ABOVE: The University of Oxford, UK. Oxford is the home of Wycliffe Hall, partners with Regent College in the Study Program in World Anglicanism.

The Regent College Study Program in World Anglicanism

Regent College, Vancouver and Wycliffe Hall, a Permanent Private Hall of Oxford University, have partnered together in an exciting initiative in theological education. These schools offer a program which enables prospective ordinands the opportunity to experience Anglicanism in two different cultural contexts: Vancouver and Oxford.

The term “world Anglicanism” has been chosen to indicate that Anglicanism is a world-wide communion, and also out of the conviction that an appreciation of the global nature of this communion is especially important for Western Christians who are often unaware that world Anglicanism has shifted so that its centre of gravity is now non-Western and non-Caucasian.

Wycliffe Hall is especially helpful in this regard because Oxford is an important centre of Anglican theology and Wycliffe is an international meeting place for Anglican students from around the world. Wycliffe has Asian and African students and exchanges with colleges in South Africa and Uganda. Wycliffe works in close conjunction with the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies which is located close by, and with the Oxford-based Keston Institute which concerns itself with Christianity in Eastern Europe and Russia.

It is in this international contact that this program endeavours to promote an appreciation of the evangelical roots, the orthodox heritage, and the catholicity of English Christianity expressed in the Anglican tradition which has now been transplanted throughout the world.

The program offers courses in Anglican studies at Regent College and enables Regent students intent on Anglican ordination to study for two academic terms at Wycliffe Hall. As an exchange program, Wycliffe Hall students can study at Regent College in Vancouver.

While in Oxford, Regent College students take courses in Anglican theology, liturgy and spirituality taught by leading Anglican theologians. They have access to the Bodleian Library, one of the world’s finest, and are introduced to the various streams of the Anglican tradition—all this in a key theological centre of the Anglican communion.

Through Wycliffe Hall’s participation in the Oxford Partnership for Theological Education and Training, Regent College students have access to courses and faculty in other Oxford theological institutions including: St. Stephen’s House, Oxford; Ripon College, Cuddesdon; the Oxford Diocesan Ministerial Training Scheme; Manchester College, Oxford University; and Regent’s Park College, Oxford University.

Furthermore, Anglican students who study at Wycliffe are helped in finding short-term ministry placements in various Oxford Anglican churches and ministries and in other Anglican churches of various traditions throughout England. As well, the experience of a residential Anglican college provides a different sort of experience from that obtained at Regent College.