1. Introduction

Peter Christian Vardy (born July 1945)^[1] is a British theologian. The author or co-author of 18 books about religion and ethics, Vardy was vice-principal of Heythrop College, a Jesuit college in London, from 1999 to 2011.^[2] He is known for the religious-studies conferences he runs in the UK for schools.^[3][4]

2. Early Life and Education

Vardy was born to Mark Vardy^[1] and Christa Lund Vardy; his mother was Danish.^[5] He attended Charterhouse, an independent school in Godalming, Surrey.^[1] In 1974 he married his first wife, Anne Vardy, née Moore; the couple had two sons and three daughters before divorcing in 2004.^[1] Vardy remarried in 2009; he and his wife Charlotte, née Fowler, have one daughter.^[6]

Vardy trained as a chartered accountant, becoming a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA) in 1967.^[1] He ran management-training sessions for the National Westminster Bank and Swiss Bank Corporation,^[6] and was the chairman of H. Young Holdings plc from 1979–1983. At the age of 30, Vardy began to study theology, receiving a BA from the University of Southampton in 1979 and a PGCE (a teaching qualification) from the West Sussex Institute of Higher Education in 1980. He was awarded a master's degree in theology from King's College London in 1982,^[1] and a PhD in theology in 1984, also from King's, for a thesis entitled The concept of eternity.^[7]

3. Academic Career

Vardy taught philosophy of religion at King's College London and the Institute of Education.^[8] He began lecturing at Heythrop College in 1986^[5] and in 1999 became the vice-principal,^[8] a position he held until his retirement in 2011.^[9][10]

Whilst at Heythrop, he served on the University of London's Board of Theology (1990–1993).^[6] Vardy served as President of the London Society for the Study of Religion from 1996 to 1998^[6] and remained a member until at least 2007 when the Society celebrated its centenary.^[11]

Vardy's primary academic interest is in the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard, whose work he taught at Heythrop for 25 years.^[5] From 1987 he organized annual dinners in London on the anniversary of Kierkegaard's death,^[12][13] and in 1996 his book Kierkegaard was published,^[13] later published as The SPCK Introduction to Kierkegaard.

4. Work with Schools

4.1. Conferences

Vardy served as chair of the governors of Shebbear College, a Methodist school in Devon.^[14] He has also worked as a member of the Methodist Schools Committee,^[15] and has been a keynote speaker at conferences in the field of education, including for UNESCO and UNHRC.^[16] While at Heythrop, Vardy served as an editorial adviser for Dialogue,^[17] a journal of religion and philosophy aimed at sixth-form students, and made a series of teaching videos through Dialogue Education.^[18] He began running day conferences for sixth-form students in the mid 1990s and set up Wombat Education Ltd in 1998.^[19] In 2002 he and Julie Arliss of Richard Huish College, Taunton, organized a conference there and several others around the UK.^[3] In 2009 Vardy and his second wife, Charlotte Vardy, set up Candle Conferences Ltd,^[20][21] and in 2012 Candle Education Ltd,^[22] through which they run day conferences for schools.^[23]

Since 2010 Vardy has campaigned against the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, which he argues has led to a decline in numbers taking religion studies.^[24] He views philosophy of religion as an exercise in exploring the terms left undefined by theology (such as "God" and "soul") and encouraging humility.^[25] Education is a way to help young people become fully human, in his view, or good in the Aristotelian sense.^[26] He described the approach in his books "What is Truth?" (2001) and "Being Human" (2003), and in a paper, "Becoming Fully Human", for Dialogue Australasia in 2007.^[27]

4.2. Dialogue Australasia Network

In 1999 Vardy worked as a consultant for an Australian school, Geelong Grammar School, in Geelong, Victoria.^[28] Later he helped to set up the Dialogue Australasia Network,^[29] promoting the "five strands" approach to religious studies in schools that he proposed at the inaugural conference of Dialogue Australasia Network in 1997.^[30][31] This was implemented in a number of Australasian Independent Schools.^[32] He also served as an editor and occasional author for the journal Dialogue Australasia.^[27]

5. Media

Vardy has served as an editorial adviser for BBC and Channel 4 documentaries,^[33][34][34] has been interviewed by ABC Radio in Australia,^[35] and has written for several publications, including Times Higher Education,^[36] Eureka Street,^[37] and The Age.^[28] Vardy's Introduction to Kierkegaard was recommended in 2003 by the BBC Radio 4 Open Book's Reading Clinic.^[38]

6. Selected Works

Books

Articles and chapters