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Graham Kings

Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion; Bishop of Sherborne; British Anglican bishop

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 4, 2026
Entity authorityQ5592984
Source-derived summary

Graham Kings (born 10 October 1953) is an English Church of England bishop, theologian and poet. In retirement in Cambridge, having served as Bishop of Sherborne and then Mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion, he is an Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Ely and Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, which he founded in 1996. His latest books are: Nourishing Connections (Canterbury Press, 2020), Nourishing Mission: Theological Settings (Brill, 2022), Exchange of Gifts: The Vision of Simon Barrington-Ward (Ekklesia, 2022), edited with Ian Randall.

Early life and education

Kings was born in Barkingside, Essex, England, on the eastern outskirts of London. He is one of two children. He was educated at Chigwell County Primary School (1958–65); Buckhurst Hill County High School, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Hertford College, Oxford (1973–77, BA/MA, Law, one year, Theology, 3 years); Ridley Hall, Cambridge (1978–80 Ordination training); Selwyn College, Cambridge, (1979–80, DipTh in New Testament post graduate studies); and Utrecht University (1998–2002 PhD by extension). He was an Honorary Fellow of Durham University (2015–18).

Career

Between school and Oxford, Kings was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards on a short service limited commission (February to September 1973) and served as a tank troop leader in Munster, West Germany. Between Oxford and Cambridge, his first year of marriage, he was a caretaker at All Souls Church, Langham Place, in London (1977–78). Kings was ordained deacon at Michaelmas 1980 (28 September), by Hewlett Thompson, Bishop of Willesden, at St Mary's, Ealing, and ordained a priest at Michaelmas 1981 (27 September), by Graham Leonard, Bishop of London, at St Paul's Cathedral.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Graham Kings” as mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion; Bishop of Sherborne; British Anglican bishop. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1953, 1996, 2020, 2022—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1953-10-10. The account is most persuasive where Graham, Kings and Mission can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as mission Theologian in the Anglican Communion; Bishop of Sherborne; British Anglican bishop. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5592984. VIAF identifies the subject as 31503056. The Library of Congress control number is nb2002009166. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1996, 2020 and 2022.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Graham Kings” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.