Anthony William Robinson (born 25 April 1956) is a British

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 ...

bishop. Since 2015, he has been the area Bishop of Wakefield in the Diocese of Leeds.Wakefield Diocese — Bishops
From 2002 to 2015, he served as

Bishop of Pontefract The Bishop of Wakefield is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. The title was first created for a diocesan bishop in 1888, but it was dissolved in 2014. The Bishop of Wakefield is now ...

in the Diocese of Wakefield.

Early life and education

Robinson was educated at Bedford Modern School. He trained for the priesthood at

Salisbury and Wells Theological College Sarum College is a centre of theological learning in Salisbury, England. The college was established in 1995 and sits within the cathedral close on the north side of Salisbury Cathedral. The Sarum College education programme ranges from sh ...

Ordained ministry

Robinson was made a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

Petertide Petertide (also known as St Peter's Tide) refers to the Sunday nearest to St Peter's Day on 29 June and to the period around that day. In Anglicanism, Petertide is the major one of two traditional periods for the ordination of new priests (the ot ...

1982 (27 June) by

Brian Masters Brian Masters (born 1939) is a British writer, best known for his biographies of serial killers. He has also written books on French literature, the British aristocracy, and theatre, and has worked as a translator. Early life Masters "grew up ...

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 ...

, at Christ Church, Southgate, and

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

a priest in 1983. His ministry began with a curacy at St Paul's, Tottenham. He was then

Rural Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective. ...

of North Leicester. He served as the Archdeacon of Pontefract from 1997 to 2002.

Episcopal ministry

Robinson was consecrated to the

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

on 6 December 2002, by David Hope,

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 ...

, at York Minster. From 2002 until 2014, Robinson was suffragan

in the Diocese of Wakefield. In 2014, the Diocese of Leeds was created. Upon the dissolution of the Wakefield diocese and the erection of the Leeds diocese, Robinson became

area bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictio ...

for the Wakefield area. His title remained Bishop of Pontefract until that see was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

to Wakefield (i.e. the title changed to Bishop of Wakefield) by Order in Council of 19 March 2015. He also provides alternative episcopal oversight under the House of Bishops' Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests throughout the whole of the Diocese of Leeds. Robinson is the patron of Street Angels – Christian Nightlife Initiatives, a post held since 2010.

Views

As of late March 2014 he is the only bishop in the Church of England to have voted in his diocesan synod against new legislation which could enable women to become bishops. In 2014, he became chairman of

Forward in Faith Forward in Faith (FiF) is an organisation operating in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the pri ...

, an Anglican movement that promotes "catholic order and the catholic doctrine of the Sacraments, and in particular the threefold ministry in historic succession, which the Church of England". He is Chairman of the Council of Bishops of The Society.

Personal life

Robinson has been married since 1981 and has three children.

Styles

*''

The Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

'' Tony Robinson (1983–1994) *''The Reverend'' Canon Tony Robinson (1994–1997) *''

The Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cathol ...

'' Tony Robinson (1997–2002) *''

The Right Reverend The Right Reverend (abbreviated The Rt Revd, The Rt Rev'd, The Rt Rev.) is a style (manner of address), style applied to certain religion, religious figures. Overview *In the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom, ...

'' Tony Robinson (2002–present)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Tony 1956 births People educated at Bedford Modern School 21st-century Anglican Church of Canada bishops Living people Bishops of Pontefract Bishops of Wakefield Archdeacons of Pontefract Anglican Diocese of Leeds Anglo-Catholic bishops English Anglo-Catholics