Revd Dr Alan Bartlett

Alan was appointed tutor in Church History, Spirituality and Anglican Studies in February 1996 and remained on the College staff until October 2008. During this time he was also Programme Director for the newly-started MA in Theology and Ministry and DMin programmes and taught for the Dept of Theology and Religion. His appointment to teach ‘Anglican Studies’ was a new departure for Cranmer Hall, and indeed for a Church of England theological college. It marked St John’s College’s serious commitment to enriching and articulating its Anglican ethos.

Alan is the author of a key book on Anglican identity and spirituality, A Passionate Balance (published by DLT in 2007). He has written a number of articles on Anglican history and ecclesiology and served as a board member for Anvil. He has particular expertise in the study of Richard Hooker, though he also ranges more widely through Classic Anglicanism (Anglicanism of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries).

Alan has also published Humane Christianity (DLT 2004), based on the Durham Cathedral Lent Lectures in 2002, which offered a method for bringing the resources of historic Christian spirituality into intelligent and honest conversation with the needs and values of the modern Church. He co-authored a book (with the Revd Dr Roger Walton at the Wesley Study Centre and Fr Chris Hughes at Ushaw College) on Practical Theology, Real God, Real World, published by SPCK in 2009. This book includes a chapter exploring an ‘Anglican Practical Theology’.

Alan is Vicar of St Giles’ Parish in Durham City and Priest in Charge of Sherburn and Shadforth. He continues to teach in College – an MATM module, ‘Issues of Authority in Anglicanism’ – and more widely and supervises for the DThM programme. He is married to Helen, who works for Railway Mission as a Chaplain. They have two grown up children.