Born in Bristol in 1944 in wartime Britain. My father was a fire-man in the Bristol Blitz, then a merchant seaman on the Atlantic Convoys preyed on by wolf-packs of U-boats. Spent my childhood in rural Somerset, the first 10 years subject to wartime rationing. My boyhood skittles were German high-explosive and incendiary bombs.
Converted to Christ as a philosophy student in 1963 and at the same time introduced to the neo-Kuyperian reformational philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd, which has shaped my lifetime of scholarship in many disciplines. My academic friend and companion as an undergrad and postgrad was Elaine Storkey, a relationship that has lasted down the years.
I have a BA in philosophy from Aberystwyth University, an MA from McMaster University and a never completed Ph.D from Nottingham University. Plus an MA in sociology of religion, a PGCE and M.Ed. from Bristol University. And a Dip H.Ed. from Trinity College, Bristol.
I taught philosophy at Harris-Manchester College (Oxford) and Trinity Christian University (Chicago) under Calvin Seerveld. After I became Vicar of Widcombe (Bath), I taught philosophy part-time at Bristol University and Trinity College, Bristol.
My life partner was my darling Janice. We married in 1969 and she went to paradise in 2023. I met her as her thesis supervisor at Bristol Art College and engaged before it was completed. Janice was a fearless rock-climber and caver. She lectured in art at Trinity Christian University and was subsequently a landscape painter until a few days before her death. Our two fine sons Gabriel and Simon both went to art college and have made successful careers in the arts.
Outside academic and church work I qualified as an RAF marksman, glider pilot and scuba diver. I love sailing and kayaking which I have done all my life. As a lifelong countryman a photographer, gardener, rifle and shotgun hunter, forager… and a prolific maker of marmalades, jellies, jams and chutneys… and a half-decent cook.
On re-reading all this perhaps I have really been a peasant with the aspirations to becoming some sort of  Renaissance Man!