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Harris Manchester College, one of the forty-three Oxford University colleges and a historical hub for Unitarian thought, elected the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt as an Honorary Fellow.
In a statement, Betancourt thanked the college for the honor and said she looks forward to building new relationships there.
UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt
“As President of the UUA, I have the privilege of collaborating with Unitarian Universalist theologians on current expressions of Unitarian Universalist theologies and elevating our inherited theological tradition,” Betancourt said. “It is particularly meaningful to me to have the opportunity to do so in relationship with HMC with its Unitarian roots and inclusive, dissenting spirit.”
The honor signifies renewed connection between the Unitarian Universalist Association in the United States; Harris Manchester College, a school with a rich Unitarian history; and Unitarians in the United Kingdom.
“We are all absolutely delighted to [honor] Dr. Betancourt and her exceptional achievements in this way, and we look forward to forging closer relationships with the Unitarian Universalist Association in the USA and to welcoming Dr. Betancourt to college whenever she is able to visit,” Harris Manchester College Principal Professor Jane Shaw said in a statement.
The Rev. Dr. Claire MacDonald, a Unitarian minister who serves as a ministry tutor and chaplain at Harris Manchester College, invited Betancourt to submit materials for the fellowship. MacDonald noted that other UU leaders such as the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt and the Rev. Dr. Natalie Fenimore have previously been involved with Harris Manchester College through its summer research program.
MacDonald is helping to develop the Carpenter Centre for Research, a new center at Harris Manchester College that will offer research fellowships to international collaborators. She said that Betancourt will be involved with the center, which is named for Joseph Estlin Carpenter, a Unitarian minister, scholar of religion, and godfather to the poet e.e. cummings. Carpenter was also principal of Manchester College.
“We have rich and supportive UUA connections of which Sofía will be a key and much-appreciated part,” said MacDonald. “We are thrilled to have Sofía as an Honorary Fellow. She has been to the college as a member of the Summer Research Institute, and she combines scholarship and leadership in unique ways.”
A School for Unitarians, Dissenters, and Radicals
Founded in 1786 as a school for religious dissenters, Manchester Academy was a successor institution to liberal Warrington Academy, referred to as “the cradle of Unitarianism” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Among the tutors at Warrington Academy, many of whom were Unitarian, was Joseph Priestly, the famed Unitarian minister, scientist, and philosopher who is credited with the discovery of oxygen in 1774. Priestly is also considered one of the founders of Unitarianism in England.
While Harris Manchester College does not have an explicitly Unitarian identity, it has been home to hundreds of Unitarian students and religious nonconformists. The college also has a long tradition of supporting social reforms such as the abolition of slavery. Gertrude von Petzold, a German Unitarian minister and the first woman to be appointed for church ministry in England, was a graduate of the school, known at the time as Manchester College.
Harris Manchester College’s full history can be explored in detail on its website.