Henry William Scriven (born 30 August 1951) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

who has served in Europe and in America.

Early life and education

Scriven was born on 30 August 1951. He was educated at

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, private, boarding and day school in the public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school which was th ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

and later at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

. He then studied at

St John's College, Nottingham St John's College, Nottingham, founded as the London College of Divinity, was an Anglican and interdenominational theological college situated in Bramcote, Nottingham, England. The college stood in the open evangelical tradition and stated that i ...

Ordained ministry

He was ordained in 1975 and served for four years in the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...

followed by two years in the Diocese of Northern Argentina for the

South American Missionary Society The society was founded at Brighton in 1844 as the Patagonian Missionary Society, sometime referred to as the Patagonian Mission. Captain Allen Gardiner, R.N., was the first secretary. The name was retained for twenty years, when South American ...

(SAMS). With the onset of the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

, Scriven and his family moved to

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

where he served Christ Episcopal Church, Little Rock as Assistant Rector for Education from 1982 to 1983. From 1984 to 1990, Scriven continued with SAMS in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the

Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church, also translated as Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain, or IERE () is the church of the Anglican Communion in Spain. It was founded in 1880 and since 1980 has been an Extra-provincial Anglican churches, extra ...

. He then served for five years as chaplain for the British Embassy Church in Madrid in the

Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe The Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe, known simply as the Diocese in Europe (DiE), is a diocese of the Church of England. It was originally formed in 1842 as the Diocese of Gibraltar. It is geographically the largest diocese of the Church of Englan ...

of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. On 8 March 1995, he was consecrated as

George Carey George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his time as archbishop the C ...

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, as

Suffragan Bishop in Europe The Suffragan Bishop in Europe is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese in Europe (in the Province of Canterbury.) The suffragan bishop assists the diocesan Bishop in Europe in overseeing the largest geogr ...

. He was additionally commissioned by Edmond Browning as an assistant bishop to the Convocation of American Churches in Europe in May 1995. From 2002 to 2008, Scriven served the

Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

as assistant bishop. Scriven was the 980th

consecrated or (as in his case) received into the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...

. In July 2024, he was commissioned by the Church of England Evangelical Council as an "overseer" to provided alternative spiritual oversight (not to be confused with the Church of England's official

alternative episcopal oversight A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction "are unable to receive the ministry of w ...

) to evangelical clergy and parishes in the Church of England who maintain traditional teaching on the doctrine of marriage and sexual ethics, following the General Synod's support for the introduction of a service of blessing for same sex couples.

Personal life

He is married to Catherine and has a daughter, Anna, and a son, Joel. He is the great-great-grandnephew of

Joseph Scriven Joseph Medlicott Scriven, (10 September 1819 – 10 August 1886) was an Irish-born Canadian poet, best known as the writer of the poem which became the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus". Life Joseph Scriven was born in 1819 of prosperous pa ...

, Irish poet, best known as the writer of the poem which became the hymn "

What a Friend We Have in Jesus "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" is a Christian hymn originally written by preacher Joseph M. Scriven as a poem in 1855 to comfort his mother, who was living in Ireland while he was in Canada. Scriven originally published the poem anonymously, a ...

References

External links

Scriven's webpage on the Diocese of Pittsburgh's website
1951 births Living people English people of Irish descent Alumni of the University of Sheffield Anglican suffragan bishops in Europe People educated at Repton School Episcopal bishops of Pittsburgh {{US-Anglican-bishop-stub