Brian Mountford

Brian's Book Christian Atheist is a Blackwell's 'Best Seller' at the beginning of July 2011

Brian was raised in London and was always fascinated by music and theology. After studying theology at Newcastle University and Westcott House, Cambridge he was ordained into the Church of England at St Paul's Cathedral in 1968. His first clerical position was at St. Stephen's, Rochester Row in Westminster where he met his wife Annette at a Christmas Eve Midnight Mass...At the end of the swinging sixties he became Curate of Christ Church, Lancaster Gate in the heart of Bayswater.
On being appointed Fellow and Chaplain of Sidney Sussex College in 1973, he moved back to Cambridge. In 1978 he was appointed Vicar of Southgate in North London, and in 1986 Vicar of the University Church in Oxford, where he is also a Fellow of St Hilda's College.

St Mary's combines ministry to the University, the City and 300,000 visitors a year. It attracts a wide array of speakers, over the years including Paul Tortellier, Desmond Tutu, Rowan Williams, Howard Jacobson and Philip Pullman.

Apart from his ministry, Brian's creative life has been varied. He has published books, plays, has written for The Guardian and The Times and has grown many seasons worth of organic vegetables on his North Oxford allotment.

Brian's latest undertaking is the controversial new book 'Christian Atheist', published in June 2011.