{"id":23218,"date":"2019-06-04T20:29:21","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T03:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=23218"},"modified":"2019-06-04T20:29:21","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T03:29:21","slug":"dean-of-oxford-martyn-percy-faces-removal-from-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/dean-of-oxford-martyn-percy-faces-removal-from-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean of Oxford, Martyn Percy, faces removal from office"},"content":{"rendered":"

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My heart is heavy. I cannot imagine what this week\u2019s author has been through in the past 6 months. I am not sure we will get to meet him in London while we are there. Before I could even get to a review of our author, I found this\u2026<\/p>\n

The website churchtimes.co.uk has reported the dean at Oxford faces removal from his position. I quote, \u201cA formal complaint has been made against the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, the Very Reverend Dr Martyn Percy. He will have to appear before a tribunal to defend himself and may be removed from office. The Cathedral Chapter and the college\u2019s Governing Body, having seen the evidence presented by the complainants, have agreed that there is a case to answer, which, if proved, could constitute good cause for the removal of the dean from office. It is understood that there is a range of views on the issue in the Chapter. No details of the complaint have been made public, but it is believed to relate to an issue of poor governance raised by Dr Percy, including the setting of senior salaries at Christ Church, among them his own.\u201d [1]<\/p>\n

Something does not sit right in my spirit about this. I read further, \u201cIt is understood that Dr Percy was given no opportunity to challenge any of the evidence against him. Dr Percy is not talking to the press, but a college insider said: \u201cChapter and Governing Body did not invite the Dean to give any response to the complaint or put forward any documents of his own before making their decision.\u201d [2]<\/p>\n

What must he be going through right now? And his family, how difficult for them this must be! Is this what happens to reformists?<\/p>\n

Another website, theguardian.com asserts this, \u201cReformist dean at Oxford ‘medieval fiefdom’ is being bullied, supporters claim.\u201d [3] It continues, \u201cChrist Church, one of Oxford\u2019s most venerable colleges, was plunged into turmoil last week when\u00a0its dean was suspended from duties\u00a0and barred from taking services at his own cathedral after being challenged under archaic and opaque rules.The background, according to his supporters, is the dean\u2019s efforts to modernize the arcane management of the college and reform its pay structures. They say his opponents want to oust him in order to preserve traditional hierarchies and privileges. One supporter said there was \u201cno doubt\u201d the dean was being bullied and intimidated.\u201d [4]<\/p>\n

It is my understanding this turmoil has caused Martyn Percy to take significant time off for sick leave, possibly causing him to lose significant weight. Percy, who I believe has presided over the college and the cathedral it contains for four years, is said to be deeply distressed by the complaint, according to friends, as the website telegraph.co.uk reports, \u201cIt has been claimed that Dr Percy, the first dean to be democratically elected in the College\u2019s 494-year history, attempted to have members of the College\u2019s salaries committee removed from their post when his request for a pay rise was blocked. The row between the dean and members of the College\u2019s governing body escalated, with both sides exchanging legal letters. This culminated the Dr Percy being relieved from his duties, pending a tribunal which will be conducted later this year by a retired High Court judge. The data is clear – he was low paid by head of house standards or well paid by clerical standards,\u201d a source told The Daily Telegraph. \u201cYou can see how it\u2019s all got very bitter. \u00a390,000 does look low \u2013 but it\u2019s more than the Arch bishop of Canterbury. His current salary of \u00a390,000 makes him one of the best paid clergymen in the country, but it is lower than the heads of some other Oxford colleges.\u201d [5] That is remarkable, clergy deans are paid lower than other deans?<\/p>\n

Wow!\u00a0 This makes this week\u2019s title either captivating or prophetic, Reasonable Radical?: Reading the Writings of Martyn Percy<\/em>. Ian S. Markham writes, \u201cMartyn does theology, sociology and anthropology not from the vantage point of the preacher in the pulpit or the academic in the ivory tower, but from WITHIN\u00a0<\/strong>the communities of practice he is addressing\u2014church, society and academy\u2026He is not writing to those communities, but for them.\u201d [6] Could this be in the end what is causing the rift at Oxford\u2014he doesn\u2019t fit in with the traditional?<\/p>\n

Chapter 8 of our book is titled, \u201cThe Prudent Priest: Exercising \u2018Good Sense\u2019 for the Good of the Church\u201d. [7] The author states some themes that this Cohort has discussed, like whether the current model of Pastor as entrepreneur and innovator is the best model, which favors leadership over formation of the virtues of \u201choliness, charity, hope, faith, and deep spiritual joy\u201d. [8]<\/p>\n

Chapter 14 held my attention the best, \u201cMinistry As Occupation: The God Who Occupies Us\u201d. [9] This quote of Percy\u2019s is a beauty, \u201cTo put faith in the church and its work in the world, one must inevitably first put faith in the God who forms the church to gather as the body of Christ.\u201d [10]<\/p>\n

Most of all, we should pray for Oxford, Dr. Percy, his family, and the alumni of this amazing place, who include 13 British Prime Ministers and several members of royal families, including Kings and Princes.<\/p>\n

On a much lighter note, the Christ\u2019s Church website adds to this list the fact the Dean has the curious distinction of being the only living theologian to feature in Dan Brown\u2019s 2003 novel\u00a0The Da Vinci Code<\/em>.\u00a0[11]<\/p>\n

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[1] https:\/\/www.churchtimes.co.uk\/articles\/2018\/9-november\/news\/uk\/dean-of-oxford-martyn-percy-faces-removal-from-office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2] Ibid.<\/p>\n

[3] https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2018\/nov\/17\/oxford-bullying-claim-dean-christ-church<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[4] Ibid.<\/p>\n

[5] https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/education\/2019\/03\/05\/oxford-dean-accused-trying-remove-tutors-salary-committee-pay\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[6] Markham, Ian S., and Joshue Daniel.\u00a0Reasonable Radical?: Reading the Writings of Martyn Percy<\/em>. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2018. Loc 163.<\/p>\n

[7] Ibid., Loc 2905.<\/p>\n

[8] Ibid., Loc 2929.<\/p>\n

[9] Ibid., Loc 5208.<\/p>\n

[10] Ibid., Loc 5222.<\/p>\n

[11] https:\/\/www.chch.ox.ac.uk\/staff\/very-revd-professor-martyn-percy<\/a><\/p>\n