The Main Wycliffe Blog

Gwen Allison has finished her first year in the MDiv program at Wycliffe College. She is a candidate for ordination with the Anglican Church of Canada in the Diocese of Rupert’s Land. When a ministry opportunity came for her husband in Vienna, Austria this summer, Gwen seized the chance to find her own internship placement with a church there—Christ Church Vienna. In this Q&A, she shares her experience.

What made you decide that you want to be an Anglican priest?

Wycliffe PhD candidate Jeremy McClung’s presentation “Ridding the World of Angelas" was recently declared the winner of the Toronto School of Theology’s inaugural Three Minute Thesis competition. 3MT® is an internationally recognized research communication competition that started in 2008 at the University of Queensland in Australia. Since then it has gained popularity, with over 600 universities in 65 countries holding annual competitions.    

At the beginning of March, the Angus Reid Institute ran a poll surveying those who were anticipating a return to work. The poll revealed that after two years of working at home many employees aren’t sure that they want to return to the office. This is particularly true in cities like Toronto where during COVID many people moved further and further out of the city in a desire to find affordable housing.

Looking ahead to next month's Scripture and Theology Colloquium, we asked Professorial Fellow and Symposium organizer Mark Elliott (ME below) what participants can expect.

Q:  How did the Scripture and Theology Colloquium get started?

I can recall as a pre-school infant asking my parents about the likelihood of nuclear war, which seemed an ever-present danger in the UK of the early 1970s. This is not to say that I attribute any particular ongoing state of personal anxiety since then to this experience!

Do you, like me, have a complicated relationship with the news? I find it almost magnetic—I want to know “what is going on,” to think myself part of current social dramas. I also find the news disorienting and discomfiting—it depicts a world out of control.

Do you, like me, have a complicated relationship with the news? I find it almost magnetic—I want to know “what is going on,” to think myself part of current social dramas. I also find the news disorienting and discomfiting—it depicts a world out of control. I am both drawn to my news feeds and feel a strong caution about how they are affecting me.

I understand the draw. Beyond the basic human desire to be part of things, as a person who believes that this is God’s world, I feel I should be informed. The disquiet I feel also comes from my belief that this is God’s world.

I recently had the opportunity of spending two weeks in Rome as part of a course on Anglican Ecclesiology and Ecumenism. The course, ably taught by Prof. Matthew Olver of Nashotah House seminary and Dr. Christopher Wells, director of the Living Church Institute, focused on the history and character of the Anglican Communion as well as the Anglican commitment to Christian unity. I was there in the role of tourist, pilgrim, and theologian-at-large.

Occasionally, when I’m out in the wild, someone might see my ID and notice that little “Dr.” in front of my name. The next comment often goes something like: “Oh, you’re a doctor! What do you practice?” Then comes the confusion as I clarify that I’m not a medical doctor (aka a real doctor), but rather a theologian, which I try to explain as swiftly as possible as “someone who talks about God.” If I were a more competent evangelist, this would surely be my cue to transition smoothly into a gospel message. But the truth is, I’m usually embarrassed.

The struggle for justice seems never to be won, and it is easy for those who fight for it to become weary.  

As I write this blog, news reports are focussed on the missiles that are falling on Kyiv, and on the world’s inability to effectively address our climate crisis. I hear shock and dismay expressed that these things are happening in the 2020s. Ought not humanity to have advanced beyond this by now?