-Holmes & Mark Newitt, Being a Chaplain (SPCK) 89-102
• 2010 - 'Negotiating Daniel's Masculinity: The Appropriation of Daniel's Dreams by Actual (rather than Ideal) Readers', in ed. Ovidiu Creangă, Men and Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond (Sheffield Phoenix Press) 212-232
• 2002 - 'Of Presbyters and Priests - An Anglican View' in ed.Esther Shreeve & Philip Luscombe, What is a Minister? (Epworth Press) 104-116

Articles, etc

• Forthcoming - 'The interaction of Talk and Text: Re-contextualising biblical interpretation', Practical Theology
• 2011 - 'Chaplaincy Leading Church in(to) the Public Square', Crucible: The Christian journal of social ethics, October-December issue: 7-15
• 2011 - With Lee Tipton, The Role and Contribution of a Multi-Faith Prison Chaplaincy to the Contemporary Prison Service, Research Report to the National Offender Management Service, available at: http://www.stmichaels.ac.uk/chaplaincy-studies-research-activity.php
• 2011 - Guest Editorial, 'Religion, chaplains, prisons and justice', Crucible: The Christian journal of social ethics, April-June issue: 3-6
• 2009 - 'Reflecting ethically with British Army Chaplains', The Review of Faith and International Affairs 7(4): 77-82
• 2008 - Guest Editorial, 'Military Chaplaincy Today', Crucible: The Christian journal of social ethics, Jan-March issue: 3-5
• 2007 - 'Engaging with trends in Chaplaincy: Living faith in other people's houses' The Journal of the Royal Army Chaplains Department 46: 6-9
• 2005 - 'Repertoires or Nodes? Constructing meanings in Bible-Study Groups' Journal of Applied Linguistics 4(2): 219-238
• 2000 - 'What is Theological about Theological Reflection?' in British Journal of Theological Education, 11(1): 35-45
• 1998 - 'Maintenance, Mission and MSE's' in Ministers-at-Work: the journal for Christians in secular ministry

Invited Conference Presentations, etc

• October 2012 - Panel Moderator, International Seminar on Military Chaplaincy, Directorate of Strategic Affairs, French MoD, Paris
• September 2012 - 'Research Serving Chaplaincy, Serving Healthcare', Lecture, College of Healthcare Chaplains Annual Conference
• September 2012 - 'Chaplaincy as an expression of the Church's Mission', Lecture, Anglican & Methodist HE Chaplains' Conference
• May 2012 - 'Chaplaincy Challenging the Church', Cumbria Theological Society, The Annual John Todd Memorial Lecture 2012
• April 2012 - 'The interaction of space, role and faith: A critical reflection on multi-faith prison chaplaincy spaces', Research Paper, Glasgow University Theology & Religious Studies Research Seminar
• March 2012 - 'Safe, Shared, Sacred and Symbolic: A Critical Reflection on Prison Chaplaincy Spaces', Plenary Presentation, international conference, Multi-Faith Spaces - Symptoms and Agents of Religious and Social Change, University of Manchester, available at: http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/architecture/research/mfs/conference2012/todd.htm
• March 2012 - 'Healthcare Chaplain: advocate for humanity or expert in spiritual care?', Presentation to Anglican Health Network Reference Group
• November 2011 - 'The Changing Role of Chaplaincy', Presentation, Religion in Health and Healing Research Project symposium, Heythrop College
• March 2010 - Workshop of international scholars to discuss 2012 AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme final conference, 'New Forms of Public Religion', convened by Prof. Linda Woodhead, London
• February 2010 - 'Ecclesiological & Theological Narratives in Chaplaincy', Presentation at consultation for senior Church of England Chaplains and Chaplaincy Co-ordinators, St. Georges' House, Windsor
• July 2009 - Guest Practical Theologian, Doctorate of Practical Theology Summer School (UK-wide Professional Doctorate programme)
• June 2009 - present Guest Lecturer to Royal Army Chaplains' Dept. on the ethical framework of military chaplaincy
• December 2008 - 'Military Chaplains and the Ethics of Conflict', as part of a Panel on 'God and War', BISA annual conference
• June 2008 - 'Practical Theology in the Public Arena: A critical reflection on the diversity agenda' - Lecture, College of Healthcare Chaplains annual conference
• May 2007 - 'Engaging with Trends in Chaplaincy' - Lecture to Anglican army chaplains, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst

Recent Academic Conference Papers

• September 2012 - 'Managing Spiritual Care? Contemporary Healthcare Chaplaincy and Public Policy', AHRC/ESRC Religion & Society Programme final conference, St. John's College, Cambridge
• July 2012 - 'Repatriation Rituals', British and Irish Association for Practical Theology conference, University of Chester
• April 2012 - 'The Irony of the “Neutral” Chaplain', BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group conference, University of Chester
• August 2011 - 'Writing up the Padre: the significance of chaplaincy studies for the narrativisation of military chaplaincy', European Consortium for Political Research, University of Iceland
• June 2011 - 'Chaplains as Cultural Translators', international conference on Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice, Cardiff University
• April 2011 - 'British Military Chaplains contributing to the practical ethics of war', British International Studies Association conference, University of Manchester
• April 2010 - 'Christianity in Multi-Faith Contexts: The particular case of chaplaincy', BSA Sociology of Religion Study Group Conference, University of Edinburgh
• March 2010 - 'Discourse Analysis and the re-contextualisation of biblical interpretation', Innovative Methods in the Study of Religion conference (sponsored by AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society/NORFACE Research Programme), London

Lee joined the Cardiff Centre for Chaplaincy Studies in 2010 as Post-Doctoral Research Assistant working with Revd. Dr. Andrew Todd on the NOMS prison chaplaincy project, and subsequent report. Prior to this he spent three years conducting a linguistic ethnography in a high security prison and probation hostel that resulted in his doctoral thesis.

Along with his role as a researcher Lee has been working as an English Language/Literature tutor in Higher Education for over six years. Since 2009 he has worked part-time as an Associate Lecturer for the Open University and prior to working in Higher Education he worked in Further Education as an Adult Literacy/ESOL tutor, and has worked in mental health.

Lee is an ethnographer with an interest in using ethnographic research methodologies as a lens for exploring and developing our understanding of how we generate meaning in everyday life. He is particularly interested in exploring the following:

• Relationships between language, identity, religion, spirituality and faith
• Notions of safe-unsafe space – how they are generated, sustained and the various purposes they serve
• Chaplaincy and the contribution/s it makes to the daily lives of those it serves

After initially training in Music and Chemistry at Keele University, including a Masters in Composition, John switched subjects to Theology in his late 20s. Completing a BA (first class) Honours at London School of Theology (LST, then known as London Bible College) he went on to study for a doctorate (awarded 2002) with John Goldingay, Hugh Williamson and Margaret Barker. He studied the relationship between the structure and rhetoric of Isaiah 40–55.

Prior to starting work at St Michael's in January 2013, he was a member of the faculty at LST for nearly a decade. As the Director of Open Learning, he ran a department of about a thousand students in the UK and >overseas. This included work with projects in Dhaka and Manila, helping to develop the former to the point where 200 Muslim-background converts were studying for BA and MA level qualifications, the latter validated by Middlesex university.

Directly after completing his undergraduate studies with LST, John and his family moved to Romania, where they lived for two years (1992–94). He taught music (history and harmony) and theology (Old Testament and Hebrew exegesis) in Romanian in a college formed within a year of the fall of communism in that country (December 1989). Living in a block of flats, the family experienced the Romanian life of trams, gas bottles (that run out on Christmas Day), hot water only on alternate days (at best), seasonal food, and creeping Westernisation.

Born and raised a Roman Catholic, John now finds a natural home within Evangelical Methodism. As a long-standing qualified local preacher he has lead and preached in many different locations. He has been pianist and service leader in virtually every church he has attended over the past four decades.

Though a specialist in Old Testament (and particularly the prophets), John maintains a keen interest in theological responses to the worlds of music and science. He is thus more of an applied theologian these days, but one very concerned to bring biblical perspectives to bear on issues of contemporary concern. He enjoys the diversity and stimulation of a varied lecturing life that is equally at home with discussions about the challenges to patriarchy in Genesis 2, Ecclesiastes as the chameleon, rehabilitating paedophiles, morality in Harry Potter or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mahler as the symphonist of death, and Eminem as a poet of lament.

He is currently General Editor of Evangelical Quarterly, and an external examiner for Roehampton and Winchester Universities. He welcomes applicants for research in any of the following areas:

• Old Testament Prophets
• Old Testament Theology
• Old Testament Hermeneutics
• Male Identity and Heterosexuality
• Theological Response to Music
• The use of Music within Worship