The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, today presided over a Lambeth Degree award ceremony in Lambeth Palace Chapel. On this occasion he awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity to Rabbi Tony Bayfield, in recognition of his leadership in inter-Faith relations through lecturing, writing, teaching and in particular his work as a President of the Council of Christians and Jews.
The Lambeth Degree is a real academic award. The candidates are exempt from both residential and examination requirements and the special awards are made on merit in recognition of recipients' contribution to religious, academic and public life.
The Archbishop of Canterbury's right to grant degrees is derived from Peter's Pence Act of 1533 which empowered the Archbishop to grant dispensations previously granted by the Pope. The practice began during the time when attendance at Oxford and Cambridge, the only universities at that time in England, was frequently disrupted by the difficulty of travel or outbreaks of the plague. The Archbishop was empowered to grant exemption from the residential requirements necessary for a degree.
Lambeth degrees can be awarded in Divinity, Law, Arts, Literature, Medicine and Music.
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Rabbi Tony Bayfield
Rabbi Tony Bayfield was born in London and read law at Cambridge University. He specialised in criminology and then made the imperceptible step to the Rabbinate by studying at the Leo Baeck College. He received semikhah in 1972. After a decade as a congregational rabbi in Weybridge, Surrey he became the first Director of the Sternberg Centre for Judaism, the largest Jewish religious, educational and cultural centre in Europe.
Since 1994, Rabbi Bayfield has been the Professional Head of the Movement for Reform Judaism and has continued to lecture, write and develop programmes in the area of Interfaith dialogue, concentrating particularly on the three Abrahamic faiths and arguing that the revelation of the modern world is that faiths can only exist relationally. He teaches theology and modern Jewish thought at Leo Baeck College where this plays a significant part. In 2004 he was invited to become Co-President of CCJ.
DD: In recognition of his leadership in inter-Faith relations through lecturing, writing, teaching and in particular his work as a President of the Council of Christians and Jews.
Photo available on request
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