Peter Owen-Jones
| The Reverend Peter Owen-Jones | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1957 (age 58–59) South London, England, UK |
| Spouse(s) | Jac Owen-Jones (separated) |
| Children | 4 |
| Church | Church of England |
| Ordained | 1993 |
Congregations served | Firle, Sussex, UK |
Offices held | Subdean, Rector |
Peter Owen-Jones (born 1957) is an English Anglican clergyman, author and television presenter.
Owen Jones dropped out of public school at the age of 16 and went to Australia to make his fortune. Back in Britain, he began his working life as a farm labourer in South Eastern England and then ran a mobile disco before moving to London where he started in advertising as a messenger boy and worked his way up to creative director. In his late 20s and with a wife and two children, he gave up his commercial life to follow a calling to the Anglican ministry by enrolling at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. In early 1996 he gained notoriety when he conducted a service for the Newbury bypass protestors.[1]
In 1998, he ran three parishes in Cambridgeshire as the Rector of Haslingfield (Harlton, Great Eversden and Little Eversden), before resigning from his post in 2005, to relocate to the benefice of Glynde, West Firle and Beddingham. He was recruited by the BBC to front a series of religious television programmes looking at different aspects of Christianity and other faiths.
He is married to Jac and as of May 2010 has four children.[2]
In his BBC documentary How to Live a Simple Life (2009),[3] Owen-Jones tried to live a life without money, in the footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi. His 2010 documentary, The Lost Gospels, discussed the Apocryphal Gospels which were omitted from the canon of the New Testament, and Owen-Jones considers how their contents might have altered Christian theology if they had not been suppressed.
Books
- Bed of Nails: An Advertising Executive's Journey Through Theological College, Lion Hudson, 1998, ISBN 978-0-7459-3628-4
- Small Boat, Big Sea: One Year's Journey as a Parish Priest, Lion Publishing, 2000, ISBN 0-7459-5053-1
- Psalm, O Books, 2005, ISBN 1-903816-91-2
- Letters from the Moon (2010)
- Owen Jones, Peter (4 February 2010). Letters from an Extreme Pilgrim: Reflections on Life, Love and the Soul. Rider Books. ISBN 978-1-84604-133-4.
Audio
- Psalm [Spoken Word/ Electronica Project with Mark Sheppard from the Offering][4]
Filmography
- In Search of England's Green and Pleasant Land BBC South
- The Power and the Glory, BBC Four
- The Battle for Britain's Soul, BBC Two, a history of Christianity in Britain[5]
- The Lost Gospels, BBC Four, a documentary on the ancient gospels[6]
- Extreme Pilgrim, BBC Two, in which he lived as a Chinese Buddhist monk, a Christian monk and an Indian ascetic[7]
- Around the World in 80 Faiths, BBC Two, a travel documentary encountering different religions[8]
- How To Live A Simple Life, BBC Two, a three part series, in which Peter tries to turn his back on consumerism[9]
References
- ↑ Bed of Nails: An Advertising Executive's Journey Through Theological College, Lion Hudson, 1998, ISBN 978-0-7459-3628-4
- ↑ The Independent - Meet the ad exec turned pin-up vicar, 23 November 2003
- ↑ Telegraph, 2009 How to Live a Simple Life
- ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/psalm/id378335436?uo=4
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008kj68
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074t48
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008py64
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00glqx9/episodes
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sdbcw
External links
- Sussex Life - Man on a Mission, January 2008
- The Guardian - My work space, 3 September 2005
- BBC - Around the World in 80 Faiths - An interview with Pete (Adobe Flash)