Frances Young

The Reverend Frances Margaret Young, OBE, FBA (born 1939 ) is a British Christian theologian and Methodist minister. She is emeritus professor at the University of Birmingham.

Biography Young taught theology at the University of Birmingham from 1971, becoming the Edward Cadbury Professor and head of the Department of Theology in 1986. During her time at the university, she also served as dean of the Faculty of Arts (1995–97) and pro-vice-chancellor (1997–2002). In 1984, she was ordained as a Methodist minister, and has combined preaching in a local Circuit and pursuing her academic career. In 1998, she was awarded an OBE for services to theology and in 2004, elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

In 2005, she retired from the university. On 15 November 2005, she preached at the opening service of the 8th General Synod of the Church of England, the first Methodist and the first woman to preach at the five-yearly inauguration ceremony. She delivered her sermon at the Eucharist service at which the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, presided.

She served as editor of volumes 39–43 of the Studia Patristica and wrote academic and more popular theological writings, drawing on her work on the New Testament and on Christianity in its formative centuries, but also on her experience as the mother of a son (Arthur) who was born with profound physical and mental disabilities.