Cuddesdon College and links with Oxbridge

Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, founded Cuddesdon College in April 1853, as the Oxford Diocesan Seminary at Cuddesdon to train graduates from Oxford and Cambridge. Its original buildings, designed by the Diocesan Architect for Oxford G. E. Street, were built opposite the Cuddesdon Palace. The Neo-Gothic buildings are regarded as the first important design by Street and influenced much of his later work.^[1] The College opened in June 1854 and quickly became known as Cuddesdon College. A larger chapel, built at first-floor level and with decorations by Clayton and Bell, was added by Street in 1874–5. The northwest wing opposite the chapel, was built in 1904 by Spencer Slingsby Stallwood. The southeast wing in 1920 and the service wing in 1925.^[2] Traditionally, "Cuddesdon", as it is commonly known, was in the Anglo-Catholic – high church – tradition of the Church of England.^[3]

Ripon Hall

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 William Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon. 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 in Oxford and was renamed Ripon Hall. There, it became known as a liberal Anglican college.

In 1933, Ripon Hall moved again, this time 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.^[4]

Ripon College Cuddesdon

The college 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 partners the Diocese of Oxford in the delivery of Ordained Local Ministry training. In 2011 the college began a partnership with the Church Missionary Society to deliver training for Ordained Pioneer Ministers – the first partnership of this kind that pairs a theological college with a missionary society. In 2005, the Oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology (OxCEPT) was founded, which provides research and consultancy services to the wider church.

In 2010 the college launched a £10 million appeal to build a new education centre and chapel, as well as to raise funds for endowing bursaries, fellowships, studentships and research. The new Bishop Edward King Chapel and education centre (Harriet Monsell House) were completed and opened in 2013. The chapel – by architect Niall McLaughlin – has won many national and international awards for its design and building. Harriet Monsell House also included an enclosure for a community of five Anglican sisters who had moved from their base at Begbroke Priory. The sisters work alongside staff and students, supporting in prayer and spirituality, whilst continuing to develop their own ministries of spiritual direction.

Ripon College Cuddesdon became internationally more active during Martyn 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. The college developed a programme of Christian–Muslim dialogue and related work, including a Visiting Fellowship for Islamic Scholars established at Cuddesdon in partnership with the Dubai-based Al Maktoum Institute.

Present

Harriet Monsell House at Ripon College Cuddesdon

Men and women with a range of previous experience, not necessarily graduates, take a two or three-year course of study incorporating pastoral and academic training. There are just over a dozen full-time students taking courses of study, either as matriculated students at Oxford University or on courses accredited by Durham University through the Church of England Common Awards Scheme which began in September 2014. Prior to this time, students not wishing to study at Oxford University were able to take courses of study accredited by Oxford Brookes University. With the introduction of the Common Awards Scheme, Cuddesdon streamlined its Oxford University offerings. Where previously the college had offered three courses, the Bachelor of Theology (BTh), the Certificate in Theology (CTh) and the Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Theology, the BTh and CTh are no longer offered and Cuddesdon students wishing to study at Oxford University must now take the BA or MTh. The college also has occasional PhD students.

Cuddesdon students come from across the spectrum of the Church of England but it retains a liturgical approach to worship and a broad approach to theology. It maintains a regular and disciplined approach to daily prayer and seeks to train students in a modern critical approach to the Christian tradition of the Church of England.

From 2008 the part-time Oxford Ministry Course, with about fifty ordinands, has been integrated into the college. The West of England Ministerial Training Course, which trains clergy and readers principally in the dioceses of Hereford and Gloucester was incorporated in 2011.

The college runs a fortnightly part-time programme in theology and ministry; the Cuddesdon School of Theology and Ministry. In 2011 a new programme of training for pioneer ministers was set up in partnership with the Church Mission Society. The college has also hosted a research centre for practical theology, the Oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology (OxCEPT). It is a sponsor of the Society for the Study of Anglicanism.

In August 2014, two ordinands, Shemil Mathew (who later became an associate lecturer) and Joseph Fernandas, partnered with the support of the college to organize a significant conference titled "One Body, Many Parts." This landmark event marked the inception of the Anglican Minority Ethnic Network (AMEN). Since then, AMEN has flourished to become the Church of England's largest independent network of its kind, consisting of individuals from UK Minority Ethnic and Global Majority heritage. The network is dedicated to promoting inclusivity, representation, and active engagement of Minority Ethnic people at all levels within the church.^[5]

The principal, since 2015, has been Humphrey Southern, former Bishop of Repton; the vice principal is Mark Chapman, Dean of College and Reader in Modern Theology at the University of Oxford. Roger Latham is Director of the Gloucester & Hereford Pathway supported by Jacqui Sewell in the Ludlow teaching centre; Michael Brierley is the Director of Formation, Hywel Clifford teaches Old Testament and Hebrew; Rebecca Dean is Tutor for Admissions and Lecturer in New Testament. Associate staff include Joanna Collicutt, Ray Gaston, Shemil Mathew, Elaine Flowers and Eddie Howells.

In 2012 the college became the new home of the Sisters of the Community of St John Baptist and the Community of the Companions of Jesus the Good Shepherd as part of a major building programme to provide more teaching and residential accommodation, named after Harriet Monsell, founder of CSJB, as well as a new chapel named in honour of Bishop Edward King, sometime principal of Cuddesdon.^[6]

Since 2011, the College has hosted the biennial international "Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives" conference,^[7] a gathering of scholars and practitioners across disciplines to discuss issues in contemporary congregational music. It also collaborates with the Bible Reading Fellowship for an annual Festival of Prayer