Kenneth Stevenson
Kenneth William Stevenson ( born November 9, 1949 in Aberlady, near Edinburgh, † January 11, 2011 in Southampton ) was a British Anglican clergyman and was from 1995 to 2009 Bishop of Portsmouth.
Life and career
Stevenson came from both maternal and paternal several generations of clergy. His father was a clergyman, his mother's father was a bishop in Denmark. He is a Scottish- Danish origin. His mother was Danish; his father had met his future wife in Denmark when he was active in church service there. Stevenson himself was fluent in Danish. Also sermons he wrote and kept in the Danish language.
Stevenson attended from 1957 to 1966 the Edinburgh Academy. He made in 1970 a Master of Arts degree from Edinburgh University, he graduated with honors. In preparation for the priesthood, he attended from 1970, the Sarum and Wells Theological College. Stevenson was consecrated in the Cathedral of Lincoln as a deacon and a priest in 1974 1973. From 1973 to 1976 he was Vicar auxiliary in Grantham and at the same time responsible for the parish in Manthorpe. His doctorate in philosophy, he laid in 1975 at Southampton University from.
From 1976 to 1980 he was a curate in Boston. At the same time, he was from 1975 to 1980 priests and Tutor at Lincoln Theological College in Lincoln. From 1980 to 1986 he was chaplain and professor at Manchester University. He was also at this time Dean (Team Vicar) and parish priest in the Whitworth district in Manchester. In 1983 he was visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame in the United States. From 1986 to 1995 he was pastor at Holy Trinity Church in Guildford.
In 1995 he was appointed the eighth Bishop of Portsmouth. On September 30, 2009, he entered for cancer in retirement. He had had to undergo previously been treated for leukemia two operations. He was succeeded in February 2010 Christopher Foster.
He is also the author of several theological works, most recently in 2007 Waiting and Watching: The Riddle of Advent, a book about the Advent season, and 2008 Take, Eat: Reflections on the Eucharist. In 2001 he published together with Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of Europe, the anthology Love's Redeeming Work, a guide to Anglican faith, which now reached several editions, and became a bestseller. Stevenson received several awards during his ecclesiastical career. In 1987 he received a PhD from Manchester University in Theology ( Doctor of Divinity ), 1990 he was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society ( FRHistS ). 2006 Stevenson received an honorary doctorate in the subject Law ( Hon LLD) from the University of Portsmouth. 2007, the Dannebrog Medal he was awarded.
Membership in the House of Lords
Stevenson was on September 10, 1999 to the House of Lords. His inaugural address was delivered on 15 December 1999. Among his political areas of interest he counts issues of education, housing, and integration of people with disabilities, health care, constitutional issues and immigration policy. As countries of particular interest Stevenson Denmark and Scandinavia stated in general.
In the House of Lords from 2002 to 2003 he was a member of the Committee on religious offenses ( Religious Offences ). Stevenson also belonged to the House of Lords ' Offices Committee. From 2006 to 2009 he was chairman of the Spiritual Lords ( Convenor ). His successor as convenor was Timothy John Stevens. Stevenson's seat in the House of Lords took over from 2009, the Bishop of Gloucester, Michael Perham Francis.
Work in the public
Stevenson was a convinced advocate of ecumenism within the churches. Stevenson was particularly interested in working with other Protestant denominations. One of its priorities within its ecclesial ministry was therefore the cooperation with the Lutheran churches in Northern Europe, the Baltic States and Iceland.
From 1997 to 2009 he was chairman of the Anglo - Nordic - Baltic Theological Conference. Since 2005 he has been under the Porvoo Communion Chairman of Porvoo Panel, previously he was from 1999 to 2005 and deputy chairman. The Porvoo Panel coordinated for the Church of England the implementation and execution of the 1992 drafted at the conference of Porvoo Declaration on cooperation and shared communion of the four Anglican churches of Britain, the Anglican Church in Ireland and the eight Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches.
In June 2003, he declined to comment on the nomination of homosexual clergy Jeffrey John as Auxiliary Bishop of Reading by Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, from.
Stevenson was on 7 October 2008 the signatories of a declaration that called for the protection of children against mental and physical violence.
Private and death
Stevenson was married and the father of four children. He lived since his retirement with his wife Sarah in Chichester, where he continues wrote theological writings. In September 2010, was the last public appearance at a theological lecture to the Bishops of the Church of England at Oxford. Stevenson was suffering from leukemia for several years; in the last few months his health had deteriorated considerably. Most recently, he was, palliative medical care, according to the Bishop of Portsmouth, Christopher Foster. John Gladwin, former Bishop of Chelmsford, Stevenson praised as "one of the truly great bishops of the Church of England ". On 26 January 2011, the funeral for Stevenson took place in the Cathedral of Portsmouth.