The first year of the Network, and four fellowships funded by the Westminster College Oxford Trust (WCOT) has been productive, demonstrating both the need for the project and its possibilities for development. The four fellows – Professor Bev Clack, Revd Dr Martin Wellings, Dr Tom Dobson and Dr Daniel Reed – have worked together well, with Drs Dobson and Reed taking on much of the administrative work, including the co-ordination of the new research space at Wesley Memorial (which houses a selection of material from the Wesley Historical Society [WHS] and other historic collections), and also maintaining the legacy of the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History (OCMCH). Professor Clack and the Revd. Dr Wellings, have been in discussion with the Connexion as to the development of the fellowships in line with Church objectives – all four fellows have also pursued their own research.
The delay in the opening of the Gibbs Room has been frustrating; but the ‘happy accident’ of the fellowships not having an institutional home at Harris Manchester College, but in the Farmington Institute, has enabled creative thinking about the relationship between academia and the church. This was made plain in the use of the John Wesley Room at Wesley Memorial Church for our first independent event on Methodist Ways of Life. The new research space at Wesley Memorial Church also makes concrete the embedded nature of the fellowships in church life, and further facilitates the exploration of new ways of thinking around the relationship between academic theology and the church.
Finally, as the Network completes its first year of activities, we would like to thank Dr Daniel Reed for all of his work and support this year as one of our foundational Research Fellows. With his one-year fellowship, Dr Reed has co-ordinated the marketing effort for the Methodist Studies Seminar, continued to develop our digital presence (now with added material provided by The Methodist Church); and furthered his own research activities, all whilst studying for a postgraduate diploma in at Aberystwyth University.
The first year of the project has put down foundations and we are now in a position to look to the future with confidence: a confidence we hope that the Trust will share. This following report details some of the activities of the Network, both as individual fellows and collectively.
To read the full report, click the link below.
Westminster Oxford Research Network 