BA BA MA PhD
Vice Principal – Academic Director
Email: s.wright@spurgeons.ac.uk
Mobile: 07425 820366
Stephen has been the Academic Director and a Vice Principal of the College since July 2017. He joined the staff in September 2006 as Tutor in Biblical Studies and Practical Theology and served as the Director of Postgraduate Research from 2011–2017.
Stephen has been in the Anglican ministry since 1986, serving in parishes in Cumbria and County Durham until 1998. During this time he completed a PhD at Durham on the parables of Jesus. From 1998-2006 he was Director of the College of Preachers, an ecumenical training and resource agency, and pioneered the joint Spurgeon’s College / College of Preachers MTh in Preaching. He is an honorary associate minister at St John the Divine, Selsdon, where he leads services and preaches regularly.
Although most of his time is now taken up by academic management, he has continued to maintain and develop research interests in the New Testament (especially the historical Jesus and the Synoptic Gospels), biblical hermeneutics and preaching.
He is married to Linda and they have three adult children. For relaxation, he enjoys singing bass in the Croydon Philharmonic Choir and tries to keep exercised and in touch with nature through walking and gardening.
Publications
Books
The Voice of Jesus: Studies in the Interpretation of Six Gospel Parables(Carlisle: Paternoster, 2000; republished Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2007)
Tales Jesus Told: An Introduction to the Narrative Parables of Jesus (Carlisle: Paternoster, 2003)
(Editor with Geoffrey Hunter and Gethin Thomas) A Preacher’s Companion (Oxford: BRF, 2004)
(with Peter Stevenson) Preaching the Atonement (London: T. & T. Clark International, 2005; republished Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009) – shortlisted for the Michael Ramsey Prize for Theological Writing, 2007
(With Geoffrey Stevenson) Preaching with Humanity: A Practical Guide for Today’s Church (London: Church House Publishing, 2008)
(With Peter Stevenson) Preaching the Incarnation (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010)
Alive to the Word: A Practical Theology of Preaching (London: SCM, 2010)
Reading Gospel Stories in Today’s World, Grove Biblical Series 56 (Cambridge: Grove, 2010)
Jesus the Storyteller (London: SPCK, 2014)
Booklets
Preaching with the Grain of Scripture, Grove Biblical Series 20 (Cambridge: Grove Books, 2001)
Reading Gospel Stories in Today’s World, Grove Biblical Series 56(Cambridge: Grove Books, 2010)
Why Read the Apocrypha? The Books that Protestants Forgot, Grove Biblical Series (Cambridge: Grove Books, 2014)
Articles
‘Exegesis and the Preacher’ in Evangel 17.2 (Summer 1999), 62-67
Now available at http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/evangel/17-2_wright.pdf
‘The Bible as Sacrament’, guest editorial, Anvil 19.2 (Spring 2002), 81-87
‘Theological Interpretation and the Christian Year: Time, Narrative and Performance’, Journal of Theological Interpretation 9.1 (2015), 1-21
Chapters in edited volumes
‘Parables on Poverty and Riches’ in R.N. Longenecker (ed.),The Challenge of Jesus’ Parables (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 217-239
‘An Experiment in Biblical Criticism: Towards the Restoration of the Aesthetic in Reading and Preaching Scripture’ in Craig Bartholomew, Colin J.D. Greene and Karl Möller (eds.), Renewing Biblical Interpretation(Grand Rapids / Carlisle: Zondervan / Paternoster, 2000), 240-267
‘Words of Power: Biblical Language and Literary Criticism with reference to Stephen Prickett’s Words and the Word and Mark 1:21-28’ in Craig Bartholomew, Colin J.D. Greene and Karl Möller (eds.),After Pentecost: Philosophy and Theology of Language and Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids / Carlisle: Zondervan / Paternoster, 2001), 224-240
‘The Phrase “Image of God” in the New Testament’ in Jean Mayland (ed.), Growing into God (London: Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, 2003), 31-44
‘Inhabiting the Story: Using Scripture to Interpret History’ in Craig Bartholomew, C. Stephen Evans, Mary Healy and Murray Rae (eds.), Behind the Text (Grand Rapids / Carlisle: Zondervan / Paternoster, 2003), 412-519
‘Reading Luke, Hearing Jesus and Understanding God: Reflections on Some Hermeneutical Issues: A Response to John Nolland’s “The Role of Money and Possessions in the Parable of the Prodigal Son”’ in Craig Bartholomew, Joel B. Green and Anthony C. Thiselton (eds.), ReadingLuke: Interpretation, Reflection, Formation (Grand Rapids/Milton Keynes: Zondervan/Paternoster, 2005), 210-28
‘The Future Use of the Bible in Preaching’ in Geoffrey Stevenson (ed.), The Future of Preaching (London: SCM, 2010)
