Revd Dr Alison Walker
Born in Shropshire, Alison came to an active Christian faith as a child through the ministry of her parish priests. While studying Chemistry at the University of Oxford she discerned a call to ordained ministry with Hereford Diocese, moving to Bristol for her ordination training at Trinity College Bristol. She returned to Hereford Diocese for her curacy, serving in the Wenlock Team of Parishes - a team of 14 rural churches in south Shropshire.
While curate Alison completed a PhD in theology with Trinity College Bristol (accredited by the University of Aberdeen) focusing on the work of Willie James Jennings, attending to a theology of race and place. Her research offers an assessment of the Anglican parish in the Church of England, applying the theology of Jennings to discern whether the parish and parish church can be a place of joining and belonging in the face of social exclusion, racism, and territorial claims on the parish. Part of this work was recently published in the journal Studies in Christian Ethics under the title ‘Resisting the Building Project of Whiteness: A Theological Reflection on Land Ownership in the Church of England.’
Following curacy Alison was appointed Interim Tutor at Trinity College Bristol, where she taught modules in Christian Doctrine, Black Theology, and Anglican Ecclesiology, as well as being tutor for the part-time students. She brings this teaching and pastoral experience to the role of Ludlow Lead Tutor for CGH, as well as her familiarity and affection for the contexts that constitute Hereford Diocese.
In her spare time Alison enjoys attending CrossFit gym classes, reading fiction, walking her Cocker Spaniel Oscar, and sampling the delights of the Bristol food scene with her husband Paul.