Alec Ryrie

Alexander Gray Ryrie[1] FBA (born 20 August 1971), known as Alec Ryrie, is a British historian of Protestant Christianity, specializing in the history of England and Scotland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[2][3] He was appointed Professor of Divinity at Gresham College from 2018 to 2021.[3][4] He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2019.

Alec Ryrie FBA
Born	Alexander Gray Ryrie (1971-08-20) 20 August 1971 London, England
Nationality	British
Home town	Pennines, England
Spouse(s)	Victoria ( m. 1995)
Academic background
Alma mater	Trinity Hall, Cambridge University of St Andrews St Cross College, Oxford
Thesis	English Evangelical Reformers in the Last Years of Henry VIII (2000)
Academic work
Discipline	History
Sub-discipline	History of Christianity
Institutions	University of Birmingham Durham University Gresham College

Biography

Ryrie was born in London and raised in Washington, DC.[5] After teaching for a year at a school in rural Zimbabwe,[6][7] Ryrie read history as an undergraduate at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1993, MA 1997),[1] completed a master's in Reformation studies at the University of St Andrews, and in 2000 took a DPhil in theology at St Cross College, Oxford.[3][8] His doctoral work, examining how early English evangelical reformers operated within the political atmosphere of Henry VIII's reign, was published as The Gospel and Henry VIII.[3]

Ryrie lives in the Pennines with his wife Victoria (married 1995) and their two children.[6] He has been a reader in the Church of England since 1997, and is licensed to the parish of Shotley St John in the diocese of Newcastle.[3][8]

Career

From 1999 to 2006, he taught in the Department of Modern History at the University of Birmingham, and is Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University, where he has worked since 2007. From 2012 to 2015 he was head of the Department of Theology and Religion.[8][9] He completed a three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship in 2018.[3][8]

A Fellow of the Ecclesiastical History Society (President, 2019–20),[8] Ryrie is co-editor of The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. In 2018, he was appointed Gresham Professor of Divinity, having been Visiting Professor in the History of Religion at Gresham College from 2015 to 2017.[8]

Publications

Ryrie has contributed to many journals, including Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, History Today,[10] and The English Historical Review, and has contributed to and edited several books. He has written books including Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt (2019), Protestants: The Faith That Made the Modern World (2017), Being Protestant in Reformation Britain (2013), and The Sorcerer's Tale: Faith and Fraud in Tudor England (2008).[3][11][12] His media appearances include BBC Radio 4.[13]

References

1. The Cambridge University List of Members up to 31 July 1996 (Supplement), University of Cambridge, 1996, p. 83
2. "Protestants by Alec Ryrie". Churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
3. "Professor A Ryrie - Durham University". Dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
4. "Alec Ryrie appointed to Divinity Professorship at Gresham College - Durham University". Dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
5. Ryrie, Alec (4 April 2017). "Protestants: The Faith That Made the Modern World". Penguin. Retrieved 31 January 2019 – via Google Books.
6. "PRX". Beta.prx.org. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
7. Wey, Delaney Van (29 June 2017). "Alec Ryrie tells story of Protestantism through individuals". Chqdaily.com. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
8. "Professor Alec Ryrie". Gresham.ac.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
9. DeGroot, Gerard (25 March 2017). "Protestants: The Radicals Who Made the Modern World by Alec Ryrie". Thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
10. "Alec Ryrie - History Today". Historytoday.com. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
11. "Ryrie, Alec : Overview". Worldcat.org. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
12. "Alec Ryrie - Google Scholar Citations". Scholar.google.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
13. "BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Christianity: Luther's Legacy". BBC. Retrieved 31 January 2019.

Academic offices
Preceded by Alister McGrath	Gresham Professor of Divinity 2018–present	Incumbent
Professional and academic associations
Preceded by Rosamond McKitterick	President of the Ecclesiastical History Society 2019–present	Incumbent