By Mark Clavier, Anglican Ink.
Not long ago, if you found yourself wandering near one of the UK’s cathedrals, you might have stumbled into an SPCK bookshop. They were havens for the theologically curious—quiet, musty spaces packed with volumes that had shaped generations of clergy and lay thinkers alike. I still remember visiting places like Lincoln, Lichfield, and Salisbury in the 1990s and discovering dusty treasures by the likes of Charles Gore, William Temple, Michael Ramsey, and C.B. Moss. The smell of those books lingers in my memory like incense—sweet and grounding.
Today, those bookshops are gone. Their closure marked more than the loss of affordable theology or quirky finds. They were symptoms of a broader cultural shift. They belonged to an age when theology mattered—when ordinary Christians pursued thoughtful engagement with doctrine, Scripture, church history, and the spiritual life. And they were signs that theological formation, once rooted in everyday ecclesial life, had a home. Now, it’s increasingly homeless.
Recent news confirms what many have feared: theology is in full retreat from the academy. Cardiff University recently announced the full closure of its Department of Religion and Theology—no restructuring, no streamlining, just an end. At Lampeter, theological study has effectively ceased after centuries of contribution. Even Bangor is undergoing sweeping cuts. In practical terms, theology has almost vanished from Welsh academia—and it’s not faring much better elsewhere in the UK.
As Professor D. Densil Morgan recently lamented, “It seems that there won’t be a single theological department in a university in Wales at all – it’s a tragedy. Where you had Cardiff, Lampeter and Bangor offering the whole range of theology, Biblical studies, doctrinal studies, Church history, philosophy of religion – the departments have effectively closed.”
This isn’t simply a Welsh problem. Across the country, particularly in post-1992 universities, theology and religious studies are being quietly dismantled. Where departments remain, they’re often diluted—absorbed into cultural studies or buried within broader humanities umbrellas. The reasons are familiar: political priorities, economic pressures, and institutional restructuring. But the effect is profound. Theology is being steadily exiled from the university.