David Chillingworth

Who is David Chillingworth?

David Chillingworth is one of the seven diocesan bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church, a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury as primus inter pares. He was ordained as bishop of the Diocese of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane in St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth on 5 March 2005.

On 13 June 2009, Chillingworth was elected the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church by the bishops of the church.

Although it is not uncommon for the Scottish Episcopal Church to elect bishops from outside the boundaries of Scotland, the choice of Chillingworth was unusual in that he was elected from the Church of Ireland. Chillingworth had never previously worked in Scotland and had lived most of his life in Northern Ireland. He was born in Dublin and studied classics at Trinity College, Dublin, theology at Oriel College, Oxford, and trained for the ordained ministry at Ripon College Cuddesdon which is close to Oxford.

Chillingworth was ordained in Belfast in 1976. His parish ministry was consistently focused on issues of conflict and reconciliation, particularly in relation to sectarianism.