E19 - Writers and God: Recent Episodes
Cambridge University
For this term’s sermon series the speakers have all been asked to choose an author whose work has opened up some understanding of God that has been valuable to their life of faith. The authors chosen range from Dante to Martin Scorsese.
Preacher: The Rev’d Dr Paul Edmondson, Head of Research and Knowledge, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
Preacher: The Rev’d Canon Dr Jessica Martin, Residentiary Canon, Ely Cathedral
Jessica Martin is Residentiary Canon for Education and Outreach at Ely Cathedral. Before that she spent six years in parish ministry in South Cambridgeshire following an academic career as Fellow in English at Trinity College, Cambridge. She specialises in seventeenth century religious writing and early biography and has written about Izaak Walton, about devotional practices in early modern England, and about parish ministry and its challenges. She is completing a book on the nature of desire in the dedicated Christian life.
Preacher: The Very Rev’d David Monteith, Dean of Leicester
David Monteith has been Dean of Leicester since 2013. During this time the Cathedral has completed the first stage of its redevelopment with the re-interment of King Richard III and the creation of Cathedral Gardens. We have launched the 11.3million project to complete this work by 2022 whilst growing and developing the congregational life and mission of the cathedral communities. In one of Britain’s most multicultural cities, the cathedral offers generous Christian hospitality to all. Until recently he chaired the interfaith work based at the St Philip’s Centre. He recently led a Commission on Rural Mission and Ministry in the diocese. He has previously served in Birmingham and London including at St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Originally from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland he shares long term interests in music, poetry and the visual arts with a commitment to living with diversity. He shares his life in a Civil Partnership with David Hamilton.
Preacher: The Rev'd Canon Mark Oakley, Dean, St John's College
Canon Mark Oakley read Theology at London and Oxford before being ordained in St Paul’s Cathedral in 1993. He served his title at St John’s Wood Church and then served as Chaplain to the Bishop of London, Rector of St Paul’s, Covent Garden (known as ‘the Actors’ Church), Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe and, from 2010 to 2018, Chancellor and Residentiary Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral. He is a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Kings College London and Visiting Scholar at Sarum College. Since 1996 he has also been a Deputy Priest in Ordinary to HM the Queen.
Preacher: Fr Chase Pepper CSC, Assistant Chaplain, Cambridge University Catholic Chaplaincy
Fr. Stephen Pepper is a Roman Catholic priest from Alabama, USA. Before coming to Cambridge (St. John’s) to pursue a doctoral degree in the theology of Dante Alighieri, he received his undergraduate degree in political science at Seton Hall University (New Jersey) and his graduate degree in theology at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana). After his ordination in 2015, he worked in the departments of theology and campus ministry at King’s College in northeast Pennsylvania, and while he loves being a priest, if he could go back and do it all over again, he would become either an Olympic gymnast, an orchestra conductor, or a storm chaser.
Preacher: The Rev'd Carol Barrett Ford, Chaplain, St John's College
Carol Barrett Ford moved to London in 1991 having trained in Ireland as a teacher. She worked for twenty years in education as a subject specialist, head of department and deputy head, completing an MA in Policy Studies in Education in 2007. In 2011 she began training for ordination at Cranmer Hall, Durham and served her curacy in inner city Newcastle upon Tyne. Carol enjoys reading, live music, art, theatre, film and cooking for friends. To balance these sedentary pursuits she goes to the gym and hikes in the countryside with her husband, Alun, and their wire fox terrier, Tonwen.