Jolyon Mitchell - Farewell

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It is hard to believe that Jolyon is about to complete his 30^th year as part of the academic staff of New College. He started his career here as a PhD student when he combined his doctoral studies with full-time teaching at our faculty.

In the early stages of his career, Jolyon’s research and teaching was focused on Media and Theology. Here he drew on his expertise and contacts in the BBC and beyond to develop and deliver innovative crowd-pulling courses, such as Film and Theology that attracted students from all over the University and helped to raise the profile of the School of Divinity. Sometime after this there was a gradual shift in Jolyon’s work towards an exploration of Religion and Violence. That research interest led Jolyon to come alongside people in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Israel-Palestine. This work in turn underwent a further evolution. Building on his focus on the linkages between Violence and Religion, Jolyon become acutely concerned with the resolution of these tensions. Thus, his work morphed towards a focus on Religion and Peacebuilding with an emphasis on way the arts could assist in the process of shared conversations and healing after confronting the overwhelming violence of war or genocide.

Such topics were not comfortable or easy. Jolyon, however, invested much of his time and emotional resources in listening attentively to the stories and experiences of those on multiple side of the conflicts. No doubt there was a personal cost in engaging with people in the very depths of their pain. For Jolyon this was a burden he had to carry, since he was not merely interested in recording the phenomenon of peacebuilding, but rather wanted to be an active and positive agent for reconciliation and change. There is no doubt that in those endeavours he has been incredibly successful.

Perhaps the role in the School where Jolyon has had greatest impact is as the Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues. During the time of Jolyon’s association with the Centre, it has hosted several hundred public events, and has drawn speakers to the School including ministers and politicians, church leaders, leading figures in the media and the arts. Since 2021 Jolyon, together with Professor Alison Jack, has been the main force behind the New College Book Festival, supported by the CTPI, that brought hundreds of Edinburgh locals together to explore religion, faith and pressing political issues in contemporary literature.

In the wider University, from 2012-2015 Jolyon served as the Director of IASH, the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities. Under Jolyon’s leadership the institute developed as a space where scholars could engage in path-leading, interdisciplinary research. That is perhaps reflective of one of Jolyon’s greatest skills, that is finding a way to get the right people together in the same room and talking to one another. On the surface, perhaps to somebody less skilled than Jolyon the combinations of people might have seemed quite a stretch. The reason why they worked was precisely because Jolyon had taken the time to get to know the people he invited. He knew what made them tick, and what motivated them. The fruit of this work was recognized when Jolyon received the Principal’s Commendation for his work at IASH. In addition to this headline work, while at IASH Jolyon invested heavily in junior colleagues. He helped them develop their careers through the IASH visiting fellows programme – a scheme that continues to benefit many young scholars.

Nationally, between 2012-2018, Jolyon served as President of TRS UK, the UK’s national association forTheology and Religious Studies. This was a time of uncertainty and some despondency as several departments either closed or contracted. Jolyon proved himself to be a tireless and skilled advocate for the discipline. This work required many high-level meetings, and his contributions often were made in a very quiet way. However, it is fair to say that these interventions were instrumental in highlighting to politicians and university administrators the contribution that the study of religion and theology does make in producing a compassionate and tolerant society. It is no exaggeration to say that without these many discussions the state of the discipline in the UK would be much weaker. We are all in Jolyon’s debt for this work on behalf of all of us.

There is not enough space here to catalogue all of Jolyon’s contributions and achievements. There are six monographs covering themes of Media and Religion, Martyrdom, Religion and Peacebuilding, and a forthcoming book I am eager to read on Passion Plays. Jolyon has served as a jury member and president at multiple film festivals including Cannes and Venice. His teaching has been repeatedly nominated for Edinburgh University Student Association awards and more significantly students speak in the highest terms of learning they receive in Professor Mitchell’s courses. Prior to his successful career at Edinburgh, Jolyon had undertaken his undergraduate theological studies at Selwyn College Cambridge, and had spent about five years working as a producer and journalist for the BBC.

Jolyon, we are delighted for you that you are about to take up such a prestigious post in Durham. You will be missed, you will continue to have many friends here in Edinburgh, your urbane manner and people-centred approach has made New College a kinder and more compassionate place to work. We know you will take those qualities with you to Durham and beyond. Each and every one of us wishes you all joy and happiness in this new stage of your career. This is not farewell, but simply Adieu!

(Text adapted from Professor Paul Foster’s speech at New College’s Dean Dinner)