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Gavin Ashenden

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Right Reverend
Gavin Ashenden
Born
Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden

(1954-06-03) June 3, 1954 (age 70)
ChurchChristian Episcopal Church
Ordained1980 (Church of England)
Websiteashenden.org

Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden (born 1954) is a former British Anglican clergyman. He was a Chaplain to the Queen from 2008 until his resignation in 2017. He was ordained in the Church of England, but left it in 2017. In that year he was consecrated a missionary bishop by the Christian Episcopal Church, a continuing Anglican jurisdiction outside of the Anglican Communion.[1]. He is set to be received into the Catholic Church on the fourth Sunday of Advent, 22 December, in 2019.

Education

Ashenden was educated at Rokeby Preparatory School and as a music scholar at The King's School, Canterbury. He graduated from the University of Bristol, with a degree in Law, and trained for the Anglican priesthood at Oak Hill Theological College, where he read for a B.A. in Theology. Whilst at Oak Hill he was also sent as part of his training to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal Stavropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist[2] in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex,[3] where he came under the influence[clarification needed] of the Abbot, Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov).[citation needed]

He completed postgraduate work with the Jesuits at Heythrop College of the University of London with an M.Th. the Psychology of Religion. Whilst chaplain and member of faculty at the University of Sussex completed a doctorate on the life and work of Charles Williams(1999). He published Alchemy and Integration, a study of Williams' work in 2007, which was reviewed by the Rt Rev'd Rowan Williams[4] in the Times Literary Supplement.[5]

Posts in the church and university

He was ordained in Southwark Cathedral in 1980 and served as a parish priest for ten years in the Diocese of Southwark; firstly at St James, Bermondsey,[6] and then as Vicar of Hamsey Green in Sanderstead.[7] In Sanderstead he worked alongside Thomas Smail who had been director of the Fountain Trust.

In 1989 he was appointed to the post of University Chaplain and senior lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Sussex where he lectured in Literature and the Psychology of Religion. He was appointed a 'Senior Officer' of the University in 1994. He convened and taught the M.A. Programme 'Monotheism and Mysticism in Critical Theology. From 1995-2003 he also lectured in Systematic Theology at the University of Brighton.

He was appointed as a canon of Chichester Cathedral in 2003, and then to a further theological canonry (Bursalis Prebendary) in 2006. He was an Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Chichester, and Diocesan Advisor on New Age Religions.

In 1998 he was a Church of England delegate to the 8th Council of the World Council of Churches held in Harare, Zimbabwe. He was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England for from 1995-2012. He has lectured in the United States, most recently as a visiting theologian for the Lutheran Church in Oregon.[8]

In 2012 he took early retirement and moved to a House for Duty post as vicar of St Martin de Gouray in Gorey, Jersey.[9]

Journalism

In 2008 he was appointed to be the presenter of the Faith and Ethics programme for BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey, until 2012.[10] From 2009 to 2012 he also presented the BBC podcast Faith in England.[11]

In 2013 he began a weekly column in the Jersey Evening Post, 2013, where his defence of orthodox Christianity and its critique of modern culture caused both strong support and opposition.[12]

He is a contributor to Anglican Ink[13] and a regular contributor to Anglican TV[14]

Other appointments

He was Vice Chairman of The Keston Institute during the 1980s,[15] and a Director of Aid to Russian Christians,[16] in which role he engaged in smuggling Bibles and medicine to the Underground Church in the Soviet Union during that decade.

He is a member of the Society of the Holy Cross, and was previously a member of the Little Brothers of Jesus.[17] He was previously a member of Forward in Faith. He combines the experience of and allegiance to the Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical and Charismatic strands of the Church of England.

In 2016 Ashenden was appointed to the Board of Reference for Global Anglican Future Conference[18][19] He also joined Anglican TV Ministries as their UK correspondent.[20]

Resignation from the royal ecclesiastical household

In early 2017 Ashenden resigned from his position as chaplain after speaking out against a service at St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow in which the Koran was read and because of his views on Islam and orthodox Christianity.[21] Ashenden concluded that being a member of the Ecclesiastical Household[22][circular reference] meant he could not "speak out on matters he felt strongly about"[citation needed] and that it was his duty and calling to speak on issues relating to the integrity of the Christian faith.[23]

One of the consequences of his resignation was a variety of media engagements in several countries, including Fox News in the United States,[24]' The Bolt Report in Australia,[25] and James Delingpole's Delingpole Podcast in the UK.[26]

Ashenden has written on Russian Orthodox spirituality, 'A Guidebook to the Spiritual Life', (ed. P.Toon),[27] The Oxford Inklings,[28] and C.S Lewis, 'Persona and Paradox'[29]

On 17 March 2017 Ashenden lodged a deed in the High Court of London under the Clerical Disabilities Act 1870, to relinquish his orders within the Church of England.[30]

Consecration as Missionary Bishop

In September 2017 it was announced by Archbishop Theodore Casimes that Ashenden had been consecrated as a missionary bishop in the UK and Europe by the Christian Episcopal Church.[31]

Media

He has been interviewed frequently since in the mainstream media. Following the Royal Wedding in 2018, Rod Liddle interviewed him in the Sunday Times over the controversy surrounding Bishop Curry's sermon.[32] BBC 2's Newsnight took up the issue when the Archbishop of Canterbury raised questions about God and gender.[33] John Anderson, formerly deputy prime minister of Australia conducted an in depth interview on the dangers to freedom of speech in his series 'conversations'.[34] Ashenden has contributed Op Ed pieces in both the Times and the Daily Telegraph. [35] He publishes homilies, articles and commentary at ashenden.org.[36]

Conversion to Roman Catholicism

On the fourth Sunday of Advent 2019, Ashenden will be received into the Roman Catholic Church by Bishop Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury in Shrewsbury Cathedral. [37]

Styles

References

  1. ^ "ASHENDEN, Dr Gavin Roy Pelham". Who's Who. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  2. ^ "Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain - Monastery of St. John the Baptist". thyateira.org.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  3. ^ http://www.thyateira.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=373&Itemid=1
  4. ^ "Rowan Williams in the TLS on Gavin Ashenden's work 'Alchemy and Integration". ashenden.org. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  5. ^ Ashenden, Gavin (1 November 2007). "Charles Williams: Alchemy and Integration". The Kent State University Press. Retrieved 16 April 2017 – via Amazon.
  6. ^ "St James Church, Bermondsey". godlovesbermondsey.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Sanderstead Team Ministry - The Diocese of Southwark". anglican.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Faith Dialogues at Saint Mark - Saint Mark Lutheran Church". stmarksalem.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Home". gouraychurch.com. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2017-02-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "BBC Radio Sheffield". facebook.com. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Freedom of Expression Series « Jersey Evening Post". jerseyeveningpost.com. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  13. ^ "Anglican Ink Author Biographies -- Gavin Ashenden". Anglican Ink. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  14. ^ "Anglican TV". Retrieved 22 May 2017.
  15. ^ "Keston Institute : Resources For The Studies of Communist Countries and Religious Affairs". keston.org.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  16. ^ International, Center for Civil Society. "Aid to Russian Christians". friends-partners.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  17. ^ Ashenden, Gavin. "About". ashenden.org. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  18. ^ "GAFCON UK Panel of Reference named - Anglican Mainstream". anglicanmainstream.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  19. ^ "About GAFCON UK - GAFCON UK". gafconuk.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  20. ^ "AnglicanTV Ministries". youtube.com. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  21. ^ "An interview with Fox News – USA". ashenden.org. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  22. ^ Ecclesiastical Household
  23. ^ Turner, Camilla (22 January 2017). "Queen's chaplain resigns over cathedral Koran reading row saying he has a 'duty' to defend Christianity". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  24. ^ Fox News (26 January 2017). "Reverend resigns after Quran is read in Christian church". Retrieved 16 April 2017 – via YouTube.
  25. ^ "The Bolt Report (@theboltreport) - Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  26. ^ Delingpole, James. "Gavin Ashenden - Delingpole with James Delingpole". podcastone.com. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  27. ^ "A Guidebook to the spiritual life". worldcat.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  28. ^ http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/58168
  29. ^ http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/59941
  30. ^ "As Gavin Ashenden leaves the Church of England, the Ordinariate circles like a vulture". archbishopcranmer.com. 18 March 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  31. ^ "Former Queen's Chaplain Consecrated Missionary Bishop to Anglicans in UK and Europe". Virtue Online. Retrieved 2017-09-29.
  32. ^ https://videopress.com/v/GnyZq1Ga
  33. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDQX8zAVxQo
  34. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU6dArMCB5o
  35. ^ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/06/terrible-error-judgment-justin-welby-publicly-embrace-eu-utopianism/
  36. ^ https://ashenden.org
  37. ^ https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/anglican-bishop-and-queens-chaplain-converts-to-catholicism
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