Norman Shanks (born 15 July 1942) is an ordained

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

minister, who prior to his retirement in June 2007 was minister of

Govan Old Parish Church Govan Old Parish Church is a former parish church serving Govan in Glasgow from the 5th or 6th century AD until 2007. In that year, the Church of Scotland united the two Govan congregations with Linthouse and established the parish church at Gova ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. He is married to Ruth, and has a daughter and two sons, and seven grandchildren. He was Convener of the Church of Scotland's Committee on Church and Nation from 1988 to 1992, a member of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Broadcasting Council for Scotland from 1988 to 1993 and the UK Board of

Christian Aid Christian Aid is a relief and development charity of 41 Christian (Protestant and Orthodox) churches in Great Britain and Ireland, and works to support sustainable development, eradicate poverty, support civil society and provide disaster rel ...

from 2000 to 2004. Educated at Stirling High School and the Universities of St Andrews (MA, 1964) and Edinburgh (BD, 1982), before entering the ministry he served as a senior civil servant from 1964 to 1979, including a term (1975–77) as Private Secretary to the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

. He was

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

from 1985 to 1988, Lecturer in Practical Theology at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

from 1988 to 1995 and Leader of the

Iona Community The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by George MacLeod, is an ecumenical Christian community of people from different walks of life and different traditions within Christianity. It and its publishing house, Wild Goose Publications, are headquar ...

from 1995 to 2002 and served as Moderator of the

Presbytery of Glasgow The Presbytery of Glasgow is one of the 14 Presbyteries of the Church of Scotland. It dates back to the earliest periods of Presbyterian church government in the Church of Scotland in the late 16th century. The Presbytery of Glasgow currently has ...

from June 2002 to June 2003. From 1998 to 2006 he was a member of the Central Committee of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

and served as moderator of the planning committee for the 9th Assembly of the WCC, held in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

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in February 2006. From August 2010 to July 2016 he was a non-executive member of the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board. He received an honorary DD from the University of Glasgow in June 2005 and was one of three candidates for nomination to be

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Ass ...

in 2007. In 1999 he was Drummond Lecturer at

Stirling University The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airthr ...

and from September to December 2007 was a visiting scholar at

Columbia Theological Seminary Columbia Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Decatur, Georgia. It is one of ten theological institutions affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Columbia Theological Seminary was founded in 1828 in Lexington, Geor ...

, Decatur,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, USA. A revised edition of his book ''Iona – God's energy: the vision and spirituality of the Iona Community'', originally published by

Hodder and Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

in 1999, was published in 2009 by Wild Goose Publications.

References

External links

Govan Old Parish Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanks, Norman 20th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 20th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers 21st-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 21st-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Alumni of the University of St Andrews Leaders of the Iona Community Govan Living people 1942 births