Kenneth William Stevenson

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Kenneth William Stevenson is the eighth Bishop of Portsmouth.

[edit] Overview

Born near Edinburgh, he is part-Scottish and part-Danish, and is involved in strengthening the relations between the Anglican Churches of the British Isles and the Lutheran Churches of the Nordic and Baltic countries. He is married to Sarah and they have four children. His hobbies are music, walking his two Border terriers, Chinese cooking, historical biographies, and Denmark.

[edit] Career

He was consecrated bishop of Portsmouth in 1995 after spells as a parish priest in Lincolnshire and Guildford and as a university chaplain in Manchester. He is an author and a scholar, with a particular specialism in history and liturgy, and was a visiting Professor at Notre Dame University, Indiana, USA in 1983. He collaborated with the Bishop in Europe, Geoffrey Rowell, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in editing Love's Redeeming Work, an anthology of Anglican spirituality and theology which has become a best-seller. His latest book is The Lord's Prayer: a Text in Tradition.

As one of the 26 most senior bishops in the Church of England, he now sits in the House of Lords, and has spoken out about hunting with hounds, the reform of the House of Lords and the assisted dying bill. As Chairman of the Board of Education, he regularly speaks on related issues. He spends much of his time visiting parishes within the diocese, encouraging them to engage with and challenge the communities in which they live.

[edit] Leukaemia

His recent experience of being diagnosed with leukaemia and his subsequent six months of treatment have had a profound effect on his faith and work. He was since re-diagnosed with leukaemia in June 2006, and was gigven a bone marrow transplant in December 2006. He is now recovering at home and is expected to return to full-time work in the summer of 2007.