A well-known evangelical theologian and leader, Richard Turnbull, has died.
Among other roles in a varied life of ministry and service, Turnbull had been the Chair of Trustees of campaigning organisation the Christian Institute; Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, an Anglican evangelical college; and was Director of the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics, which aims to “bridge the interface of theology, economics and business”.
Richard Turnbull was born in Manchester in 1960 into a non-Christian family. Sent to Sunday School as a child he "hated" it — and dropped out at the age of 11. "Nothing would have got me back into church", he told en in an interview some years ago.
It was when he was studying economics and accounting at Reading University and took a summer holiday to the United States that he was forced to think again. There, he was invited to church by his host family almost as soon as he met them, and felt it would be impolite to refuse.
Wycliffe Baptist
"The one thing I remember was that the people I met there wanted to be there, and that was not my memory of church", he said. "When I came back, I talked with a friend who was a Christian and went to Wycliffe Baptist Church in Reading where I found the people also wanted to be there. So I couldn’t put it down to a cultural thing, which was what I had wanted to do. I was converted in 1982 at the second service I went to there. A visiting pastor from Brixham Baptist Church was speaking, and he preached [about making] a decision for Christ. The Lord turned my heart."
A job in accountancy at Ernst & Young in London followed university, and it was while worshipping at a small Baptist church in inner London that he met his future wife Caroline, who came from an Anglican evangelical family. "That showed me Anglicanism did not have to be as I remembered it from childhood", he told en.
After marriage, the couple settled in Southampton in 1987 and began worshipping at a local Anglican church. From there, he went to Cranmer Hall, Durham, to train for ordination in the Church of England, and gained a first in theology followed by a PhD in evangelical history.
Beginning his ministry back in the south of England, he quickly found himself elected to General Synod — the Church of England’s parliament — and, with his accounting background, discovered his skills to be in demand on the Archbishop’s Council — a panel which advises the Archbishop of Canterbury — and as chair of the Synod’s business committee.
Wycliffe Hall
His combination of hands-on ministry experience, financial expertise and a doctorate in theology made him a natural choice as the new Principal of Wycliffe Hall, following on from predecessors, including New Testament expert Dick France and writer and apologeticist Alister McGrath.
It was not an easy time. Writing in The Guardian, he said: “We have not shied away from essential reforms designed to fit the college for the 21st century. It is true that not all have welcomed this. However, at the heart of Wycliffe's purposes lie both the intellectual enterprise and the passion for effective training. They are not incompatible.” He moved on from Wycliffe in 2012.
Writing in the Christian Institute’s 2025 annual review in August, he wrote: “Religious liberty, faithfulness to God’s law and purposes for humanity, and advocacy for Christian values in society lie at the heart of the Institute’s work…
“I greatly admire the faithful witness of those who are taking a stand for God’s Word in schools, churches, communities, parliaments and councils, and a vast range of local bodies and associations.”
The full interview with Richard Turnbull which appeared in en can be read here.
A selection of his talks can be heard on the Christian Institute website here.
