Martyn William Percy (born 31 July 1962) is a British academic, educator, social scientist, and Anglican priest. He served as Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon from 2004 to 2014 and as the 45th Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, from 2014 to 2022. Percy's publications address ecclesiology, Anglican identity, contemporary Christianity, and the sociology of religion.
He is Professor of Religion and Culture at the University of Saint Joseph in Macau.
Early life and education Percy was born on 31 July 1962. He was educated at the University of Bristol (BA), the University of Sheffield (MA), and King's College London, where he completed a PhD in 1993. He trained for ordination at Cranmer Hall, Durham between 1988 and 1990.
Career Percy taught in the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, as well as in Sociology, and was a fellow of the Said Business School at the university. He has also served as Professor of Theological Education at King's College London and a professorial research fellow at Heythrop College, University of London. He has also served as a visiting professor of the Institute for the Study of Values at the University of Winchester, a founding fellow of the Center for Theologically Engaged Anthropology at the University of Georgia, and an adjunct professor at Hartford Seminary, Connecticut. He is an emeritus canon of Salisbury Cathedral, having previously served as an honorary canon. In 2018 he became a fellow of King's College London, and a fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford. From 2022 to 2024, he held an academic appointment at Virginia Theological Seminary.
With effect from 1 September 2024, Percy has been appointed as Professor of Religion and Culture in the Faculty of Religious Studies and Philosophy at University of Saint Joseph in Macao. And for the Xavier Centre for Memory and Identity. He also holds the post of Provost of Ming Hua Theological College (part of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui - Hong Kong Anglican Church) . In 2025 he was also appointed to serve as Honorary Canon Theologian for the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe (the American Episcopal congregations in Europe).
Percy's theological outlook is rooted in his long-standing commitment to middle-way Anglicanism. His writings fall into three distinct-but-related groups: ecclesiology; contemporary Christianity, religious movements and sociological trends; and anthropological interpretations of denominations and congregations; and spiritual devotional writings. He has also written extensively about theological education, as well as contextual, pastoral and practical theology.
In 2013, The Times Literary Supplement praised Percy for his work towards unity within the Anglican Communion and the Church of England, describing him as displaying a "peaceable, polite and restrained" approach whilst "making peace between competing communities of conviction".
Ordained ministry Percy was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1990 and as a priest in 1991. From 1990 to 1994, he served his curacy at St Andrew's Church, Bedford in the Diocese of St Albans. He was then chaplain of Christ's College, Cambridge from 1994, and director of studies for theology and religion at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge from 1995. From 1997 to 2004, he the founding director of the Lincoln Theological Institute; initially independent, it became part of the University of Manchester in 2003. In addition, he was an honorary curate of Holy Trinity Millhouses in the Diocese of Sheffield, and an honorary canon of Sheffield Cathedral.
Cuddesdon From 2004 to 2014, Percy was Principal of Ripon College Cuddesdon, an Anglican theological college near Oxford. During his tenure, the college expanded significantly by incorporating the Oxford Ministry Course and the West of England Ministerial Training Course, becoming the largest centre for Anglican ordination training in the United Kingdom. Percy also oversaw the construction of the Bishop Edward King Chapel and a new education centre, Harriet Monsell House.
During Percy's tenure, the multi-award-winning Bishop Edward King Chapel (shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2013) and a new education centre (Harriet Monsell House) were built.
Deanery of Christ Church Percy was the (45th) Dean of Christ Church in Oxford from 2014 to April 2022. He was the first dean to be democratically elected by the governing body, and instituted to the deanery on 4 October 2014. Christ Church is the only academic institution in the world which is also a cathedral – being the seat of the Bishop of Oxford. In common with other cathedral deans, Percy, as Dean of Christ Church, was senior priest of the Diocese of Oxford. Percy's closing years in office as Dean (roughly from 2018 onwards) were marked by protracted disputes on reformation in the governance of the college.
Later ministry In 2022, Percy announced that he would be leaving the Church of England. From 2022 to 2024, he was a visiting scholar at the Virginia Theological Seminary. Since 2024, he has held permission to officiate in two Scottish Episcopal Church dioceses; Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney, and Diocese of Edinburgh. He is also the canon theologian to the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, a jurisdiction of the American Episcopal Church.
Christ Church disputes In November 2018, Percy was suspended amid his advocacy of reforms to modern governance within Christ Church. He faced internal tribunal charges that were dismissed by a retired High Court judge in August 2019. A separate safeguarding investigation in 2020 found no evidence of misconduct. During the period of dispute, supporters of Percy raised over £150,000 to help cover the cost of his legal fees, which Christ Church had refused to pay.
In early 2022, following mediation, Percy agreed to step down; the college announced a settlement, and he left office in April that year. In November 2022, the UK Charity Commission issued a warning to Christ Church regarding handling of dispute funds and appointed an independent reviewer to look into governance structures.
One of Britain's most senior Court of Appeal judges, Dame Sarah Asplin, President of Tribunals for the Church of England, carried out a detailed investigation of one safeguarding allegation made against Percy. On 28 May 2021, she ruled that it would be "entirely disproportionate" to refer any such claim to a clergy disciplinary tribunal
In 2022 Percy announced that he was leaving the Church of England, though he would remain Episcopalian-Anglican. He is licensed to minister in Scotland, Europe, Hong Kong and Macao.
Responses
On May 13, 2022 Prospect Magazine published an article which included extensive reference to his experience with Christ Church citing the deliberate weaponization of safeguarding by elements and individuals within the Church of England as one of his major concerns."Martyn Percy: Why I'm Leaving the Church of England", Prospect magazine. On 27 May 2022 the college governing body published a statement responding.
On November 10, 2022, the Charity Commission, the government regulator, issued an Official Warning to the Governing Body of Christ Church under Section 75 of the 2011 Charities Act for "mismanagement and/or misconduct by the trustees" in their campaign against the Dean, and recorded that £6.6 million had been spent in their actions taken against Percy. The published Christ Church accounts also recorded an £8 million decline in donations during the four year dispute.
The warning stated that "in the context of a long running dispute with the former Dean, the Commission has determined there has been mismanagement and/or misconduct in the management and administration of the Charity" (para. 9).
Theology
Percy's theology is generally considered to represent the liberal tradition in the Church of England. His viewpoints typically argue for the "middle ground" between evangelical and catholic positions, with appeals to Anglican comprehensiveness, and the tradition of respecting theological differences. Percy's main interlocutors in his writings comprise a trinity of American theologians: Daniel W. Hardy, Urban T. Holmes III, and James F. Hopewell. Percy is a proponent of "generous orthodoxy", and argues for a theological approach that copes with "serious forms of dispute and threat[s] of schism." He draws on post-liberal theological perspectives such as those found in the works of George Lindbeck and Peter Berger. In 2018, a group of scholars from the fields of sociology, anthropology, musicology, theology and ecclesiology published a book (edited by Ian Markham and Joshua Daniels) on Percy's work to date, based on an earlier symposium engaging with Percy's writings, held at Virginia Theological Seminary (Washington DC) in 2016. The subsequent Reasonable Radical? Reading the Writings of Martyn Percy offers a broad guide to the compass of Percy's work.
Percy has adopted a progressive outlook on a number of social issues, such as LGBTQ rights and the ordination of women. However, his writings affirm orthodox Christian positions on the incarnation, atonement, resurrection and ascension; he has consistently defended the historicity of Jesus' healing and nature miracles. Noted for his work on fundamentalism and revivalism, for which he engages with sociology and anthropology, he was described in the academic journal Theology, by Nigel Rooms, as the British theologian who is the closest to being a "missionary anthropologist".
In 2002, Percy co-founded the Society for the Study of Anglicanism with Tom Hughson, which meets annually at the American Academy of Religion and is now in a full partnership with Virginia Theological Seminary. Percy has served as chair of committee (the oversight body) for Cliff College – a Methodist Bible college in the evangelical-charismatic tradition – and also works with a number of other evangelical groups. He is a vice-president of Modern Church and has been a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford since 2004. From 2014-22 he has also taught for the Said Business School and for the Department of Sociology at the university.
Percy has been a regular contributor to The Guardian, The Times, Prospect Magazine, BBC Radio Four, and the BBC World Service.
Activism and views Percy is a social thinker, moralist and commentator, with his activism and writings addressing concerns for social justice and equality. On church leadership, Percy has critiqued the growing culture of managerialism in the Church of England, warning of reforms that are "driven by mission-minded middle managers" that alienate congregations and the wider public". Percy is a strong advocate of LGBTQ rights in the church and wider society.
Church leadership Percy has been critical of Justin Welby's leadership as Archbishop of Canterbury, in particular his "managerial" style. Percy described Welby's plans to send senior clergy on leadership courses, contained in the 2014 report of the Lord Green Steering Group, as showing a poor judgment of the church's priorities and lacking in theological understanding. He went on to say that Welby's targets for efficiency, growth and success were not reflective of the Christian mission.