Ripon College Cuddesdon

Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village 5.5 miles (8.9 km) outside Oxford, England.

History

Ripon College Cuddesdon was formed from an amalgamation in 1975 of Cuddesdon College and Ripon Hall. The name deliberately contains no comma.

Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford founded Cuddesdon College in 1854 as the Oxford Diocesan Seminary to train graduates from Oxford and Cambridge. It quickly became known as Cuddesdon College. The college buildings, most of them designed by G.E. Street, were built opposite the Bishop's Palace. Traditionally "Cuddesdon", as it is commonly known, was in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England.

Ripon Hall was founded in Ripon, Yorkshire in 1897 or 1898. It was originally a hostel for theological students, known as Bishop's College, founded by the then Bishop of Ripon, William Boyd Carpenter. In 1902 it was merged with Lightfoot Hall, Birmingham and became known as Ripon Clergy College. In 1919 the college moved from Ripon to a site in Parks Road, Oxford and was renamed Ripon Hall. There it became known as a liberal Anglican college. In 1933 Ripon Hall moved again, to a house then known as Berkeley House at Boars Hill near Oxford, the former home of the 8th Earl of Berkeley. The college remained there until the merger with Cuddesdon in 1975, when the site, renamed Foxcombe Hall, became the regional headquarters of the Open University.^[1]

The college today

Currently, men and women who come with a range of previous experience, but are not necessarily graduates, take a two or three year course of study incorporating pastoral and academic training. Courses of study are validated by Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University. Nowadays, Cuddesdon students come from across the spectrum of the Church of England but it remains a predominaltly liberal catholic institution. It maintains a regular and disciplined approach to prayer, and seeks to train students in a modern critical approach to the Christian tradition of the Church of England. Recently^[when?] the part-time Oxford Ministry Course has been integrated as part of the college.

Staff members

Among the college's previous staff members are:

• Edward King, later Bishop of Lincoln
• Alan Becher Webb (vice-principal 1864-1867), later Bishop of Bloemfontein and of Grahamstown, subsequently Dean of Salisbury.
• John Octavius Johnston (principal 1895–1913)
• Charles Gore, successively Bishop of Worcester, Birmingham and Oxford
• Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury
• John Clarke, Dean of Wells Cathedral.

When Robert Runcie retired from the archbishopric he took the title Baron Runcie of Cuddesdon.

The current principal is the Revd. Canon Professor Martyn Percy, who is apparently the only living author to be referred to in Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code.^{[citation needed]} The Revd. Dr. Mark Chapman is college Vice Principal. The Revd. Gerald Hegarty is Vice Principal for the Oxford Ministry Course which is a part of the College. The Revd. Dr. Margaret Whipp is Dean of Studies. The Revd. Dr. David Heywood is Director of Pastoral Studies. The Revd. Dr. Andrew Teal teaches Patristics; the Revd. Dr. Helen-Ann Hartley and Dr. Michael Lakey teach New Testament and Greek; Dr. Hywel Clifford teaches Old Testament and Hebrew. The Revd. Canon Charlotte Methuen and Revd. Dr. Philip Tovey teach liturgy. Revd. Dr. Tim Naish teaches mission. The college also incorporates the Oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology, headed by Dr. Helen Cameron.

Notable alumni

See also Category:Alumni of Ripon College Cuddesdon.

• Walter Hubert Baddeley - Bishop of Melanesia, Whitby and Blackburn
• Chris Bryant MP for Rhondda
• Richard Chartres - Bishop of London
• Owen Chadwick - Vice Chancellor of University of Cambridge, Master of Selwyn Cambridge, Regius Professor of Modern History, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Chancellor of University of Anglia, President of British Academy, Rugby Union International
• Geoffrey Hare Clayton - Archbishop of Cape Town
• Philip Reginald Egerton, founder of Bloxham School
• Austin Farrer - Warden of Keble College, Oxford
• Nicholas Frayling - Dean of Chichester
• Cyril Garbett - Archbishop of York (1942-1955)
• John Hall- Dean of Westminster Abbey
• David Hand - Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
• John William Hind - Bishop of Chichester
• Graham Richard James - Bishop of Norwich
• Richard Harries - Lord Harries of Pentregarth, formerly Bishop of Oxford (1987-2005)
• Cosmo Gordon Lang - Archbishop of York (1909-28) & Archbishop of Canterbury (1928-1942)
• Diarmaid MacCulloch - Professor of church history at the University of Oxford
• Michael Mayne - Dean of Westminster Abbey (1986-1996)
• Frederick M. Molyneux - Bishop of Melanesia
• John Packer - Bishop of Ripon and Leeds
• Michael Francis Perham - Bishop of Gloucester
• Stephen George Platten - Bishop of Wakefield
• Anthony Martin Priddis - Bishop of Hereford
• Arthur Michael Ramsey - Archbishop of Canterbury (1961-1974)
• John Harry Gerald Ruston - Bishop of St Helena (1957-1961)
• Michael Scott-Joynt - Bishop of Winchester
• David Stancliffe - Bishop of Salisbury
• Thomas Stanage - Bishop of Bloemfontein
• Tim Stevens - Bishop of Leicester
• Stephen Sykes - Bishop of Ely (1990-2000)
• Robert Willis - Dean of Canterbury
• David Hoyle - Dean of Bristol

Sources and further reading

• Chapman, Mark D. (ed.), Ambassadors of Christ: Commemorating 150 Years of Theological Education in Cuddesdon 1854-2004, Burlington (Ashgate) 2004.
• Chapman, Mark D., God's Holy Hill: A History of Christianity in Cuddesdon, Charlbury (The Wychwood Press) 2004.

References

1. ^ Seeking God - the Story of Ripon Hall in Oxfordshire Limited Edition, supplement to the Oxford Times, May 2009

External links

• College website
• Historical resources on Cuddesdon College

Coordinates: 51°43′29″N 1°08′02″W / 51.72472°N 1.13389°W / 51.72472; -1.13389