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Author: Simon Jenkins

Desmond Tutu

Ever since the current Archbishop of Cape Town announced the death of Desmond Tutu early on Boxing Day, the many tributes being paid often begin with words such as activist, campaigner, protester, fighter or opponent. Yet these popular descriptions miss the heart of the person that I knew over more than four decades, someone who insisted on ‘being’ before ‘doing’, contemplation before action, or who said he wanted to be a ‘quietist’ more than an activist.

Cannonball moments

It’s the 500th anniversary of Ignatius of Loyola being knocked off his feet by a cannonball and being forced to lie down with his legs up, taking stock of his life, over the summer months of 1521. Check out the video below for an introduction to this Ignatian year. Because the cannonball moment was what

Review of Christobiography by Craig Keener

The debate about the biographical genre of the Gospels is alive and well, with several major books coming out at the moment. Here’s my review of Craig Keener’s massive Christobiography, just published in Theology. Back in the late 1990s, I started to receive books with personal dedications in a spidery scrawl, saying nice things about

Retiring as Dean of King’s College London

Top photo: Professor Sir Edward Byrne AC (Principal of King’s, 2014-2020) and Professor Sir Rick Trainor (Principal, 2004-2014) flanking Professor Burridge at his Valedictory Dinner, December 19th 2020. Professor Sir Edward Byrne AC, President & Principal of King’s College London, wrote as follows about my stepping down as Dean of King’s College London in 2019.

Longest serving Dean at King’s College!

On Thursday July 21 2016, after 8,026 days of service, the Revd Canon Prof Richard A. Burridge, became the longest serving Dean of King’s College London, passing the record of the previous longest serving Dean, the Very Revd Sydney Evans. He was elected Dean in July 1993, and started full-time at King’s on 1 August