Judges to help Archbishop of Canterbury choose Winner of Theology Prize

The Michael Ramsey Prize, awarded biennially, and worth £15,000, aims to encourage the most promising contemporary theological writing and to identify it for a wider Christian readership.

The judges for the 2009 Prize will be Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, winner of the 2007 Michael Ramsey Prize; AN Wilson, the writer; Dr Elaine Storkey, the lecturer, writer and broadcaster and Canon Dr Paula Gooder, the New Testament expert.

"I am delighted that such a distinguished group of people have accepted my invitation to be judges for the 2009 prize and am looking forward to working with them." said the Archbishop from Lambeth Palace today.

The judges will also be joined by a member of the public yet to be selected through a writing competition. The competition (closing date 21April 2008) is open to anyone. Details are available on the Prize website www.michaelramseyprize.org.

The winner of the 2009 Michael Ramsey Prize will be announced in May 2009 at the Hay-on-Wye Literary Festival.

The biennial prize was inaugurated by Archbishop of Canterbury in 2005 to commemorate Dr Ramsey, who was Archbishop of Canterbury 1961-1974, and his commitment to increasing the breadth of theological understanding of people in general.

Fr Timothy Radcliffe

TIMOTHY RADCLIFFE is a Dominican friar. He was educated at Oxford and Paris, taught theology at Oxford, and was involved in ministry to people with AIDS. He was Provincial of the English Province of the Dominican Order, and then, as Master of the Order, he travelled widely in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He is the author of several theological works, including 'What is the point of being a Christian?' for which he was award the Michael Ramsey Prize in 2007.

A.N. Wilson

A.N. WILSON was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has held a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. An award-winning biographer, he has written lives of Sir Walter Scott (John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Tolstoy (Whitbread Award for Biography), C.S. Lewis, Hilaire Belloc, and, most recently, Iris Murdoch. In 1992 he caused a sensation with his bestselling Jesus and this he followed up with his equally controversial Paul. The Victorians, his study of the Victorian age, was published in 2002 to massive critical acclaim. He is also a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his fiction.

Dr Elaine Storkey

ELAINE STORKEY is trained in theology, philosophy and the social sciences and her writing has mainly been in gender studies, theology and Christian worldviews. She is President of Tearfund with world-wide links and concerns, a member of General Synod, and lectures and broadcasts widely.

Canon Dr Paula Gooder

PAULA GOODER is a freelance writer and lecturer in New Testament.  After studying theology in Oxford, she taught Biblical studies for twelve years first in Oxford and then Birmingham, before making the move to freelance work.  She is Canon Theologian at Birmingham Cathedral, Visiting Lecturer at King's College London,  Honorary lecturer at Birmingham University and Senior Research scholar at the Queen's foundation, Birmingham. Her research interests include mysticism in the writings of Paul the Apostle, the development of ministry in the early church and New Testament Interpretation. 

The Michael Ramsey Prize is administered by SPCK on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and is sponsored by the Lambeth Partners.

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