Durham News

Congratulations to Revd Dr David Wilkinson on being awarded a professorship at Durham University. David (currently Principal of St John's College Durham) was one of our lecturers in the 2009 St Wilfrid's Lecture series at Ripon Cathedral - and has the distinction of being the person who introduced me to Gavin and Stacey! Those who listen to the Today programme on Radio 4 hear him regularly in the Thought for the Day slot. An astro physicist and theologian, he wrote God, the Universe and Everything; 42 Days Through Faith and Popular Culture  Epworth Press, London 2007 (42 of course being the answer to everything!) and, most recently, has written Christian Eschatology and the Physical Universe, Continuum, London 2010.

Congratulations, too, to the Revd Mark Tanner who has been appointed Warden of Cranmer Hall Theological College in Durham. Yes, you thought Mark was Vicar of Holy Trinity Ripon? Well so did I until a week or two ago! We shall be very sorry to lose him from Holy Trinity, as Area Dean of Ripon and OCM and from the archdeaconry. You can read about his new post at 
http://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/johns/cranmer/pressrelease.docx 
or see the Cranmer Hall website at
http://www.dur.ac.uk/cranmerhall/

Durham is an exciting place to train for ministry or study theology. Professor John Drane wrote of the Theology and Ministry courses taught through the Department of Theology at Durham University, 'This is one of the most sophisticated professional degree schemes I have come across anywhere in the world. There is no doubt this programme is at the cutting edge of its subject.'

You can read about the St Wilfrid Lectures at Ripon Cathedral for 2011 and see the scripts for past ones at http://www.riponcathedral.org.uk/ - put 'St Wilfrid Lectures' in the search box. There is an excellent line up of speakers again for this third year of the series. Don't miss it!