Sean William Doherty (born 1980) is a British

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 ...

priest and academic specialising in

Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system. It is a Virtue ethics, virtue ethic, which focuses on building moral character, and a Deontological ethics, deontological ethic which emphasizes duty according ...

. Since June 2019, he has been Principal of

Trinity College, Bristol Trinity College, Bristol is an Evangelicalism, evangelical Anglican theological college located in Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England. It offers a range of full-time and part-time taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses which are validated by ...

, an

evangelical Anglican Evangelical Anglicanism or Evangelical Episcopalianism is a tradition or church party within Anglicanism that shares affinity with broader evangelicalism. Evangelical Anglicans share with other evangelicals the attributes of "conversionism, a ...

theological college A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and Christian theology, theology, generally to prepare them for ordinatio ...

Biography

Doherty studied English literature, theology and ethics at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(BA, MPhil, DPhil), and trained for ordained ministry at

Wycliffe Hall, Oxford Wycliffe Hall () is a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford affiliated with the Church of England, specialising in philosophy, theology, and religion. It is named after the Bible translator and reformer John Wycliffe, who was mas ...

. He began by study English literature for his undergraduate degree, before switching to theology after one year. His doctoral thesis was titled "Moral theological method in the theological ethics of

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

and Arthur Rich, with particular reference to their economic ethics", and was completed in 2011. His

doctoral supervisor A doctoral advisor (also dissertation director, dissertation advisor; or doctoral supervisor) is a member of a university faculty whose role is to guide graduate students who are candidates for a doctorate, helping them select coursework, as well ...

was Bernd Wannenwetsch. Doherty was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

in 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, ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 2007 and as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

in 2008. He served his

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

at St Gabriel's Church, Cricklewood in the Diocese of London from 2007 to 2010. He was additionally a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

at St Paul's Theological Centre,

Holy Trinity Brompton Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's Onslow Square and St Augustine's South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square (''formerly ...

, between 2008 and 2010. In 2010, he joined St Mellitus College, a Church of England theological college in London, as a tutor and lecturer in Christian ethics. He additionally served the college as Director of Studies from 2014, for his final four years with them. In February 2019, it was announced that he would be leaving St Mellitus College to become the next head of

. He took up the appointment as principal, in succession to Emma Ineson, in June 2019. He has also held

permission to officiate A permission to officiate (PTO), also known as a licence to officiate, is a concessionary ministry licence granted by an Anglican bishop. It is most commonly issued to a retired deacon, priest, or lay reader over the age of 70 years. It allows the ...

in the

Diocese of Bristol The Diocese of Bristol is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England in the Province of Canterbury, England. It is based in the city of Bristol and covers South Gloucestershire and parts of north Wiltshire, as far east ...

since 2020. He was an elected member of the

General Synod of the Church of England The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...

from 2015 to 2019. Doherty's research interests include

economic ethics Economic ethics is the combination of economics and ethics, incorporating both disciplines to predict, analyze, and model economic phenomena. It can be summarized as the theoretical ethical prerequisites and foundations of economic systems. Thi ...

sexual ethics Sexual ethics (also known as sex ethics or sexual morality) is a branch of philosophy that considers the ethics or morality of Human sexual behaviour, sexual behavior. Sexual ethics seeks to understand, evaluate and critique interpersonal relatio ...

, and

medical ethics Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. T ...

. Doherty is married to Gaby, and together they have four children. He is same-sex attracted but does not identify as gay. He was a founder of Living Out, a website aimed at people who are "same-sex attracted while remaining committed to a traditional view of Christian sexuality".

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doherty, Sean William Living people 21st-century British Anglican priests Christian ethicists Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford Staff of St Mellitus College Staff of Trinity College, Bristol Evangelical Anglican clergy Members of the General Synod of the Church of England 1980 births