Since this department is both well-respected and ranks highly on most formal and informal assessments, and since I enjoyed a most stimulating sabbatical there ;) I have written the email below to the Vice-Chancellor:
Prof. Keith BurnettIf you are a biblical scholar, or amateur of the field, you might consider a similar letter, the address is vc@sheffield.ac.uk
Vice-Chancellor
The University of Sheffield
Dear Sir,
I have been shocked to read reports that the University is considering closing the Biblical Studies department. As you know this department regularly scores highly in various comparative assessments, and has a excellent reputation worldwide as one of the major research and teaching institutions in the discipline. A generation ago there was suspicion of the unusual step of creating a biblical studies department outside theology, however developments in society and especially in the discipline since then have vindicated this decision.
As well as knowing of the department through its staff's publications I spent a highly stimulating sabbatical in Sheffield a few years ago, and have the highest respect for the work I saw. Teaching an undergraduate course as well as participating in the departmental seminars, which were the liveliest and most intellectually stimulating I have attended.
It would be a loss to the discipline globally if this department were closed. Many staff in institutions such as the one in which I teach received their PhDs from Sheffield (in our case most of us studied in NZ, but the head of our Mandarin-speaking programme is a Sheffield graduate).
I find the decision particularly shocking as there seems to have been little consultation either within the University or beyond.
Yours sincerely,
Tim Bulkeley
Labels: biblical.studies
¶ 6:31 AM
[to Del.icio.us]
fantastic tim, thanks
By 
Jim, at
October 9, 2009 6:49 AM
Thank you for your support. I would like to add that I think you will find both its undergraduate and graduate programs are equally innovative and respected, as attendance at any conference in the field will attest.
By 
, at
October 9, 2009 8:38 AM
My "at least for UG programmes" was meant to suggest only that I am unclear whether the PG programmes are also endangered, not that the department is any less innovative and respected at other levels <shocked horror> see the comments in the letter copied below.
I do indeed relish the contributions from past and present Sheffield staff and PG students at conferences as well as in journals.
By Tim, at
October 9, 2009 10:37 AM
Strangely enough I read this just after reading at Ruth Gledhill's blog that Rev Rob Marshall, who is one of the clergy at David Cameron's church in Kensington, London, "studied Biblical theology at Sheffield". Perhaps if you can somehow contact Rev Marshall (who is currently in Iona, but maybe someone will answer his phone as listed at the church website) he can get support for this campaign the man likely to be our next Prime Minister.
By Peter Kirk, at
October 9, 2009 11:34 AM
yea verily - I have emailed a similar letter. Nicely put, Tim.
By , at
October 9, 2009 2:02 PM
Just to clarify about the UG/PG situation, in the words of a current PG:
"The proposal (which remains indetermined) is to close the department to undergraduates, which would close the department completely - reassigning staff to other departments in the faculty. The plan to then create a research 'centre' of international excellence is weak and undeveloped, especially in light of recent redundancies."
The department currently has 3 full-time staff and one of these is on a years sabbatical.
The Facebook Group 'Don't shut down Biblical Studies at Sheffield' now has all of relevant information in detail.
By , at
October 10, 2009 2:12 AM
Post-graduate provision is indeed threatened. The closure 'to undergraduates' also means the closure of the departure proper.
Although the Senate has not approved the closure, the Faculty of Arts & Humanities (whose review recommended closure) has already declined to give the department an acting head (Hugh Pyper is on sabbatical). This means the department has no representation on the Faculty Board.
The Faculty is nominally committed to the creation of a 'centre for postgraduate research' once it has dismantled the department (the latter action being specifically detailed in the papers presented to the Senate), yet it has no plans to recruit new staff in the light of significant departures.
By , at
October 10, 2009 6:20 AM
