Gavin Ashenden

Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden (born 3 June 1954) is a British Catholic layman, a former priest of the Church of England, and a former continuing Anglican bishop. He was an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen from 2008 until his resignation in 2017.^[1]

Early life and education[]

Ashenden was born on 3 June 1954 in London, England, the son of Michael Roy Edward Ashenden and Carol Ashenden (née Simpson, now Salmon).^[2] He 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. He trained for the Anglican priesthood at Oak Hill Theological College, where he read for a Bachelor of Arts degree 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^[3] in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex,^[4] where he came under the influence of Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov).^{[citation needed]}

Ashenden did postgraduate work at Heythrop College at the University of London with a Master of Theology degree on the psychology of religion. Whilst a chaplain and member of faculty at the University of Sussex, he 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 Archbishop Rowan Williams^[5] in the Times Literary Supplement.^[6]

Ministry and other positions[]

Ashenden was ordained at Southwark Cathedral in 1980 and served as a parish priest for 10 years in the Diocese of Southwark, firstly at St James's Bermondsey^[7] and then as vicar of Hamsey Green in Sanderstead.^[8] 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 MA programme "Monotheism and Mysticism in Critical Theology". From 1995 to 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 Adviser 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 to 2012. He has lectured in the United States, most recently as a visiting theologian for the Lutheran Church in Oregon.^[9]

In 2012 he took early retirement and moved to a house for duty post as vicar of St Martin de Gouray in Gorey, Jersey.^[10]

He was vice-chairman of the Keston Institute during the 1980s,^[11] and a director of Aid to Russian Christians,^[12] in which role he engaged in smuggling Bibles and medicine to the "Underground Church" in the Soviet Union during that decade.

He was a member of the Society of the Holy Cross and previously a member of the Little Brothers of Jesus.^[13] He was a member of Forward in Faith. He combined 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 the Global Anglican Future Conference^[14][15] He also joined Anglican TV Ministries as their UK correspondent.^[16]

Resignation from Church of England positions[]

In early 2017, Ashenden resigned from his position as Chaplain to the Queen after speaking out against a service at St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow, at which a Muslim law student read (in Arabic) a passage from the Koran that explicitly declared that Jesus is not the Son of God^[17][18] and because of his views on Islam and orthodox Christianity.^[19] Ashenden concluded that being a member of the Ecclesiastical Household meant he could not speak out on matters he felt strongly about and that it was his duty and calling to speak on issues relating to the integrity of the Christian faith.^[18]

One of the consequences of his resignation was a variety of media engagements in several countries, including Fox News in the United States,^[20] The Bolt Report in Australia,^[21] and James Delingpole's Delingpole Podcast in the UK.^[22]

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.^[23]

Christian Episcopal Church[]

In September 2017 Archbishop Theodore Casimes of the Christian Episcopal Church announced that Ashenden had been consecrated as a missionary bishop for the United Kingdom and Europe.^[24]

Ashenden left the Christian Episcopal Church in December 2019.

Catholic Church[]

On 22 December 2019 Ashenden was received into the Catholic Church by the Bishop of Shrewsbury, Mark Davies, at Shrewsbury Cathedral. Bishop Davies commented that it was "very humbling to be able to receive a bishop of the Anglican tradition into full communion in the year of the canonization of Saint John Henry Newman."^[25] Ashenden may become a priest of the Catholic Church or stay a lay theologian, depending upon the determination of the Holy See.^[26]

In the media[]

In 2008, Ashenden was appointed to be the presenter of the Faith and Ethics programme for BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey, until 2012.^[27] From 2009 to 2012 he also presented the BBC podcast Faith in England.^[28]

In 2013, he began a weekly column in the Jersey Evening Post, where his defence of orthodox Christianity and its critique of modern culture caused both strong support and opposition.^[29]

He was a contributor to both Anglican Ink^[30] and Anglican TV^[31] before creating a new internet programme 'Catholic Unscripted.' ^[32]

He has been interviewed frequently since in the mainstream media; notably by Rod Liddle interviewed in the Sunday Times over the controversy surrounding Bishop Curry's sermon following the Royal Wedding in 2018 .^[33] BBC 2's Newsnight took up the issue when the Archbishop of Canterbury raised questions about God and gender.^[34] John Anderson, formerly deputy prime minister of Australia, conducted an interview on the dangers to freedom of speech in his series "conversations",^[35] and he has become a regular guest on GBNews. Ashenden has contributed Op Ed pieces in both the Times and the Daily Telegraph.^[36] He is a regular contributor to the Spectator's religious affairs podcast 'Holy Smoke;' ^[37] and contributes regular columns in Christian Today, the Catholic Herald and the Tablet. He maintains a website for the publication of homilies, articles and commentary at ashenden.org.^[38]

Ashenden has written on Russian Orthodox spirituality in A Guidebook to the Spiritual Life (ed. Peter Toon).^[39] He also wrote The Oxford Inklings^[40] and about C. S. Lewis in Persona and Paradox.^[41]

Distinctions[]

Styles and titles[]

• The Reverend Gavin Ashenden (1980–1999)
• The Reverend Dr Gavin Ashenden (1999–2003)
• The Reverend Canon Dr Gavin Ashenden (1997–1999)
• The Right Reverend Dr Gavin Ashenden (2017–2019)
• Dr Gavin Ashenden (2019–present)

References[]

External links[]

• Official website