Westcott House is an Anglican theological college based on Jesus Lane in the centre of the university city of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Its main activity is training people for ordained ministry in the Church of England and other Anglican churches. Westcott House is a founding member of the Cambridge Theological Federation. The college is considered by many to be Liberal Catholic in its tradition, but it accepts ordinands from a range of traditions in the Church of England.
Contents
History
Westcott House began its life in 1881 as the Cambridge Clergy Training School. Brooke Foss Westcott, the then Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, was its first president. He later became the Bishop of Durham. A pioneering and respected New Testament scholar himself, the school was the product of Westcott's own passionate concern to raise the standard of clergy education and to equip clergy to meet the challenges of parish ministry. Westcott was also exercised by the way in which the Church of England was increasingly dominated by parties and factions. Westcott himself eschewed any party affiliation. The college has often been associated with a Liberal Catholic ethos, although its essential charism embraces the breadth of the Church of England and the wider church: 'As a scholar, educator, priest and prophet, Westcott's legacy to the Church of England challenges sectarianism, ignorance, complacency and empty faith. This is the spirit which Westcott House seeks to honour today, drawing students from all backgrounds to prepare them for ministry in this historic centre of Christian learning'.
In response to the Faith in the City report, published in 1985, the college has retained a firm commitment to develop expertise and capacity in the field of urban ministry and mission. Through its partnership with the Diocese of Manchester, the college has pioneered patterns of context-based learning and innovative approaches to contextual theology for over twenty years. These approaches have been widely imitated and developed by other theological education institutions. The college has also developed a programme for continuing ministerial development through the Westcott Foundation.
The college provides training pathways in conjunction with the University of Cambridge and the Common Awards (validated by Durham University), as well as opportunities for independent study for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees through the wider Cambridge Theological Federation and Anglia Ruskin University. Westcott House describes itself as "the home of a diverse, inclusive and international community of people who share a vision of ministry to all society". Drawing on the inspiration of B. F. Westcott and others, its ethos is expressed in a rule of life which was adopted in 2014.
Notable people
List of principals
The head of Westcott House is known as the principal. All the principals of the Clergy Training School and of Westcott House have been Anglican priests.
1887–1901: Frederic Chase
1901–1911: Henry Knight
1911–1916: Charles Lambert
1916–1919: Closed during World War I
1919–1943: Bertram Cunningham
1943–1947: William Greer
1948–1961: Kenneth Carey
1962–1972: Peter Walker
1972–1981: Mark Santer
1981–1993: Rupert Hoare
1993–2006: Michael Roberts
2006–2015: Martin Seeley
2015–2019: Chris Chivers
2019–2020 (acting): Paul Dominiak, Vice-Principal
2020–2021 (interim): Tim Stevens
2021–present: Helen Dawes
Staff
Besides the aforementioned principals, notable staff have included:
Charles Freer Andrews, vice-principal; then missionary, educator and social reformer in India
Michael Beasley, chaplain, tutor and vice-principal; former bishop suffragan of Hertford and current Bishop of Bath and Wells.
Spencer Carpenter, vice-principal; later Dean of Exeter
Gregory Collins, chaplain and acting vice-principal; current Canon Chancellor of Chichester Cathedral
John Collins, vice-principal: later Canon of St Paul's Cathedral
Don Cupitt, vice-principal; later Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Charles Garrad, vice-principal; then missionary and Bible translator in Burma
John Habgood, vice-principal; later Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of York
John Harmer, vice-principal: later Bishop of Adelaide and Bishop of Rochester
Hugh Montefiore, vice-principal; later Bishop of Birmingham
Jeremy Morris, tutor, director of studies and vice-principal; former Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Robert Runcie, chaplain, tutor and vice-principal; later principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon, Bishop of St Albans and Archbishop of Canterbury
Mary Tanner, tutor; later European President of the World Council of Churches
Alumni
Notable alumni of Westcott House and of the Clergy Training School include: