Nicholas Taylor

Background

About Nicholas Taylor

I studied in the University of Cape Town, graduating in Humanities with Honours and M.A. in Religious Studies. Thereafter I obtained my Ph.D. in Theology (New Testament) from the University of Durham. While lecturing in Theology and Religious Studies in the University of Swaziland, I was ordained Deacon and Priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. I subsequently became Senior Lecturer in Theology in Africa University in Zimbabwe, serving concurrently in the Diocese of Manicaland as Director of Theological Education, Canon Theologian of Mutare Cathedral, and Rector of St Augustine's Mission, Penhalonga. I then held a Research Fellowship in the University of Pretoria. On completing this contract I was appointed to a Research Fellowship in Theology and Religion in the University of Zululand. During a year's sabbatical in Oxford, I taught New Testament at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, and worked on an M.Th. in Applied Theology. A result of this work was my book, Lay Presidency at the Eucharist, published in 2009. The same year I became Rector of St Aidan's, Clarkston in Glasgow, and the following year Subject Coordinator for New Testament in the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church (TISEC). My duties in TISEC expanded over the years, and I became Convener of the Glasgow Seminar, responsible for local delivery of modules in the west of Scotland. I served on the Doctrine Committee of the Scottish Episcopal Church for eight years. I was subsequently appointed also to the Liturgy Committee, and am now its Convenor. I was a founding member of the Editorial Board of the Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal. I am an Associate Tutor of the Scottish Episcopal Institute, and an Honorary Fellow of New College, Edinburgh. Continuing research interests are in Christian origins, Liturgy, and Ministry, and I have published a book on Baptism in the early Church, comparing the social, missionary, and pastoral context of the early Christian writings with contemporary situations in which questions of baptismal practice arise. Outside the Church, I served for three years as Chairperson of the Scottish Palestinian Forum, and umbrella group of various church-related, charitable, and other organisations concerned with peace and justice in Palestine-Israel. I have academic interests in this issue as well.