Sarum College is an ecumenical study and research centre with an international reputation for excellence in theological education and spiritual reflection.
Sarum College offers a distinguished location for meetings, conferences, events and functions with full catering services.
Sarum College Bookshop is Salisbury's most established independent Christian and theological bookshop.
The Sarum College Library has an outstanding academic theological collection of more than 40,000 books covering all denominations.
Meet the Academic Staff
Jon MorganCoordinator of the Centre for Theology, Imagination and Culture Read more
Paul BurdenCoordinator, Centre for Formation in Ministry and Director of Contextual Learning Read more
Sonia WoolleyScholar in Residence Read more
All academic staff
February 2020
Pastoral Liturgy Day: Guard us Sleeping: Praying at Night
The course explores how Compline provides a means of prayer for an age that is increasingly concerned about sleep. Participants will be introduced to the history and liturgical forms of Compline, the most recent work on the theology of sleep, and a variety of practical ideas on how Compline can be used in a local church setting. Opportunity will be given for discussion and sharing in the experience of prayer at night. Ideal for those with pastoral and liturgical responsibility… Read more
Perham-Shaped Worship
This symposium is an invitation to consider the remarkably rich and diverse influence of the late Bishop Michael Perham upon worship in the Church of England. In this public forum, speakers with first-hand experience of Michael’s ministry will address issues such as nurturing worship in the parish, liturgical leadership, the formation of praying people, and liturgical revision. Session Titles & Contributors Click on a session title for the full description Praying and Practising the Liturgy: Inhabiting the Eucharist with Tom Clammer… Read more
Perham Shaped Worship Event: Praying and Practising the Liturgy: Inhabiting the Eucharist
With Tom Clammer Tom was made Deacon by Bishop Michael Perham in 2005, and much of the diaconal year in the diocese of Gloucester was spent in preparation for the various responsibilities and blessings of priesthood. Bishop Michael took the formation of his deacons very seriously, and in this session Tom reflects on the way in which his ordaining Bishop sort to form and resource his deacons for their priestly ministry. He will reflect in particular or upon Bishop Michael’s… Read more
Perham Shaped Worship Event: Inclusive Worship: Women and Children in Liturgy
With Sandra Millar Sandra will reflect on the way the language we use in liturgy includes or excludes people, especially women and children. Bishop Micheal was known for his passionate commitment to the role of women in the church, but discovering more about the place of children was sometimes a surprise. Sandra will draw on conversations, changes and challenges from both these areas to help us think about our words in and around liturgy. Read more
Perham Shaped Worship Event: The Extra-ordinarization of the Mundane: Encounters Between Liturgy & Leadership
With Tim Harle This paper is inspired by Michael Perham’s passion to present liturgy not as an esoteric discipline, but as something that is vital in everyday parochial life. It takes its title from a paper by two Scandinavian critical management scholars, Alvesson and Sveningsson, who argue that the much-vaunted concept of leadership should really be understood as making mundane things extraordinary. I will explore, perhaps unacknowledged, parallels between liturgy and leadership studies. Examples include transactional and transformational leadership, the… Read more
Perham Shaped Worship Event: Liturgy in Flux: New Anglican Voices
With Mary Gray-Reeves Bishop Michael loved liturgy. He loved to create, preside and participate in it. More though, he loved for people to have an experience of liturgy that helped them draw closer to God. This video contribution to the Michael Perham Symposium will explore with other leaders of emerging communities the principles of Anglican worship that have held true for hundreds of years and continue to have the capacity to be healing community and spiritual home for all sorts… Read more
Perham Shaped Worship Event: Michael Perham as Pastoral Liturgist
With James Steven The publication in 1984 of Liturgy Pastoral and Parochial marked the beginning of Michael Perham’s many years of work convincing the church at large that the way in which Christian pray the liturgy matters. This book, and its subsequent iterations, argue that the worship of the church is to be informed by a dynamic conversation between liturgical principles and pastoral practice. This paper will examine Michael’s specific contribution to this vital conversation. Read more
March 2020
The Eucharist
This module explores the most significant developments of eucharistic worship from the New Testament to the contemporary church. Students will gain an understanding of the theological, historical and social influences upon the Eucharist and the debates surrounding different interpretations of its meaning. Through the study of recent ecumenical conversations, students will be encouraged to relate their study to contemporary church contexts. Those not on the MA programme are very welcome to book on this module as an auditor. Contact Alison Ogden… Read more
April 2020
Music in Worship Day: The Legacy of African American Spirituals for Congregational Song
This course will explore theology and spirituality of African American Spirituals against their cultural and political backgrounds and assess their legacy for church music today. The Spirituals emerged from a cauldron of conflict, deep pain and suffering. They were, for enslaved African Americans, a source of affirmation, protest and liberation. So too, congregational song has, from its beginnings, been mired in controversy and conflict. Church authorities have regarded it with suspicion because singing affirms and emboldens the people in the… Read more
May 2020
Liturgy and Culture
This module will investigate the relationship between liturgy and its changing cultural contexts. This is a topic that has become increasingly important for churches as they reassess their relationship to society and for liturgical studies as churches and scholars recognise the significance of cultural context for liturgical development. The module will introduce students to different ways of understanding the relationship between culture and liturgy, and the implications and theological assumptions of each approach. Reflection on these issues will be concerning… Read more
Music in Worship Day: Hearing the Sacred in Music: Listening as Prayer
This course will examine various views of the relationship between music and the listener and how spirituality may enter this experience. It will embrace a variety of styles and contexts, both secular and sacred. It will examine how tone, colour, expressive character, musical construction and value systems relate to spirituality and whether the spirit resides in the music itself or in the relationship between music and musicker. It will include the role of memory in the listening process and the… Read more
June 2020
Worship, Art and Architecture
The space in which Christian worship takes place is influenced by the culture of the age and place as well as ecclesiology. This module will investigate church buildings and their art in significant historical periods to highlight the way each artefact is the result of a confluence of variables. The theoretical notion of ‘sacred space’ will be explored and students will be encouraged to reflect upon the use of liturgical space in specific contexts. There will be a guided tour… Read more
July 2020
Music in Worship Day: Sing it Again: Taizé and Short Songs in Worship
An opportunity to explore, through teaching and practise, how short songs can enrich all kinds of worship. ‘The high point of this prayer [at Taizé] is the singing which never ends and which continues afterwards in the silence of the hearts when we are alone again.’ Brother Roger of Taizé The use of repeated short songs is a feature of worship in various traditions; what is its value? In answering this question the course will focus upon the music of… Read more
October 2020
Approaches to Liturgical Studies
This module will introduce students to the sources and methods used by scholars in the evaluation and interpretation of liturgical forms. These include those used for historical, theological and ritual analysis. It will equip students with skills in the critical evaluation of various sources and create awareness of the presuppositions which lie behind much liturgical scholarship. An introduction to the sources and methods used by liturgical scholars in the evaluation of liturgical history and contemporary worship events. This (core) postgraduate… Read more
November 2020
Pastoral Liturgy Day: Liturgy that Nurtures: The Pastoral Power of Worship
An exploration of how liturgy can be a powerful element of pastoral ministry in a parish or other worshipping communities. Attention will be given both to the occasional offices, and the routine Eucharistic worship of a parish, demonstrating that both can be powerful pastoral ministries. The liturgical worship of the parish carries with it pastoral opportunities as well as those of teaching and discipleship. In this day course we will explore the ways in which liturgy has a pastoral aspect,… Read more
Liturgy and Time: Calendar and Daily Prayer
This module will explore how Christian worship has been influenced by its relationship with time. The way Christians have developed daily patterns of prayer will be investigated, together with the constituent elements of this form of prayer, such as the use of psalms, scripture and intercessory prayer. The historical origins and evolution of the Christian festivals together with their theological and ritual meaning will form the basis of an analysis of annual rhythms of prayer. Contemporary revisions of either Daily… Read more
March 2021
Christian Initiation
Many Western Churches have significantly revised their baptismal liturgies in the last fifty years in response to the changing place of the church in society. This module will examine key historical periods which provide a context for contemporary rites and the theologies which lie behind them. There will be a field visit to consider the liturgical features of a font, for example Salisbury Cathedral. Those not on the MA programme are very welcome to book on this module as an auditor.… Read more
May 2021
Music in Christian Worship
Music is a significant feature of much Christian worship, whether chanted psalms, congregational hymns, liturgical texts arranged for choirs or contemporary worship songs. This module explores the variety of musical styles in Christian worship from both historical and contemporary perspectives and draws upon critical themes in musicology, theology and pastoral liturgy. It will equip students to make informed assessments of music choices in the liturgical events of different ecclesial settings. Musical skill or knowledge, while beneficial, is not required. Those… Read more
June 2021
Liturgy and Spirituality
This module engages with the relationship between spirituality and liturgy. Attention will be paid to how they relate, both conceptually and regarding debates, such as the historic conflict between liturgy and popular piety. Students will have the opportunity to study specific examples of liturgical practice from a variety of Christian traditions, and in so doing develop their ability to interpret liturgical prayer as a form of spirituality. Those not on the MA programme are very welcome to book on this… Read more
Sarum College 2019-20 Courses and Events Brochure
