Martyn Percy
Martyn William Percy is a British academic, educator, social scientist and theologian. Ordained as a priest in the Church of England, he served as principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford, from 2004 to 2014, and as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, from 2014 to 2022. He has subsequently held academic posts in the USA, China and Switzerland.
Early life and education
Percy was born on 31 July 1962. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, the University of Bristol, the University of Durham, King's College London and the University of Sheffield. His doctoral thesis was titled "Signs, Wonders and Church Growth": The Theme of Power in Contemporary Christian Fundamentalism with Special Reference to the Works of John Wimber. After a short career in publishing, he trained for ordination at Cranmer Hall, Durham, from 1988 to 1990.Career
Percy taught in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, as well as in Sociology, and was a fellow of the Said Business School at the university. He has also served as Professor of Theological Education at King's College London and a professorial research fellow at Heythrop College, University of London. He has also served as a visiting professor of the Institute for the Study of Values at the University of Winchester, a founding fellow of the Center for Theologically Engaged Anthropology at the University of Georgia, and an adjunct professor at Hartford Seminary, Connecticut. He is an emeritus canon of Salisbury Cathedral, having previously served as an honorary canon. In 2018 he became a fellow of King's College London, and a fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford. From 2022-24 he served by invitation as Dean’s Distinguished Scholar at Virginia Theological Seminary.With effect from 1 September 2024, Percy has been appointed as Professor of Religion and Culture in the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy at University of Saint Joseph in Macao. And for the Xavier Centre for Memory and Identity. He also holds the post of Provost of Ming Hua Theological College . In 2025 he was also appointed to serve as Honorary Canon Theologian for the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.
Percy's theological outlook is rooted in his long-standing commitment to middle-way Anglicanism. His writings fall into three distinct-but-related groups: ecclesiology; contemporary Christianity, religious movements and sociological trends; and anthropological interpretations of denominations and congregations; and spiritual devotional writings. He has also written extensively about theological education, as well as contextual, pastoral and practical theology.
In 2013, The Times Literary Supplement praised Percy for his work towards unity within the Anglican Communion and the Church of England, describing him as displaying a "peaceable, polite and restrained" approach whilst "making peace between competing communities of conviction".
Ordained ministry
Percy was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1990 and as a priest in 1991. From 1990 to 1994, he served his curacy at St Andrew's Church, Bedford in the Diocese of St Albans. He was then chaplain of Christ's College, Cambridge from 1994, and director of studies for theology and religion at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge from 1995. From 1997 to 2004, he the founding director of the Lincoln Theological Institute; initially independent, it became part of the University of Manchester in 2003. In addition, he was an honorary curate of Holy Trinity Millhouses in the Diocese of Sheffield, and an honorary canon of Sheffield Cathedral.Cuddesdon
From 2004 to 2014, Percy was Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon, an Anglican theological college near Oxford. During his tenure, the college expanded significantly by incorporating the Oxford Ministry Course and the West of England Ministerial Training Course, becoming the largest centre for Anglican ordination training in the United Kingdom. Percy also oversaw the construction of the Bishop Edward King Chapel and a new education centre, Harriet Monsell House. Under his leadership, the college moved from a liberal catholic ethos to a more theologically broad and centrist position within the Church of England.During Percy's tenure, the multi-award-winning Bishop Edward King Chapel and a new education centre were built.
Deanery of Christ Church
Percy was the Dean of Christ Church in Oxford from 2014 to April 2022. He was the first dean to be democratically elected by the governing body, and instituted to the deanery on 4 October 2014. Christ Church is the only academic institution in the world which is also a cathedral – being the seat of the Bishop of Oxford. In common with other cathedral deans, Percy, as Dean of Christ Church, was senior priest of the Diocese of Oxford. Percy's closing years in office as Dean were marked by protracted disputes on reformation in the governance of the college.Later ministry
In 2022, Percy announced that he would be leaving the Church of England. From 2022 to 2024, he was a visiting scholar at the Virginia Theological Seminary. Since 2024, he has held permission to officiate in two Scottish Episcopal Church dioceses; Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney, and Diocese of Edinburgh. He is also the canon theologian to the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, a jurisdiction of the American Episcopal Church.Christ Church disputes
In November 2018, Percy was suspended amid a governance and pay disagreement with Christ Church. He faced internal tribunal charges that were dismissed by a retired High Court judge in August 2019. A separate safeguarding investigation in 2020 found no evidence of misconduct. During the period of dispute, supporters of Percy raised over £150,000 to help cover the cost of his legal fees, which Christ Church had refused to pay.In early 2022, following mediation, Percy agreed to step down; the college announced a settlement, and he left office in April that year. In November 2022, the UK Charity Commission issued a warning to Christ Church regarding handling of dispute funds and appointed an independent reviewer to look into governance structures.
One of Britain's most senior Court of Appeal judges, Dame Sarah Asplin, President of Tribunals for the Church of England, carried out a detailed investigation. On 28 May 2021 she ruled that it would be "entirely disproportionate" for the claim to be referred to any clergy disciplinary tribunal.
In 2022 Percy announced that he was leaving the Church of England, though he would remain Episcopalian-Anglican. He is licensed to minister in Scotland, Europe, Hong Kong and Macao.
In December 2024, a professional auditor, member of General Synod and independent member of the Church of England’s Archbishops’ Council Audit Committee confirmed that Percy had likely been subjected to forged risk assessments, false indictments and counterfeit testimony, and recommended that there be an independent inquiry into the clergy and church lawyers who had sponsored the forged documents and other falsified evidence and accusations. Since 2020 the Church of England has consistently refused to authorize an independent inquiry.
Responses
On May 13, 2022 Prospect Magazine published an article which included extensive reference to his experience with Christ Church citing the deliberate weaponization of safeguarding by elements and individuals within the Church of England as one of his major concerns. On 27 May 2022 the college governing body published a statement responding.On November 10, 2022, the Charity Commission, the government regulator, issued an Official Warning to the Governing Body of Christ Church under Section 75 of the 2011 Charities Act for "mismanagement and/or misconduct by the trustees" in their campaign against the Dean, and recorded that £6.6 million had been spent in their actions taken against Percy. The published Christ Church accounts also recorded an £8 million decline in donations during the four year dispute.
The warning stated that "in the context of a long running dispute with the former Dean, the Commission has determined there has been mismanagement and/or misconduct in the management and administration of the Charity".
Other roles
Percy has undertaken a number of roles in public life, specialising in media and consumer affairs. He has served as a director and council member of the Advertising Standards Authority. He was previously an advisor on the "Faith Zone" for the New Millennium Experience Company and the Millennium Dome in London. From 2006 to 2008, he was a member of the Theology and Religious Studies Panel for the HEFCE Research Assessment Exercise. He has served as a member of the Independent Complaints Panel for the Portman Group, the self-regulating body for the alcoholic drinks industry. He has served as commissioner for the Direct Marketing Authority, and currently serves as an advisor to the British Board of Film Classification. He was the elected chair of the Cuddesdon and Denton Parish Council from 2007 to 2014. Percy is also the patron of St Francis' Children's Society, and as part of his role as dean was a governor of Christ Church Cathedral School, Westminster School and St Edward's School, Oxford, a trustee of the Grubb Institute, Gladstone's Library and the Li Tim-Oi Foundation.Theology
Percy's theology is generally considered to represent the liberal tradition in the Church of England. His viewpoints typically argue for the "middle ground" between evangelical and catholic positions, with appeals to Anglican comprehensiveness, and the tradition of respecting theological differences. Percy's main interlocutors in his writings comprise a trinity of American theologians: Daniel W. Hardy, Urban T. Holmes III, and James F. Hopewell. Percy is a proponent of "generous orthodoxy", and argues for a theological approach that copes with "serious forms of dispute and threat of schism." He draws on post-liberal theological perspectives such as those found in the works of George Lindbeck and Peter Berger. In 2018, a group of scholars from the fields of sociology, anthropology, musicology, theology and ecclesiology published a book on Percy's work to date, based on an earlier symposium engaging with Percy's writings, held at Virginia Theological Seminary in 2016. The subsequent Reasonable Radical? Reading the Writings of Martyn Percy offers a broad guide to the compass of Percy's work.Percy has adopted a progressive outlook on a number of social issues, such as LGBTQ rights and the ordination of women. However, his writings affirm orthodox Christian positions on the incarnation, atonement, resurrection and ascension; he has consistently defended the historicity of Jesus' healing and nature miracles. Noted for his work on fundamentalism and revivalism, for which he engages with sociology and anthropology, he was described in the academic journal Theology, by Nigel Rooms, as the British theologian who is the closest to being a "missionary anthropologist".
In 2002, Percy co-founded the Society for the Study of Anglicanism with Tom Hughson, which meets annually at the American Academy of Religion and is now in a full partnership with Virginia Theological Seminary. Percy has served as chair of committee for Cliff College – a Methodist Bible college in the evangelical-charismatic tradition – and also works with a number of other evangelical groups. He is a vice-president of Modern Church and has been a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford since 2004. From 2014-22 he has also taught for the Said Business School and for the Department of Sociology at the university.
Percy has been a regular contributor to The Guardian, The Times, Prospect Magazine, BBC Radio Four, and the BBC World Service.