St Stephen's House is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

theological college A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and one of five

permanent private hall A permanent private hall (PPH) in the University of Oxford is an educational institution within the university. There are five permanent private halls at Oxford, four of which admit undergraduates. They were founded by different Christian denomina ...

s of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, England. It will cease to be a permanent private hall in 2023. The college has a very small proportion of undergraduate students (just 4 in the academic year 2019–2020), but has graduate students in a number of fields including theology, Byzantine studies, education, and music. At any time, roughly one quarter of the students are pursuing professional training as classroom teachers, and another quarter professional theological and ministerial training as priests, with the other half following a diverse range of studies and research.

History

St Stephen's House was founded in 1876 by members of the

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

within the Church of England, and was originally located in the very centre of Oxford, on what is today the site of the

New Bodleian Library The Weston Library is part of the Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, reopened within the former New Bodleian Library building on the corner of Broad Street and Parks Road in central Oxford, England. Hist ...

. Its principal founder was Edward King,

Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology The Regius Professorship of Moral and Pastoral Theology, together with the Regius Professorship of Ecclesiastical History, was founded at the University of Oxford by act of Parliament in 1840, and first filled in 1842. The act attached the chair to ...

at Oxford and later

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...

. In 1919 the college relocated to new buildings in Norham Gardens, near to the

University Parks The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, thou ...

and

Lady Margaret Hall Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formall ...

. The college moved again in 1980, having outgrown its earlier buildings, and now occupies the former Anglican Monastery of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (Cowley Fathers). The college was an "Associated Institution" of the University of Oxford, able to matriculate students in the fields of theology and philosophy, until 2003, when it became a permanent private hall of the university.

Buildings

The college is located in east Oxford, between the Iffley and Cowley Roads (to west and east) and James Street and Marston Street (to north and south), with entrances onto all these roads. Although there are some modern buildings, notably the Moberly Close residential accommodation building, most of the college buildings are older, and have listed status. Grade I listing applies to the Church of St John the Evangelist, which is the principal college chapel, and an arts centre, as well as housing some teaching and research facilities in its sacristies and song school. Constructed in 1894–1896 to a design by

George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Watt ...

(1827–1907), it has held grade I listing since 1968. The castellated west tower was added in 1902. The east, west, and north-east windows contain

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

designed by C. E. Kempe (1837–1907) and made in about 1900. The Church also contains painted Stations of the Cross by the late

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

artist,

Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne Edward Arthur Fellowes Prynne (1854–1921) was a leading British late Pre-Raphaelite painter of portraits and subject pictures, who in later life became one of the country's best known creators of decorative art for churches. Family and Early ...

, created for the Cowley Fathers between 1918 and 1921. Grade II listing was applied to the bulk of the college's other central buildings in 1992. This listing includes the college's main cloister built in 1899 to a design by Bodley, the three lesser cloisters, the Benson Building (residential and teaching accommodation built late nineteenth century, probably designed by Clapton Crabb Rolfe), the King Building (residential, teaching, and administrative accommodation, including the college refectory, the library, and the

common room A common room is a type of shared lounge, most often found in halls of residence or dormitories, at (for example) universities, colleges, military bases, hospitals, rest homes, hostels, and even minimum-security prisons. They are generally con ...

, also designed by Bodley), and the two smaller chapels – the Founders Chapel, and the

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect; one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishment of churches, and the des ...

designed House Chapel. St John's Church (and sometimes also the college cloisters) has been since 2012 the performance and display venue for SJE Arts Oxford, a society promoting performing arts and music, and which organises an annual summer choral festival at the college site. The Song School, once the music department of SSJE, and later the residence of the college's vice principal, has since 2008 housed the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford, an independent body whose senior teaching and research staff are mostly current or former members of the

Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford The Oxford Faculty of Theology and Religion co-ordinates the teaching of theology at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. The Theology Faculty Centre was at 34 St Giles' in central Oxford. It is now o ...

Arms

The current arms of the college ''Per chevron Gules and Sable in chief two Cross crosslets and in base a Celestial Crown Or'' were granted by the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...

in 2020. Prior to this the college used the assumed arms ''Gules a Celestial Crown between three Bezants two and one Or, on a chief Sable an Apostolic Eagle between two Crosses crosslet Or''.

Principals and fellows

Principals

The Head of House is known as the " principal." To date, every person to have held the office has been an ordained

Anglican priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. *1876–1877 (res.): Robert Moberly *1877–1881: ''?'' *1881–1884 (res.): John Octavius Johnston *1884–1885 (res.): Berkeley Randolph *1885–1888 (res.): Charles Myers *1888–1895 (res.):

Hugh Currie Hugh Roy Currie (October 22, 1925 – November 21, 2017) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played in one National Hockey League game for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1950–51 NHL season. See also *List of players wh ...

*1895–1903 (res.): Charles Plumb *1903–1917 (res.): George Bown *1917–1919: ''?'' *1919–1936 (res.): Gilbert Mitchell *1936–1962 (res.): Arthur Couratin *1962–1974 (res.):

Derek Allen Derek Fortrose Allen (29 May 1910 – 13 June 1975) was Secretary of the British Academy from 1969 to 1973 and Treasurer of that organisation from 1973 until his death. Born in Epsom, Surrey, Allen joined the British Museum staff in 1935 as ...

*1974–1982 (res.): David Hope *1982–1987 (res.): David Thomas *1987–1995 (res.):

Edwin Barnes Edwin Ronald Barnes (6 February 19356 February 2019) was a British Roman Catholic priest and a former Church of England bishop. He was the Anglican Bishop of Richborough from 1995 to 2001 and was also formerly the president of the Church Union. ...

*1996–2006 (res.): Jeremy Sheehy *2006–present: Robin Ward

Honorary research fellows

Notable honorary research fellows have included: *

Andrew Linzey Andrew Linzey (born 2 February 1952) is an English Anglican priest, theologian, and prominent figure in Christian vegetarianism. He is a member of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oxford, and held the world's first academic post in Et ...

, theologian, author and prominent figure in the

Christian vegetarianism Christian vegetarianism is the practice of keeping to a vegetarian lifestyle for reasons connected to or derived from the Christian faith. The three primary reasons are spiritual, nutritional, and ethical. The ethical reasons may include a con ...

movement *

James Whitbourn James Whitbourn (born 1963) is a British composer and conductor. Biography James Whitbourn was born in Kent and educated at Skinners' School before winning a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained his first two degrees. ...

, conductor and composer * Luke Miller, Archdeacon of London *

Norman Russell Norman Atkinson Russell (born 7 August 1942) is a British clergyman who was the Archdeacon of Berkshire until Easter 2013. His retirement service was Sunday 12 May 2013 Biography Russell was born in 1942 and educated at the Royal Belfast Aca ...

, former Archdeacon of Berkshire

Alumni

Many former students, in the tradition of the college, go on to minister in urban priority areas and parishes which suffer poverty and deprivation. The following are amongst the notable former students: * Jonathan Baker –

Bishop of Fulham The Bishop of Fulham is a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of London in the Church of England. The bishopric is named after Fulham, an area of south-west London; the see was erected under the Suffragans Nomination Act 1888 by Order in Council dated ...

and the former

Bishop of Ebbsfleet The Bishop of Ebbsfleet is a suffragan bishop who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England. From its creation in 1994 to 2022, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet served traditionist Anglo-Catholic parishes that could not ac ...

* Norman Banks –

Honorary Chaplain to the Queen An Honorary Chaplain to the King (KHC) is a member of the clergy within the United Kingdom who, through long and distinguished service, is appointed to minister to the monarch of the United Kingdom. When the reigning monarch is female, Honorary Ch ...

and

Bishop of Richborough The Bishop of Richborough is a suffragan bishop and provincial episcopal visitor for the whole of the Province of Canterbury in the Church of England. History The see was erected under the Suffragans Nomination Act 1888 by Order in Council dat ...

* J. W. B. Barns – Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford *

Mark Bonney Mark Philip John Bonney (born 2 March 1957) is an Anglican priest. Since 2012, he has served as the dean of Ely. Early life He was born in 1957. He was educated at a school in Cambridge. Having been awarded a scholarship as a choral exhibitione ...

—

Dean of Ely The position of Dean of Ely Cathedral, in East Anglia, England, in the Diocese of Ely was created in 1541 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The first Dean of Ely had been the last Benedictine prior of Ely. List of deans Early modern ...

* Andrew Burnham – former

and former vice principal *

Anthony Caesar Anthony Douglass Caesar (3 April 1924 – 14 July 2018) was an English priest, organist and composer. Caesar was a boy chorister in the Winchester Cathedral Choir under Harold Rhodes, who directed choir rehearsals in the short street known as " ...

– composer *

Alan Chesters Alan David Chesters CBE (born 26 August 1937) was the Bishop of Blackburn from 1989 to 2003. Early life and education Chesters is the son of Herbert and Catherine Chesters, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. He was educated at Elland Grammar Scho ...

– former

Bishop of Blackburn The Bishop of Blackburn is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Blackburn in the Province of York. The diocese covers much of the county of Lancashire and has its see in the town of Blackburn, where the seat of the diocese is loca ...

* David Conner –

Dean of Windsor The Dean of Windsor is the spiritual head of the canons of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, England. The dean chairs meetings of the Chapter of Canons as ''primus inter pares''. The post of Dean of Wolverhampton was assimilated to the dea ...

(since 1998) * Stephen Cottrell –

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

(since 2020) * Ivor Gordon Davies –

Archdeacon of Lewisham The Archdeacons in the Diocese of Southwark are senior clergy in the Church of England in South London and Surrey. They currently include: the archdeacons of Southwark, of Reigate (formerly of Kingston-on-Thames) and of Lewisham & Greenwich ( ...

from 1972 to 1985. * Roy Davies –

Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of a ...

from 1985 to 1999 *

Hovnan Derderian Hovnan Derderian (born 1 December 1957) is the youngest Armenian cleric to have been elevated to the rank of archbishop. Life Born Vahram Derderian in Beirut, he studied at the Antelias Seminary and the Seminary of the Holy See in Etchmiadzin, ...

– Primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America *

Mark Elvins Mark Turnham Elvins OFMCap (26 November 1939 – 1 May 2014) was Warden of Greyfriars, Oxford, until its closure in 2008. Life Mark Turnham Elvins was born on 26 November 1939 in Whitstable, the son of an Anglican priest who had been rector of ...

– Roman Catholic priest and Warden of

Greyfriars, Oxford Greyfriars is a Roman Catholic friary and parish located in East Oxford, which until 2008 was also a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. Situated on the Iffley Road in East Oxford, it was one of the smallest constituent hall ...

Walter Hooper Walter McGehee Hooper (March 27, 1931December 7, 2020) was an American writer and literary advisor of the estate of C.S. Lewis. He was a literary trustee for Owen Barfield from December 1997 to October 2006. Life Hooper was born in Reidsville, No ...

– literary advisor to the estate of

CS Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

William Howard, 8th Earl of Wicklow William Cecil James Philip John Paul Howard, 8th Earl of Wicklow (30 October 1902 – 8 February 1978), styled Lord Clonmore until 1946, was an Anglo-Irish peer. He was the only child of Ralph Howard, 7th Earl of Wicklow and the Countess of ...

– Irish peer *

David Jasper David Jasper (born 1 August 1951) is a theologian, Professor Emeritus of Literature and Theology at the University of Glasgow. Jasper collected multiple degrees from Oxford in both English and Theology. He graduated in English from Jesus Colleg ...

– Professor of Literature and Theology at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Jeffrey John Jeffrey Philip Hywel John (born 10 February 1953) is a Church of England priest, who served as the Dean of St Albans from 2004 until 2021. He made headlines in 2003 when he was the first person to have openly been in a same-sex relationshi ...

–

Dean of St Albans The Dean of St Albans is the head of the Chapter of St Albans Cathedral in the city of St Albans, England in the Diocese of St Albans. As the Dean of St Albans is also the Rector of St Albans, with parochial responsibilities for the largest paris ...

* Eric Kemp – former

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's seat ...

* Peter Laister – Rector of Saint Clement's Church, Philadelphia, from 1986 to 1993 *

Kenneth Leech Kenneth Leech (15 June 1939 – 12 September 2015), also known as Ken Leech, was an English Anglican priest and Christian socialist in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. Life and career Leech was born into a secular working-class family in Ashton-und ...

– priest and

Christian socialist Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe cap ...

Trevor Mwamba Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba (born 1958), known as Trevor Mwamba, is an Anglican bishop. He was consecrated Bishop of Botswana on 6 February 2005. He tendered his resignation as Bishop of Botswana on 30 September 2012 – the day on which Botswa ...

– Bishop of Botswana, appears as himself in ''

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' is a series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith set in Botswana and featuring the character Mma Precious Ramotswe. The series is named after the first novel, published in 1998. Twenty-two novels have been p ...

'' *

Philip North Philip John North (born 2 December 1966) is a bishop in the Church of England. Since February 2015, he has been Bishop of Burnley, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Blackburn. He was previously team rector of the parish of Old St Pancras. ...

–

Bishop of Burnley The Bishop of Burnley is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Blackburn, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after the town of Burnley in Lancashire. Originally, the suffragan ...

* Mark Oakley – Canon Chancellor of

St Paul's Cathedral, London St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

Gordon Roe William Gordon Roe (5 January 193219 July 1999) was a British Anglican bishop who served as Bishop of Huntingdon (the suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Ely) from 1980 until 1997. Roe was educated at Bournemouth School, Jesus College, Oxford a ...

– former

Bishop of Huntingdon The Bishop of Huntingdon is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Ely, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Huntingdon, the historic county town of Huntingdonshire, En ...

John Saward John Saward (born in 1947) is a Roman Catholic priest. He is Senior Research Fellow at Blackfriars in the University of Oxford in England. He previously held the posts of lecturer in dogmatic theology at St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw (1980–1992) ...

– theologian, fellow of

Fr John Saward.
Retrieved 2008-02-11 * David Silk – former Bishop of Ballarat in the Anglican Church of Australia *

Glyn Simon William Glyn Hughes Simon (14 April 1903 – 14 June 1972) was a Welsh prelate who served as the Anglican Archbishop of Wales from 1968 to 1971. Early life Simon was born in Swansea, where his father was curate at St Gabriel's church. He was bap ...

– former

Archbishop of Wales The post of Archbishop of Wales was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England and disestablished. The four historic Welsh dioceses had previously formed part of the Province of Canterbury, and so came unde ...

Michael Spence Andrew Michael Spence (born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American economist and Nobel laureate. Spence is the William R. Berkley Professor in Economics and Business at the Stern School of Business at New York University, and the Philip H. Kn ...

– vice-chancellor of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

* Tim Thornton –

Bishop of Truro The Bishop of Truro is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Truro in the Province of Canterbury. History There had been between the 9th and 11th centuries a Bishopric of Cornwall until it was merged with Credi ...

* Stephen Venner –

Bishop to the Forces The Anglican church in the British Armed Forces falls under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury; however, for all practical purposes the function is performed by the Bishop to the Forces. His full title is "The Archbishop of Canterbur ...

and Bishop for the Falkland Islands * Martin Warner –

William Gordon Wheeler William Gordon Wheeler (5 May 1910–21 February 1998) was an English prelate and the bishop emeritus of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds. Wheeler had served as the seventh Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds, being succeeded by David Konstant. ...

– former

Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds The Bishop of Leeds is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds in the Province of Liverpool, England. The Vicariate Apostolic of the Yorkshire District was elevated to diocese status as the Diocese of Beverley on 29 September 185 ...

* Colin Williams – General Secretary of the

Conference of European Churches The Conference of European Churches (CEC) was founded in 1959 to promote reconciliation, dialogue and friendship between the churches of Europe at a time of growing Cold War political tensions and divisions. In its commitment to Europe as a who ...

* A. N. Wilson – writer and newspaper columnist, left after his first year

References

External links

St Stephen's House website

St John the Evangelist church website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Stephen's House, Oxford 1876 establishments in England Permanent private halls of the University of Oxford Anglo-Catholic educational establishments Anglican seminaries and theological colleges Bible colleges, seminaries and theological colleges in England Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford Anglican buildings and structures in Europe