Saturday, December 30, 2006

Commander of the British Empire (CBE), Canon Dr. Christina Baxter



It was announced by 10 Downing Street on Saturday 11 June that Canon Dr Christina Baxter, Principal of St John’s Nottingham, had been awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire award) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. This is for services to the Church of England

Here Christina is pictured receiving her CBE from Her Majesty the Queen on Thursday 13th October.

Christina is my "Doctor-Mother", my primary supervisor in my PhD research. She is a Barth scholar. Shortly after I arrived in England for my first year of study, Christina had been named by the London Times, I think, one of the 100 most important women in the UK. She is the highest ranking layperson in the Anglican Church and the 2nd most important woman in the church (the Queen is no. 1).

Christina was a womderful supervisor for my thesis. She is a systematic theologian as well as a lay leader in the Church of England. She can be intimidating but I was comforted when on my first visit with her, I saw the "purple monster", (Pentecostal Spirituality) by one of my other mentors, Steve Land, lying on her shelf, (not shelved but lying out as if it had been read recently!). I actually saw it everywhere I went in British Academia!).

Christina recently authored "The Wounds of Jesus", a reflection for Lent in which she cites Chris Thomas' work on footwashing.

No comments: