The Al-Maktoum Institute has signed a unique educational agreement with Ripon College Cuddesdon in Oxford where students are preparing for the priesthood.
The formal collaborative link between the two establishments recognises that priests, who will be working in a multicultural Britain, need to have a firm understanding of the Islamic and Muslim communities in Britain and the wider world.
The agreement provides for the Institute to send a scholar of Islamic studies each year to spend a semester at Ripon College Cuddesdon as a Visiting Fellow. The scholar will deliver a course on Islam and engage in the life and community of the college and the University of Oxford.
The Memorandum of Agreement, signed by Institute Principal, Professor Malory Nye and the Revd Canon Professor Martyn Percy, Ripon College Cuddesdon’s Principal, has been warmly welcomed by both parties.
“We have worked with churches in Scotland before but this is a significant first partnership agreement with a training college for priests in England,” said Professor Nye.
“Ripon College Cuddesdon is pre-eminent and boasts many bishops and Archbishops among its alumni – including two recent and famous Archbishops of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey and Robert Runcie – so we are hugely honoured to be involved with them in this co-operative venture. The Fellowship scheme will encourage dialogue, debate and interaction between Christian training and Islamic studies so this will be a mutually beneficial agreement. This is a unique and innovative development that will make an important contribution to Christian-Muslim understanding in Britain.
“Clearly, the Institute’s growing reputation as a centre of excellence with an outstanding range of courses plus our new agenda for engagement at both academic and cultural levels has played a major part in the signing of this memorandum. We are delighted and hopefully further co-operation and collaboration between the Al-Maktoum Institute and Ripon College Cuddesdon will follow in time.”
While the Institute was formed only eight years ago and is now setting out on the road to establish University College status by 2020, Ripon College Cuddesdon has a longer history stretching back to the 19th century – founded in 1854.
It is a theological college in the Church of England (Episcopalian Church) – currently with over 130 residential and non-residential students training for ordination, over forty pursuing other courses, and twelve academic staff – that seeks to model the working together of ordained and lay ministry that is deemed to be vital for the health of the church of the future.
“We are honoured to be entering in to this partnership with the Al-Maktoum Institute,” said Professor Percy.
“Through the establishment of this new fellowship at Cuddesdon, we will be able to increase the range, salience and depth of the training we offer to clergy here, and thereby build a much greater understanding of Christian-Muslim relations that is so vital for ministers of all faiths in today’s world.
“We are delighted to be working with the Al-Maktoum Institute, and hope to build on this vitally important and unique partnership in theological training.”
