Dr Ian Jones

Honorary Senior Lecturer

Honorary Academic Staff

Contact Details

Ian joined the School of Education as an Honorary Senior Lecturer in 2017, having already worked with School staff on two previous pieces of work: he was part of the steering group for the conference Social Justice: Building a Fairer, More Equal Society, which took place in June 2016. He also collaborated with the School's Professor Stephen Parker, and with Professor Leslie Francis of the University of Warwick, on the research project What Difference does A-Level RS Make? Which investigated the beliefs, values and worldviews of A-Level RS students and the impact of their studies.

Ian is Director of St Peter’s Saltley Trust, a West Midlands regional education charity supporting religious education, aspects of faith and spiritual development in further education, and Christian learning/theological education in church contexts. In the course of this work he has researched and written on a diverse range of initiatives with an educational component – including interfaith education, and education and formation for clergy and church workers. As part of the West Midlands Churches’ Further Education Council, he has supported further education colleges to explore question of religious literacy, and provision for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Prior to working at St Peter’s Saltley Trust, Ian was a Research Associate at the Lincoln Theological Institute, part of the Religions and Theology department at the University of Manchester, where his research and teaching focused on the modern history of Christianity and the sociology of religion.

Qualifications

PhD Theology (University of Birmingham, 2000)
MA History (University of York, 1995)
BA History (University of York, 1993)

Teaching & Research

Teaching

I contribute occasionally to the School’s Religion, Philosophy and Values in Education BA (Hons) degree. More generally, my teaching interests are in the contemporary and historical religion, especially Christianity, and religious education and formation.

Research

Religious literacy in educational and other social contexts
Growth and development in spiritual maturity – particularly within Christian thought
The concept of Christian discipleship in historical perspective

Publications

Publications

As sole author unless otherwise stated:

Books

The Local Church and Generational Change in Birmingham, 1945-2000 (Royal Historical Society/Boydell and Brewer, 2012)

Women and Priesthood in the Church of England: Ten Years On (Church House Publishing, London, 2004)

Edited Collections

Ian Jones, Janet Wootton and Kirsty Thorpe (eds), Women and Ordination in the Christian Churches: International Perspectives (T&T Clark/Continuum, London, 2008; paperback 2012)

Martyn Percy and Ian Jones (eds), Fundamentalism, Church and Society (SPCK, London, 2002)

Articles

Leslie J. Francis, Simon Foster, David W. Lankshear and Ian Jones, ‘What Helps Christians Grow? An Exploratory Study Distinguishing among Four Distinctive Pathways’, Pastoral Psychology (authors’ manuscript accepted and final version in preparation)

Why Study A-Level RS: Qualitative Perspectives from two English Midlands Sixth Forms’, Journal of Beliefs and Values 38:1 (2017), pp. 3-17

‘Faith in the Public Square in 1941 and 1991: Two Malvern Conferences Reviewed’, Journal of Beliefs and Values 37:3 (2016), pp. 247-58

Andy Jolley and Ian Jones, ‘Formation for Mission in Urban Britain: the Birmingham Mission Apprentice Scheme’ in: Journal of Adult Theological Education 13:1 (2016), pp. 33-47

‘Unemployment and the Response of the Churches: A Historical Conversation’ in Crucible: Journal of Church and Society (July-September 2012), pp. 7-20

Ian Jones and Peter Hammersley, ‘Social Protest as Formation for Prophetic Ministry: An Experiment in Transformative Theological Education’, Journal of Adult Theological Education 6:2 (2009), pp. 176-193

Ian Jones and Ruth Tetlow, ‘Interpreting Faith to Visitors: Reflections on a Pioneering Faith Guiding Course’, Interreligious Insight 7:3 (July 2009), pp. 69-78

Ian Jones and Peter Webster, ‘The Theological Problem of Popular Music for Worship in Contemporary Christianity’, Crucible (July-September 2006), pp. 9-16

Ian Jones and Peter Webster, ‘Anglican “Establishment” reactions to “Pop” Church Music in England, c. 1956-1990’ in Kate Cooper and Jeremy Gregory (eds), Elite and Popular Religion: Studies in Church History 42 (2006), pp. 429-441

‘Earrings behind the Altar? Anglican Expectations of the Ordination of Women as Priests’, Dutch Review of Church History 83 (2003), pp. 462-476

Book Chapters

‘Introduction: Daily Life and Worship’ and (with Peter Webster) ‘Church Music’ in ‘The Churches since 1945’ in Dee Dyas (ed.), The English Parish Church through the Centuries: daily life & spirituality, art & architecture, literature & music [DVD-Rom] (Christianity and Culture Project, University of York/St John’s Nottingham, 2010)

Peter Webster and Ian Jones, ‘New Music and the Evangelical Style in the Church of England, c. 1958-1991’ in Mark Smith (ed.), British Evangelical Identities vol 1 (2 vols, Paternoster Press, 2008), pp. 167-79

Ian Jones with Peter Webster, ‘Expressions of Authenticity: Music for Worship’ in Jane Garnett, Matthew Grimley, Alana Harris, William Whyte and Sarah Williams (eds), Redefining Christian Britain: Post-1945 Perspectives (SCM Press, London, 2007), pp. 50-62

‘The Clergy, the Cold War and the Mission of the Local Church: England, c. 1945-60’ in Diane Kirby (ed.), Religion and the Cold War (Palgrave/Macmillan, London, 2003, paperback 2013), pp. 188-199

‘More Desperate than any other Diocese in England? Christianity in Modern Birmingham’ in Nils G. Holm (ed.), Christianity and Islam in School Religious Education (Abo Akademis Tryckeri, Abo [Finland], 2000), pp. 137-165

Various book reviews for Journal of Beliefs and Values, Reading Religion, Theology, Journal of Contemporary Religion, Contact, Reviews in History

External Responsibilities

External Responsibilities

Director of St Peter’s Saltley Trust (2007-)
Honorary Research Fellow, Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham (2010-)
On the editorial board of the e-journal Challenging Religious Issues: Supporting Religious Studies at A-Level and Beyond (2017-)

Professional Bodies

Member of the Ecclesiastical History Society