[ACNS] The inaugural Distinguished Fellowship award by the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion network (CUAC) has been awarded to the Revd Dr Jeremy Law, Dean of Chapel and Chaplain of Canterbury Christ Church University, in Kent, England.
CUAC is a network of 135 Anglican colleges and universities worldwide. Last year, CUAC’s board devised the Distinguished Fellowship as an annual award to recognise “those rare, extraordinary people who go out of their way to assist [the colleges and universities] in being strong and able,” CUAC’s general secretary, the Revd Canon James G. Callaway, said from his office in New York.
The Distinguished Fellowship will be awarded annually “to an individual who models exceptional and active service within the life of CUAC to member colleges, he said.
Dr Law was presented with his award earlier this month in London during an evening which also saw the Revd Canon Professor Richard Burridge, Dean of King’s College London and Professor of Biblical Interpretation, deliver the Dearing Lecture on “Church foundation, pluralist present, uncertain future? The role and calling of faith-based institutions in Higher Education today.”
Presenting the award, the chair of the Europe chapter of CUAC, the Revd Canon Professor Peter Neil, Vice Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln, said that it was “a huge honour” for the first Distinguished Fellowship to be awarded to “such a deserving individual in one of the leading Anglican institutions in the [United Kingdom.”
The award by CUAC’s board recognises the more-than 21 years contribution that Dr Law has made to the work of University Chaplaincy and to theological scholarship.
“It is relatively unusual, these days, for someone to live out their priesthood in the world of the University, but this is what Jeremy's vocation has required of him,” the Right Revd Martin Wharton, one of CUAC’s international trustees, said. “His ability to combine this with his scholarship is remarkable. He is a generous and gracious colleague with a passionate commitment to the best kind of University Education that Anglican Universities can provide. This is why we all delight in the recognition that he has been given by the International Board of CUAC.”
Professor Rama Thirunamachandran, Vice-Chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University said “I am delighted that Jeremy’s contribution is being recognised in this way. Through his focus on the wellbeing of staff and students Jeremy has demonstrated the vital contribution Chaplaincies make to modern universities”.
CUAC say that Jeremy has vociferously supported its work over many years and has been an influential member of the organising committee for International Conferences. “He has been instrumental at bringing coherence to the conference themes, securing notable speakers, designing the process and organising the worship,” the network said in a statement.
“In addition, Jeremy organised the first CUAC conference for Anglican University Chaplains. Jeremy’s calm assurance, his quiet, self-effacing manner and the customary courtesy he displays at all times ensured that the chaplains’ conference was a highly creative experience which generated new opportunities for developments in Chaplaincy across the Anglican Communion.”
Dr Law was born in Wales, and moved to England for most of his upbringing, He returned to Wales to study for a degree in Geology at Aberystwyth University. A First saw him embark on a PhD at Leeds, but a call to the ministry of the Church of England interrupted this initial trajectory.
Theological College enabled him to gain a degree in Theology (another First) and, following a curacy in Wimborne Minster in Dorset, doctoral studies claimed him again. This time it was at Oxford University under the supervision of Rowan Williams, then the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, and with a successful conclusion.
Ministry and academia came together in an appointment as Lazenby Chaplain and Lecturer in Theology at Exeter University (1994-2003) and then as Dean of Chapel, Canterbury Christ Church University since 2003.