St Michael's College

Canon Dr. Peter Sedgwick became Principal and Warden of St.Michael's College Llandaff in Easter 2004. He was ordained deacon in the Church of England, in 1974, after training at Westcott House, Cambridge, and became a priest in 1975. He was a curate in East London from 1974-77, an incumbent (in charge of a parish) in Co Durham from 1977- 79, and an assistant priest in Birmingham from 1979-1982. From 1982- 88 he was Theological Consultant to the North East churches, covering all denominations from Middlesborough to the Scottish border. He was involved in many issues such as the 1984 miner's strike; the introduction of IVF treatment in hospitals; the disputes around the theology of Bishop David Jenkins on the Resurrection; and the ecumenical relations between the churches.

His academic life began in 1967 when he studied history at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, for a BA degree, followed by a year at Keble College, Oxford studying religion, foreign policy and public opinion in the United States during the 1930s. He then returned to Cambridge where he took a second degree in theology while training for ordination. In 1977 he began studying at Durham University for a PhD in theology and moral philosophy, which was awarded in 1983. He lectured in modern theology and ethics at the University of Birmingham from 1979-82, and was Course Director at the University of Hull for the MA in Theology and Society from 1988-94. He became a life fellow of the Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton, New Jersey in 1991, and was also awarded a Fulbright scholarship for six month's sabbatical at Princeton. In 1994-5 he was Vice Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge. He has been external examiner at several university departments of theology, including Birmingham, Leeds and Heythrop College, London, and has also examined many doctorates.

Peter Sedgwick has served on many boards and committees of the Church of England dealing with ecumenism, theological training and social policy, and in 1996 he went to work full time for the central offices of the Church of England. He was their policy officer for home affairs from 1996-2004, where he was the link between the Church of England and the Government on mental health, criminal justice and drugs. He also founded and chaired the ecumenical body Churches' Criminal Justice Forum in 2002 , which has worked both with the Home Office and the Prison Service in promoting and coordinating voluntary action in the criminal justice system. In 2004 he returned to academic life as Principal of St.Michael's College, Llandaff. He was Dean of the Faculty of Religious and Theological Studies at Cardiff University from 2005-8, and was Moderator for Church and Society in Churches Together in Britain and Ireland from 2007- 10. He currently is Ministry Officer for the Church in Wales from 2005, and serves on the Doctrine Commission of that church as well.

He edited the journal of Christian social ethics called Crucible from 1998- 2009 and has written or edited about a dozen books, including studies of mission, the church in the city, and social ethics. Current articles over the last three years include an essay in an international symposium on the relation of the political philosophy of John Rawls to religious social thought. ; the formation of ordinands and contemporary ministry; and Anglican theology from Michael Ramsey to Rowan Williams.

Peter Sedgwick supervises three PhD students looking at prison, military and hospital chaplaincy. . He teaches one B Th module on Anglicanism, one on social ethics in the BA, and another module on ethics in the M Th in Chaplaincy.

Peter Sedgwick has degrees in history and theology from Cambridge University, and a doctorate in theology and moral philosophy from Durham University. He has published Mission Impossible: A Theology of the Local Church (Collins, 1990); The Enterprise Culture (SPCK, 1992); The Market Economy and Christian Ethics (Cambridge, 1999); and (with Andrew Britton) Economic Theory and Christian Belief (Peter Lang, 2003), as well as editing five collections of essays on topics ranging from the future of liberal theology, through urban and social theology, to criminal justice. He has published many articles on these subjects in British and Continental journals. A German translation of Economic Theory and Christian Belief was launched at the Kirchentag in Bremen in 2009. The translation was commissioned by the social research department of the German Protestant Church (E.K.D.)

He currently works in five areas:

Contemporary social Issues

• Criminal Justice, including editing the collection Rethinking Sentencing (Church House Publishing, 2004)

• Social Ethics, including articles on John Rawls ( 2009); Richard Layard ( forthcoming, 2010) Globalization in The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology (2003), edited by Peter Scott; and 'Wohlfahrstaat, (Welfare State) Theologische Realenzyklopädie, (2002)

• Economics and Theology, with the publication of Economic Theory and Christian Belief (Peter Lang, 2003: German edition, 2009) with Andrew Britton. Andrew Britton is a former director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research.

Anglican theology, past and present

• Modern Anglican Theology, with an article in 2005 on Anglican theology from Austin Farrer to Rowan Williams in the third edition of The Modern Theologians edited by Professor David Ford

• Richard Hooker and Anglican social ethics

Stephen joined the staff at St Michaels in January 2006 following eighteen years in parochial ministry. After a career in the oil industry as a geologist he was ordained in the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon and served two curacies in Swansea. His first incumbency took him to five rural parishes in Peterborough Diocese and, after six years, a second incumbency in the suburban parish of Abington, Northampton. Stephen has a deep understanding of Anglican life and structures after serving as Rural Dean of Northampton, a member of Bishop’s Council and the Diocesan Board of Finance.

Stephen greatly values the call to return to his native Wales and his work at St Michaels involves development of both the Initial Ministerial Education programme (IME4-7) for Curates and the Continuing Ministerial Development (CMD) programme for all clergy. In this work he enjoys collaborating with a wide variety of Diocesan Officers across Wales and sees such collaborative work as fundamental to the vocation of ministry. Within the life of the College, Stephen is a personal tutor and organises placements for all students.

At present Stephen is working on a Professional Doctorate (DProf) with Chester University and his research is focussed on the practice of ministry within the Church in Wales. He is energised by the creative synergy between this research and his field of work and is looking forward to producing material which will be of use to those engaged in ministry across Wales.

Stephen is married to Amy and they have four grown-up children. They recently became proud grandparents to Morgan and Isla and love spending time with their family. Stephen is a keen touring cyclist, frequently cycling the Taff Trail from his home in Pontypridd to College. He completed the journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2004 and recently cycled the route from Holyhead to Cardiff Bay with his two younger daughters. He and Amy are proud owners of a tandem and, having spent much of the last four years learning Welsh together, they frequently practise while cycling together.

Stephen is currently working for a Professional Doctorate (DProf) with Chester University. His research is focussed on the contemporary practice of ordained ministry within the Church in Wales and he is particularly interested in the following questions

• How can senior church leaders develop, deploy and encourage the leadership skills of those engaged in ministry?
• What will help these ministers to live faithfully in response to their sense of vocation and calling and how can they in turn encourage their congregations to live lives of faithful discipleship?
• What part do the emerging ministries of lay people have to contribute to a vision of truly collaborative expressions of ministry?
• In what ways do the organisational dynamics of much church life contribute to a sense of frustration?
• How might an understanding of the Missio Dei give a sense of purpose to the church's ministers and direction to the Church’s engagement with communities across Wales?

from April 2013

Luke is the director of the Methodist Church in Wales Training Network and is responsible for a team of staff who deliver a wide range of formal and informal learning and development opportunities for individuals and local churches throughout Wales. He also acts as the Oversight Tutor for Methodist student ministers in Wales and is seconded for one day a week to help run the St Michael’s non-residential course. Luke teaches on both the residential and non-residential BTh courses in the areas of practical theology, pastoral care and the sociology/psychology of religion and the MTh in Chaplaincy studies where he is the tutor for the specialist school chaplains modules.

Prior to his current role, Luke was the Training and Development Officer for the Methodist Church in South Wales, he has worked as a policy officer for the British Methodist Church and is a qualified youth and community worker. Luke is married to a primary school teacher and has a young daughter.

Luke serves on the British Methodist Church’s Faith and Order Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee of the World Methodist Council.

Luke is currently completing the Doctor of Education Programme at Bristol University.

He has recently co-edited a book about Methodist Identity (Methodist Present Potential) and is currently working on the theological material for a major report on the Methodist Church's involvement in Education.

Manon is the Rector of Llanddulas and Llysfaen (near Colwyn Bay) and Bishop's Adviser for Ministry as well as Tutor for the Non Residential Course in St Asaph diocese. She is married to Dylan, senior accountant at Bangor University, is mother to Miriam and Catrin and wicked stepmother to Harri. Since ordination to the diaconate in 1994 she has held a variety of ministry and training diocesan posts, as well as parish posts in different contexts across North Wales. She was amongst the first women ordained priest in the Church in Wales in 1997 and is a fluent Welsh speaker.

As well as being the first point of contact for ministry students in the diocese she is also Director of the Exploring Faith course. She has also taught Practical Theology as well as the Core Skills subjects Worship and Preaching, and Helping Adults Learn. Her school assemblies have been published in Seal Assemblies for Primary Schools and Primary School Assemblies for Religious Festivals, published by SPCK and she is a regular contributor to the assemblies.org.uk website. Several of her poems have also been published in a variety of magazines and journals including Poetry Wales.

Manon has a degree in Humanities (mainly Religious Studies, Sociology and Women's Studies) from the University of Glamorgan, and in Theology from Cambridge University. An interest in experiential learning led her to study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Adult Education and Theological Reflection at Chester University. She is currently in the final stages of a PhD investigating the role religion plays in constructing Welsh women's identity. The thesis has enabled her to explore an interest in contextual theology, feminist practical theology as well as poetry and other forms of writing as theological reflection. She is hoping that her conclusions will offer some analysis of the context for the ministry and mission of the churches in Wales as well as suggestions for future strategies.

She has contributed a chapter entitled Fat Chicks, Blue Books and Green Valleys: Identity, Women and Religion in Wales to the forthcoming The Faith Lives of Women and Girls edited by Nicola Slee, Fran Porter, Anne Philips and published by Ashgate.

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

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

Dr Yates has been Postgraduate Manager in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter for the last eight years. She has also been a lecturer at Lampeter in church history, with her focus being on religion, education and politics in the nineteenth century. She is currently working on research into the dynamics of educational reform in England, Wales and Scotland in the nineteenth century. She has also had a background in political life, and was Leader of Maidstone District council from 1985-1992. Dr Yates is an expert at delivering adult education, especially in distance learning, and has worked closely with a number of university departments and dioceses in the last decade. She has been a lifelong member of the Anglican Church and has been involved in parish church councils for many years.

Paula brings a variety of experience to her role as Dean of Non-Residential training at St Michael's. She moved to the college from the University of Wales, Lampeter (now the University of Wales, Trinity St David), where she had been for the previous ten years, first as a postgraduate student and then as a member of staff in the theology department. In 2002 she was brought in to set up procedures for the effective management of the department's rapidly growing portfolio of distance learning taught master's degrees and to manage the taught and research postgraduate degree programmes for the department. During this time she completed her doctorate on the role of the established church in Welsh elementary schooling between 1780 and 1830. She became a lecturer in church history at Lampeter in 2009.

Before coming to Wales, Paula had been actively engaged in politics in a number of different roles. She was a council leader for five years, stood for parliament and for the European parliament and worked for a time as constituency organiser for an MP.

Before that she had been a full time mother to her four children and whenever she has the time she likes to visit them and their families in England and Sweden.

Paula's research interests lie in the area of modern church history, particularly:

• the interaction of religion and politics and the changing role of religion in public life over the last three centuries
• interdenominational relations in the long nineteenth century
• establishment, disestablishment and the growth of denominational and religious pluralism
• education and the churches in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

She is currently working on a contribution on religion and educational reform in England, Wales and Scotland for the fourth in a series of volumes on The Dynamics of Religious Reform in Church, State and Society in Northern Europe, 1780-1920, being published by Leuven University Press. She is a member of the editorial board of the series and has co-edited the second volume, on internal church reform, with Professor Joris van Eijnatten of the University of Utrecht.

Her research plans include:

• a study of education as a focus of conflict between the established church and nonconformity in England and Wales in the early nineteenth century
• working with a colleague on a study of the growth of religious diversity in England and Wales in the long nineteenth century

Publications

• 'Drawing Up the Battle Lines: Elementary Schooling in the Diocese of Bangor in the Second Decade of the Nineteenth Century' in Nigel Yates (ed) Bishop Burgess and His World: Culture Religion and Society in Britain, Europe and North America in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, University of Wales Press, Cardiff 2007, pp. 135-44
• 'The Dynamics of Religious Reform in Church, State and Society in Northern Europe, 1780-1929. Vol 2:' The Churches, (ed. with Prof Joris van Eijnatten), Leuven University Press, Leuven 2010
• 'Episcopal Leadership and Parish Life: Two Case Studies' in Theo Clemens (ed.) Transactions of the Anglo-Dutch Church History Conference (draft title) forthcoming
• 'Sunday Schools and Welsh National Identity; a Historiographical Study' in Frances Knight, Stuart J. Brown and John Morgan Guy (eds) Religion and Culture in Britain: Conflict and Conversation from the Restoration to the Twentieth Century, Ashgate, forthcoming.