Martyn Percy

The Very Revd Martyn Percy
Dean of Christ Church
Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of Oxford
Appointed	4 October 2014
Predecessor	Christopher Lewis
Other posts	Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon (2004–2014)
Orders
Ordination	1990 (deacon) 1991 (priest)
Personal details
Birth name	Martyn William Percy
Born	(1962-07-31) 31 July 1962
Spouse	Emma Percy
Education	Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Alma mater	University of Bristol University of Durham King's College London University of Sheffield

Martyn William Percy (born 31 July 1962) is a Church of England priest and academic. He has been the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, since October 2014 and was previously Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford.

Percy is also Professor of Theological Education at King's College London and Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Hartford Seminary, Connecticut. He is an emeritus canon of Salisbury Cathedral, having previously served as an honorary canon. He has also been an honorary canon, serving later as canon theologian, at Sheffield Cathedral.

Percy's theology is generally considered to represent the liberal Christian tradition within the Church of England. His academic writing and research has mostly centred on the study of Christianity in contemporary culture, with interests spanning Anglicanism, theological education, pastoral theology, practical theology and modern ecclesiology.

Early life and education

Percy was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, the University of Bristol (BA), the University of Durham (Cert. Counselling), King's College London (PhD, 1993) and the University of Sheffield (MEd). After a short career in publishing (1984–88), he trained for ordination at Durham.

Ordained ministry

Percy served as a curate at St Andrew’s, Bedford (1990–94), and was then appointed Chaplain and Director of Studies, Christ’s College, Cambridge. In 1997 he was appointed as the Founding Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute – a research and consultancy body specialising in faith and society (initially based at Sheffield University, but is now a research centre within Manchester University). He left in 2004 to become principal at Cuddesdon.

Cuddesdon

Ripon College Cuddesdon developed significantly from 2004 during Percy's tenure as principal: it incorporated the Oxford Ministry Course (OMC) in 2006 and the West of England Ministerial Training Course (WEMTC) in 2011, making it the largest provider of Anglican ordination training in the UK. The college became internationally more active during Percy's period as principal: it works closely with the Anglican Church in Hong Kong and continues to have links with Anglican colleges in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. During Percy's time at Cuddesdon, the college moved from a distinctively liberal Catholic ethos and progressively to the broader centre ground of Anglicanism, welcoming ordinands from across the ecclesial spectrum, thereby reclaiming the "non-party" ethos that Samuel Wilberforce had founded the college with in 1854.

Dean of Christ Church

It was announced on 7 May 2014 that Percy would become the 45th Dean of Christ Church in Oxford. This made him (currently) the youngest Head of House in Oxford (excluding heads of Permanent Private Halls and graduate colleges). He was the first dean to be democratically elected by the governing body, and was inducted into the deanship on 4 October 2014. Christ Church is the only academic institution in the world which is also a cathedral – being the seat of the Bishop of Oxford. In common with other cathedral deans, Percy, as Dean of Christ Church, is the senior priest of the Diocese of Oxford.

Percy is also the Patron of St Francis' Children's Society (an Adoption and Fostering Agency with a Roman Catholic foundation), a governor of Christ Church Cathedral School, Westminster School and St Edward's School, Oxford, a trustee of the Grubb Institute, Gladstone's Library (Harwarden) and the Li Tim-Oi Foundation.

Theology

As a vice-president of Modern Church, Percy is often described as a leading proponent of liberal theology in the United Kingdom. He has written extensively on theological issues, especially on Anglicanism, but also on fundamentalism and revivalism, for which he is noted for engaging with sociology and anthropology. He also writes noted devotional material and there are a number of publications featuring his sermons, meditations and reflections. He was described in the academic journal Theology, by Nigel Rooms, as the British theologian who is the closest to being a "missionary anthropologist". He has been a regular contributor to The Guardian, BBC Radio Four and the BBC World Service.

In 2002, Percy co-founded the Society for the Study of Anglicanism with Tom Hughson SJ, which meets annually at the American Academy of Religion and is now in a full partnership with Virginia Theological Seminary. Percy has been a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford since 2004. From 2014 he has also taught for the Said Business School and for the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford.

Views

Church leadership

Percy has been critical of Justin Welby's leadership as Archbishop of Canterbury, in particular his managerial approach. Percy described Welby's plans to send senior clergy on leadership courses, contained in the 2014 report of the Lord Green Steering Group, as showing a poor judgment of the church's priorities and lacking in theological understanding. He went on to say that Welby's targets for efficiency and growth were not reflective of the Christian mission, given that Jesus "didn't spend a lot of time going on about success".

LGBTI rights

In an essay published in December 2015, Percy outlined his views on homosexuality, questioning the Church of England's current teaching that it is sinful and unnatural. Regarding the controversy surrounding the issue in the Anglican Communion, he noted that the church's position has alienated an increasingly progressive country, particularly the younger generation of Christians in Britain; he also called on Justin Welby to formally apologise for the church's role in introducing homophobic teachings to cultures across the British Empire, during the 19th century:

In 41 of the 53 countries within the British Commonwealth, homosexual conduct is still regarded as a serious crime. This categorisation and legal stigmatisation of homosexuality was largely ‘made in England’ in the nineteenth century, and imposed on cultures and emerging countries and that had not been, hitherto, homophobic. This is one of England’s less wholesome exports. The Archbishop of Canterbury could begin the Primates’ meeting by accepting responsibility for the part the Church of England has played in perpetrating this discrimination and the subsequent injustices – and publicly repenting of them.

— Sex, Sense and Non-Sense for Anglicans, p. 4

In January 2016, just days before the commencement of the Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings, Percy joined with over 100 other senior Anglicans, including Alan Wilson (Bishop of Buckingham) and David Ison (Dean of St Paul's), in calling on Archbishops Welby and Sentamu to acknowledge the failings of the Anglican Communion in its treatment of LGBTI people.

Women bishops

Following the General Synod's narrow rejection of a motion to legalise the ordination of women as bishops in November 2012, Percy wrote in the Daily Telegraph, criticising church leaders for failing to create sufficient consensus about the issue. He described the view of opponents to the motion as maintaining a "conceit of modern times" by their fundamentalist rejection of diversity. He also voiced the need for the church to be "transformed by the renewal of our minds" in its approach to the inclusion of women in the Anglican Communion, by moving towards a "new future".

Personal life

Percy has the distinction of being the only living theologian mentioned and quoted in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code (chapter 55), where Sir Leigh Teabing (played by Ian McKellen in the 2006 film adaption) says, "Everything you need to know about the Bible can be summed up by the great canon doctor Martyn Percy: 'The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.' "

Percy is married to the Revd Emma Percy, who is chaplain and fellow at Trinity College, Oxford, and together they have two sons. He is a member of the Labour Party, a teetotaler and a life-long supporter of Everton Football Club. His hobbies include cinema and listening to jazz.