Greetings from Oxfordshire!

I came to Cuddesdon, a village about 7 miles southeast of central Oxford, on 13 June 2006. The reason for my relocation is an 18 month research position at RiponCollege, Cuddesdon, an Anglican theological (ministry training) institution, working primarily in the area of Congregational Studies. I'm also doing some lecturing in Anglican theology and ecclesiology. This is what the College looks like:

www.rcc.ac.uk

I had created a thread on the BBCAmerica discussion boards called 'Oxford Observations'. It got sort of long, at over 80 posts. I thought people might be getting bored with it, and I slowed down a bit. I was (as sometimes happens) wrong. A week's absence had people asking why I hadn't posted in a while, and suggesting I start a blog--with promises of avid readership. So, here I am.

This will be mostly a 'social' blog. I probably won't be able to say much about my research, and I will not 'dish' on students or staff here at the college, although I will say things about the rhythms of life and activity here.

It is beautiful here, as you can see above. It's the first time I've lived in a village with a pre-Reformation church only a three minute walk away. If you click on this link, and scroll down to Cuddesdon, you'll see both the inside and outside of this very pretty building:

http://homepage.mac.com/john.ward/oxfordshirechurches/PhotoAlbum214.html


I've got a varied background: degrees in music and business admin, as well as theology. This is my book:

http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=5875&pc=9

I'm basically a systematic theologian, with a bit of historical theology and ethics thrown in for good measure. Congregational Studies is a new thing to me, but that's okay--it's still a pretty new thing over here in Britain. One of the nice things about the work I'm doing is that it's really never been done before, so anything we do is more than what exists! Basically, we are doing a study of an entire diocese. My job is to observe the church in its interactions with the local culture and society. That means I get to do something I love: go around, visit with people, write up my interpretations of what has been said. The goal is to find out where the church is in terms of its social setting, and to come up with some useful ideas for how it may proceed into the next century. Mainly right now, my work involves a lot of background reading and learning about the people and places that are the subject of study. The work with those people and places will come in another few month's time.

So, thanks to the people on the BBCA discussions for suggesting this! Let's keep things friendly and cordial, and I'll post new observations as they come to me--I'll try not to let you down.