Andrew Atherstone is Professor of Modern Anglicanism at the University of Oxford, and Tutorial Fellow in Church History and Latimer Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
Contact: andrew.atherstone@wycliffe.ox.ac.uk
Andrew has taught at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, since 2007 and is reseach fellow of the Latimer Trust (an Anglican evangelical research institute). He is a member of Oxford University’s Faculty of Theology and Religion, and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He studied mathematics and theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge 1991-95, followed by a doctorate in ecclesiastical history at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford 1998-2001. He was ordained in 2001 in the Church of England, and is an associate minister in Eynsham and Cassington, two villages in West Oxfordshire, where he lives with his wife, Catherine.
Andrew is a member of the Church of England’s General Synod, and currently serves on the Faith and Order Commission and the Liturgical Commission. He is a member of the Anglican Consultative Council, one of the Anglican Communion’s four ‘instruments of communion’. He is editor of Routledge Studies in Evangelicalism (with David Ceri Jones), and until recently chairman of The Global Anglican editorial board.
Andrew’s main research explores the history of Anglicanism and Evangelicalism from the 18th century to the present. His latest books are The Oxford Handbook of Christian Fundamentalism (Oxford University Press, 2023) and Repackaging Christianity: Alpha and the Building of a Global Brand (Hodder and Stoughton, 2022). Current writing projects include Anglican Evangelical Identity Crisis c.1960-2005 (Oxford University Press) and J. C. Ryle on the Christian Life (Crossway). He is also editing the correspondence of Charles Simeon, Cambridge
preacher, for the Church of England Record Society; and the
correspondence of Bishop J. C. Ryle for the Banner of Truth Trust. Looking further ahead, also at an early stage of preparation are a history of Wycliffe Hall (to mark its 150th anniversary in 2027) and a biography of ‘D.J.’ (Douglas Johnson), one of the founders of the Inter-Varsity Fellowship (to mark the UCCF centenary in 2028).
Below are details of Andrew’s publications (both research and popular).
MONOGRAPHS and EDITED VOLUMES
Ryle on the Christian Life: Growing in Grace (Crossway, forthcoming 2025)
The Oxford Handbook of Christian Fundamentalism (Oxford University Press, 2023), edited with David Ceri Jones
Repackaging Christianity: Alpha and the Building of a Global Brand (Hodder and Stoughton, 2022)
Transatlantic Charismatic Renewal, c.1950-2000 (Brill, Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, 2021), edited with Mark Hutchinson and John Maiden
Making Evangelical History: Faith, Scholarship and the Evangelical Past (Routledge, 2019), edited with David Ceri Jones
Routledge Research Companion to the History of Evangelicalism (Routledge, 2018), edited with David Ceri Jones
Evangelicalism and the Church of England in the Twentieth Century: Reform, Resistance and Renewal (Boydell Press, 2014), edited with John Maiden
Archbishop Justin Welby: Risk-taker and Reconciler (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2014)
Archbishop Justin Welby: The Road to Canterbury (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2013)
Engaging with Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Apollos, 2011), edited with David Ceri Jones
Oxford's Protestant Spy: The Controversial Career of Charles Golightly (Paternoster, 2007)
CRITICAL EDITIONS
J. C. Ryle's Christmas Thoughts (Banner of Truth, 2022)
Bishop J. C. Ryle's Autobiography: The Early Years (Banner of Truth, 2016)
The Journal of Bishop Daniel Wilson of Calcutta, 1845-1857, Church of England Record Society vol.21 (Boydell Press, 2015)
‘G.R. Balleine and the Invasion of Jersey: Wartime Letters to His Daughter’, Société Jersiaise Annual Bulletin vol. 31 (2013)
Such a Great Salvation: The Collected Essays of Alan Stibbs (Mentor, 2008)
‘The Undergraduate Diary of Francis Chavasse 1865-1868’ in Evangelicalism in the Church of England c.1790-c.1900, ed. Mark Smith and Stephen Taylor, Church of England Record Society vol.12 (Boydell Press, 2004)
BOOK CHAPTERS and BOOKLETS
‘David Watson (1933-84)’, in British Anglican Spiritual Writers of the Twentieth Century, ed. Michael Brierley (Brill, forthcoming)
‘Memoirs, Manuscripts and Manipulations: Anglican Evangelicals from Charles Simeon to the Global South’, in The Gospel in the Past: Essays on the Historiography of the Evangelical Movement, ed. David Bebbington (Baylor University Press, forthcoming)
‘Faith and the University: Oxford Student Evangelism since the Second World War’, in Christianity in Britain since 1914, ed. David Goodhew and Mark Smith (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming)
‘Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism’, in The Edinburgh Critical History of Twentieth-Century Christian Theology, ed. Philip Ziegler (Edinburgh University Press, 2022)
‘W. H. Griffith Thomas’, in British Evangelical Theologians of the Twentieth Century: An Enduring Legacy, ed. T. A. Noble and Jason Sexton (Inter-Varsity Press, 2022)
‘Evangelical Dissentients and the Defeat of the Anglican-Methodist Unity Scheme’, in Anglican-Methodist Ecumenism: The Search for Church Unity, 1920-2020, ed. Jane Platt and Martin Wellings (Routledge, 2022)
‘The Stones Will Cry Out: Victorian and Edwardian Memorials to the Reformation Martyrs’ in Remembering the Reformation, ed. Brian Cummings, Ceri Law, Karis Riley, and Alexandra Walsham (Routledge, 2020)
‘Defending Reformation Anglicanism: The Bishop Jewel Society at Oxford University, 1947-1975’ in Defending the Faith: John Jewel and the Elizabethan Church, ed. Angela Ranson, Andre Gazal and Sarah Bastow (Penn State University Press, 2018)
‘Protestant Reactions: Oxford, 1838-1846’ in The Oxford Handbook of the Oxford Movement, ed. Stewart J. Brown, Peter Nockles and James Pereiro (Oxford University Press, 2017)
‘Evangelical Anglicanism’ in Partisan and Colonial Anglicanism, 1829-1910, ed. Rowan Strong, Oxford History of Anglicanism vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2017)
‘Commemorating Whitefield in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’ in George Whitefield: Life, Context and Legacy, ed. Geordan Hammond and David Ceri Jones (Oxford University Press, 2016)
‘Identities and Parties’ in The Oxford Handbook of Anglican Studies, ed. Mark D. Chapman, Sathianathan Clarke, and Martyn Percy (Oxford University Press, 2015)
‘Christian Family, Christian Nation: Raymond Johnston and the Nationwide Festival of Light in Defence of the Family’, in Religion and the Household, ed. John Doran, Charlotte Methuen and Alexandra Walsham (Boydell Press, 2014)
‘Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in the Inter-War Church of England’ in Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in the United Kingdom during the Twentieth Century, ed. David Bebbington and David Ceri Jones (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Charles Simeon on the Excellency of the Liturgy (Joint Liturgical Studies, 2011)
‘Gospel Opportunity or Unbiblical Relic? The Established Church through Anglican Evangelical Eyes’ in The Established Church: Past, Present and Future, ed. Mark D. Chapman, Judith Maltby and William Whyte (T&T Clark, 2011)
‘Frances Ridley Havergal's Theology of Nature’ in God's Bounty? The Churches and the Natural World, ed. Peter Clarke and Tony Claydon (Boydell Press, 2010)
Evangelical Mission and Anglican Church Order: Charles Simeon Reconsidered (Latimer Trust, 2009), republished in Preachers, Pastors and Ambassadors: Puritan Wisdom for Today's Church, ed. Lee Gatiss (Latimer Trust, 2011)
An Anglican Evangelical Identity Crisis: The Churchman-Anvil Affair of 1981-1984 (Latimer Trust, 2008)
‘“The Prince of Pastoral Preachers”: The Oxford Sermons of Francis Chavasse’ in British Evangelical Identities Past and Present, ed. Mark Smith (Paternoster, 2008)
‘Rescued from the Brink: The Collapse and Resurgence of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford’ in Revival and Resurgence in Christian History, ed. Kate Cooper and Jeremy Gregory (Boydell Press, 2008)
‘The Founding of Cuddesdon: Liddon, Ritualism and the Forces of Reaction’ and ‘Controversy Renewed: Partisan Polemic and the Great Ritualist “Conspiracy”’ in Ambassadors of Christ: Commemorating 150 Years of Theological Education in Cuddesdon, 1854-2004, ed. Mark D. Chapman (Ashgate, 2004)
JOURNAL ARTICLES
‘John Henry Newman’s National Monument: An Oxford Controversy’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History vol. 74 (October 2023)
‘Scripture, Satan, and the Sacrament: The Clifton Excommunication Case of 1874-1876’, Journal of Theological Studies vol. 73 (April 2022)
‘Evangelical Dissentients and the Defeat of the Anglican-Methodist Unity Scheme’, Wesley and Methodist Studies vol. 5 (January 2015)
‘George Reginald Balleine: Historian of Anglican Evangelicalism’, Journal of Anglican Studies vol. 12 (May 2014)
‘Memorializing William Tyndale’ in Reinventing the Reformation in the Nineteenth Century: A Cultural History, ed. Peter Nockles and Vivienne Westbrook, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library vol. 90 (Spring 2014)
‘Evangelicals and the Oxford Movement Centenary’, Journal of Religious History vol. 37 (March 2013)
‘The Keele Congress of 1967: A Paradigm Shift in Anglican Evangelical Attitudes’, Journal of Anglican Studies vol. 9 (November 2011)
‘The Canonisation of the Forty English Martyrs: An Ecumenical Dilemma’, Recusant History vol. 30 (October 2011)
‘A Mad Hatter's Tea Party in the Old Mitre Tavern? Ecumenical Reactions to Growing into Union’, Ecclesiology vol. 6 (January 2010)
‘Evangelical Pilgrims to the Holy Land: Wycliffe Hall’s Encounter with the Eastern Churches, 1927-37’, Sobornost vol. 30 (Winter 2008)
‘Evangelicals Fragmented: Theological Tensions at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford c.1980-95’, Christianity and History Bulletin vol. 4 (Spring 2008)
‘The Silencing of Paul Baynes and Thomas Taylor, Puritan Lecturers at Cambridge’, Notes and Queries vol. 252 (December 2007)
‘Anglican Evangelicals, Old Catholics and the Bonn Agreement’, Internationale Kirchliche Zeitschrift vol. 97 (March 2007)
‘The Founding of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford’, Anglican and Episcopal History vol. 73 (March 2004)
‘Archbishop Carey’s Ecumenical Vision’, Theology vol. 106 (September 2003)
‘Benjamin Jowett’s Pauline Commentary: An Atonement Controversy’, Journal of Theological Studies vol. 54 (April 2003)
‘The Martyrs’ Memorial at Oxford’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History vol. 54 (April 2003)
‘Robert Baker Girdlestone and “God’s Own Book”’, Evangelical Quarterly vol. 74 (October 2002)
DICTIONARY ARTICLES
‘Melvin Tinker’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online supplement 2025 forthcoming)
‘James Innell Packer’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online supplement 2024)
‘(Edward) Michael Bankes Green’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online supplement 2023)
‘The Forty English and Welsh Martyrs (fl. 1470s-1670s)’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online supplement 2022)
A dozen articles in Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. Andrew Louth (fifth edition, Oxford University Press, 2022)
‘Oliver Raymond Barclay’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online supplement 2016)
‘Daniel Henry Charles Bartlett’, ‘George Francis Graham Brown’, ‘William Henry Griffith Thomas’ and ‘Olaf Raymond Johnston’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online supplement 2012)
‘Edwin Atherstone’ and ‘James Bird’ in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004)
‘George Leornard Carey’ and ‘Henry Wace’ in Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals, ed. Timothy Larsen (Inter-Varsity Press, 2003)
POPULAR BOOKS
Good Disagreement? Grace and Truth in a Divided Church (Lion Hudson, 2015), edited with Andrew Goddard
The Houses of Parliament: Cradle of Democracy (Day One, 2011)
The Reformation: Faith and Flames (Lion Hudson, 2011), republished as Reformation: A World in Turmoil (Lion Hudson, 2015)
The Heart of Faith: Following Christ in the Church of England (Lutterworth, 2008), as editor and contributor
Oxford: City of Saints, Scholars and Dreaming Spires (Day One, 2008)
The Martyrs of Mary Tudor (Day One 2005, revised edition 2007)
POPULAR CHAPTERS and ARTICLES
‘In Communion with the See of Canterbury?’, The Global Anglican vol. 138 (March 2024)
The Recent Evolution of the Church of England's Liturgical Procedures and Canons (B1 to B5A): A Briefing Paper from the Liturgical Commission (General Synod, GS Misc 1359, November 2023)
‘The House of Bishops of the Church of England and Public Transparency', Law and Religion UK (online, November 2023)
‘Devices and Desires: Corporate Confession in the Book of Common Prayer’, Faith and Worship vol. 89 (Trinity 2021)
‘Reforming Worship: Lessons from Luther and Cranmer’, Churchman vol. 132 (Summer 2018)
‘Article 7: The Old Testament’, in Foundations of Faith: Reflections on the 39 Articles ed. Lee Gatiss (Lost Coin, 2018)
‘The Lord’s Supper and the Gospel of Salvation: Grace Alone and Faith Alone in the Book of Common Prayer’, in Feed My Sheep: The Anglican Ministry of Word and Sacrament ed. Lee Gatiss (Lost Coin, 2016)
‘Baptism Dilemmas: Repentance, Faith, and Christening the Unchurched’, in The Effective Anglican, ed. Lee Gatiss (Lost Coin, 2015)
‘Honouring George Whitefield: Funeral Eulogies and Elegies in England and America’, In Writing no. 126 (Spring/Summer 2015), republished in Churchman vol. 130 (Summer 2016)
‘Are Sydney Anglicans Fundamentalists?’, in Sydney Anglicanism: Responses to Michael Jensen's ‘Apology’ (St Mark's Review no. 226, November 2013)
‘Hagiography and History’, in Truth at All Costs: The Westminster Conference 2012 (London, 2013)
‘J.C. Ryle's Evangelistic Strategy’, Churchman vol. 125 (Autumn 2011), republished in Stand Firm and Fight On: J. C. Ryle and the Future for Anglican Evangelicals, ed. Lee Gatiss(Lost Coin, 2016)
‘The Implications of Semper Reformanda’, Anvil vol. 26 (Spring 2009)
‘Divine Retribution: A Forgotten Doctrine?’, Themelios vol. 34 (April 2009)
‘Redefining Anglicanism? An Evangelical Critique of the Proposed Anglican Covenant’, Churchman vol. 121 (Winter 2007)
‘The Passions of the Marian Martyrs: Lessons for the Anglican Communion’, Churchman vol. 120 (Autumn 2006)
‘The Incoherence of the Anglican Communion’, Churchman vol. 118 (Autumn 2004)
‘The Letters of John’, Guidelines vol. 20 (January 2004)
POPULAR BOOKLETS, mostly on LITURGY
‘Drink This, All of You’: Individual Cups at Holy Communion (Grove Books, 2022), with Andrew Goddard
The Anglican Ordinal: Gospel Priorities for Church of England Ministry (Latimer Trust, 2020)
Scarf or Stole at Ordination? A Plea for the Evangelical Conscience (Latimer Trust, 2012; new edition 2023)
Lay Presidency: An Anglican Option? (Grove Books, 2011)
Clergy Robes and Mission Priorities (Grove Books, 2008)
Introducing Times and Seasons: The Easter Cycle (Grove Books, 2007), with Colin Buchanan, Phillip Tovey and Patrick Angier
Common Worship Reconciliation and Restoration: A Commentary (Grove Books, 2006), with Phillip Tovey and David Kennedy
‘I Absolve You’: Private Confession and the Church of England (Latimer Trust, 2005)
Confessing Our Sins (Grove Books, 2004)
‘Search Me, O God’: The Practice of Self-Examination (Grove Books, 2003)
REVIEW ARTICLES
‘Stephen Cottrell’s Ministry Manifesto’ [review of Archbishop Cottrell’s On Priesthood], Psephizo (online, July 2020)
‘Why we Should Listen to Vicky Beeching’ [review of Vicky Beeching’s Undivided and Jane Ozanne’s Just Love], Psephizo (online, July, 2018)
‘Amoris Laetitia’ [review of Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation], Churchman vol. 131 (Winter 2017)
‘Calvinism and Bungee Jumping’ [review of D.G. Hart's Calvinism: A History], Banner of Truth no. 602 (November 2013)
‘A Curate’s Egg’ [review of Rob Warner's Reinventing English Evangelicalism 1966-2001], Anvil vol. 26 (Winter 2009)
JOURNALISM (print and online)
‘Alternative Provision Can Work’ [on Oxford's alternative ordinations], Church Times (4 October 2024)
‘Clare Heath-Whyte: Biographer of the Neglected and "Unfamous"’, Evangelicals Now (October 2024)
‘Obituary: The Rt Revd Dr Colin Buchanan’, Church Times (15 December 2023)
‘Obituary: The Rt Revd David Pytches’, Church Times (8 December 2023)
‘Obituary: The Revd Dr Roger Beckwith’, Church Times (17 November 2023)
‘Grieving the Anglican Communion: English Primacy and the Anglican Consultative Council’, Psephizo (online, February 2023)
‘Obituary: The Revd John Collins’, Church Times (13 January 2023)
‘New Anglican Bishops for England and Europe’, Psephizo (online, October 2022)
‘Iain Murray at 90: A Birthday Tribute’, Gospel Coalition (online, April 2021), The Banner of Truth (June 2021)
‘Receving Communion in Individual Cups’, Psephizo (online, July 2020)
‘Is the "Seal of the Confessional" Anglican?’, Psephizo (online, May 2019)
‘What Really Happened at the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC 17)?’, Psephizo (online, May 2019)
‘Living in Hope? The Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith Project on Sexuality’, Psephizo (online, March 2019)
‘Wait Not for the Bishops!’, Crossway no. 147 (Spring 2018)
‘Tender Mercy: Thomas Cranmer on the Lord’s Supper and Grace Alone’, Credo Magazine vol. 7 (2017)
‘Evangelicals Exit Their Ghetto’ [on the Keele Congress], Church Times (31 March 2017)
‘Hunting for Ryle Manuscripts’, Banner of Truth no. 632 (May 2016)
‘Identity in Christ, not in DNA’ [on Archbishop Welby], Church Times (15 April 2016)
‘Archbishop Welby and the Fiery Cauldron of a Broken Family’, Sunday Telegraph (10 April 2016)
‘The Nones’ Story’, The Tablet (30 January 2016)
‘If We Can Make Up, Can We Still Kiss?’ [on good disagreement], Church Times (16 October 2015), with Andrew Goddard
‘Oxford’s 25 Missions’, Evangelicals Now (February 2015)
‘Obituary: The Revd David Anderson’, Church Times (30 January 2015)
‘Gerald Bray at Churchman: Thirty Years and Counting’, Crossway no.131 (Winter 2014) / Credo Magazine (online, March 2017)
‘Conversion of an Archbishop’, Evangelicals Now (October 2014)
‘Justin Welby’s Leadership Manual’, Church of England Newspaper (11 July 2014)
‘Ministerial Vesture: One Size Does Not Fit All’, Church Times (31 January 2014)
‘Reflections on GAFCON 2’, Fulcrum (online, October 2013)
‘Archbishop Welby and the E-Word’, Fulcrum (online, March 2013) / Crossway no.128 (Spring 2013)
‘Justin Welby Doesn’t Do Fluffy Spirituality’, The Guardian (online, March 2013)
‘From Dodging Bullets to St Benedict’s Rule’ [on Archishop Welby], Church Times (15 March 2013)
‘Christian Lives: The Oxford DNB’, Church of England Newspaper (28 September 2012)
‘A Protestant Monarchy?’, Crossway no. 125 (Summer 2012)
‘Lay Presidency: Time for Change’, Church of England Newspaper (20 October 2011)