Professor Terence Copley 19 August, 1946-17 January, 2011
Terence Copley was Emeritus Professor of RE at the University of Exeter and also Emeritus Professor of RE at Oxford University. He was also a Senior Research Fellow of Harris Manchester College Oxford and the Oxford University Education Department. In 2008 he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity degree for his published work in RE and national and international contribution to the subject.
From Julian Stern 21 January 2011
It is with sadness that I let you know of the death of Professor Terence Copley. He was a huge name in religious education in the UK and internationally. In recent years he worked at the universities of Exeter and then Oxford, having set up and led the influential Biblos Project. He wrote for children as well as adults, combining, for all his audiences, a joyful enthusiasm with a serious concern for truth and authenticity. Terence attended the Driebergen ISREV Seminar in 2006, but was unable to attend in 2008 as he was too ill.
From Jerome Berryman 22 January 2011
Terence was a man of quiet mirth, rich intelligence and, dogged clear-minded research. He was a plain man, who knew cancer from all sides, as well as within, with dignity and grace. Above all he knew how to be a good and supportive friend to many and I will miss him greatly. On Thursday I will keep his Quaker silence to remember him.
From John Hull 26 April 2011
I first heard Terence lecture in the early 1970s, and loved him immediately. His style was witty, full of anecdotes and was in fact screamingly funny. Soon this was reinforced by his first two books, which he wrote with Donald Easton. The first was What they never told you about Religious Education (1974), and A Bedside Book for RE Teachers (1975). These books were wonderfully refreshing, and if anyone was thinking that RE was drab and stale, Copley’s writing gave them the lie.
From 1997-2007 he held the ExeterChair of Religious Education, and his work included a number of well known research projects, such as the enquiry into the teaching of Jesus, which was widely influential. He was interested in the history of religious education, as his 1997 book on fifty years of the subject in England and Wales illustrates, together with his biography of the 19th century educator, Thomas Arnold (2002).
Terence was a person of deep spirituality, which he found in the Quaker tradition, and this came out in his many writings on worship, spirituality and the Bible.
It was sad for ISREV that although he had intended to become a member for several years, he was unable to attend an ISREV session until 2006, and then pressures of work and his illness prevented him from taking this any further.
He will be remembered with affection and respect as a good friend, and someone who demanded that religious education should be charged with the values of humanity and of faith.
John M Hull
Terence Copley’s own autobiographical article, From Sheffield Desk to Oxford Chair: reflections on a professional lifetime in RE,was published in REsource (the Journal of the National Association of Teachers of RE) Edition 32:3 (Summer 2010).
A funeral poem follows.
For Terence (read at his funeral – included with the writer’s permission)
Professor Terence Copley, 19 August, 1946-17 January, 2011
‘Wotcha!’ your jaunty e-mails were begun,
Energy and substance their rare blend;
My smile anticipating talk and fun,
Plus other tasty morsels you might send.
‘I'll do the viva, with a pint and lunch,
We'll catch up; it’ll be a right good day!’
Your hints and teasers give more than a hunch
That stories and broad smiles will wend my way.
Courses, projects, books, the spin you tell;
Lectures, gossip, Oxford plans and more;
Strategies and arguments you sell:
Adrenaline exudes from every pore!
A wide grin wreathes your face, your eyebrows raise:
‘Like shares in asbestos...Arnold sold!’
My laughter, a delighted song of praise –
A good and well-timed line, expertly told.
Your eyes light up when you announce your gong;
Not honorary degree, nor royal spam,
No literary prize has come along:
But proud-earned right to drive a vintage tram!
We will read and contemplate your books;
Good and faithful lad, fly high and free;
Don your cap and climb into the cab,
And drive your Blackpool tram eternally.
Robert Jackson, January 25, 2011