The Revd Canon Dr William Lamb is the Vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, an Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, and a Supernumerary Fellow of Harris Manchester College.
Will read Theology at Balliol College, Oxford (1988-1991), and then prepared for ministry as a priest in the Church of England at Westcott House, Cambridge. While in Cambridge, in student for an MPhil in New Testament Studies. He was ordained in 1995.
Serving in the north of England, Will was also a Tutor at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, and an Honorary Lecturer, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Leeds. He then became the Anglican Chaplain at the University of Sheffield and Canon Residentiary of Sheffield Cathedral. He also also a Lecturer in the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield. In 2010, he became Vice-Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge, and an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. He returned to Oxford in 2017.
Research Interests
Will has written about the history and influence of the New Testament, particularly the phenomenon of commentary and a group of Byzantine manuscripts, known as catenae. He has also written about historical theology, pastoral theology, and preaching. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Newman Studies Journal.
Recent Publications
The Catena in Marcum: A Byzantine Anthology of Early Commentary on Mark (Leiden: Brill, 2012), xii + 509 pages.
Scripture: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2013), viii + 209 pages.
“Catenae and the Art of Memory” in Hugh Houghton (ed.), Commentaries, Catenae and Biblical Tradition. Texts and Studies Series. (Piscataway,NJ: Gorgias Press, 2016), 83-98.
“Conservation and Conversation: New Testament Catenae in Byzantium” in Derek Krueger and Robert Nelson (eds.), The New Testament in Byzantium (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2016), 277-300.
“Johannine Commentaries in the Early Church” in Martinus de Boer and Judith Lieu (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 416-436.
“A Question of Attribution: The Theological Significance of the Catena in Codex Zacynthius’ in Hugh Houghton and David Parker (eds.), Codex Zacynthius: Catena, Palimpsest, Lectionary (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2020), 121-135.
“An Afterword” in James Crockford, Faith Beyond Fear: Sermons from Newman’s Pulpit (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2021), 79-83.
"Newman: Doctor of the Church? An Anglican Perspective". Newman Studies Journal, Volume 21, Issue 2 (Winter 2024), 111-116.
"Conscience and Character', Journal of Anglican Studies, Published online January 2026:1-20. doi:10.1017/S1740355326100886
