Quick Facts
Biography
Judith Diane Maltby, FRHistS (born 1957) is an American-born Anglican priest and historian, who specialises in post-Reformation church history and the history of early modern Britain. She has been the chaplain and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford since 1993, and Reader in Church History at the University of Oxford since 2004.
Early life and education
Maltby was born in 1957 in the United States. She studied for a double major in English and history at the University of Illinois, graduating in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. She undertook postgraduate research in early modern British history at Wolfson College, Cambridge and then at Newnham College, Cambridge, completing her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1992. Her doctoral thesis was titled "Approaches to the study of religious conformity in late Elizabethan and early Stuart England: with special reference to Cheshire and the diocese of Lincoln".
Career
Academic career
From 1987 to 1993, Maltby was a tutor in church history at Salisbury and Wells Theological College, an Anglican theological college in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. In 1993, having been appointed its college chaplain, she was elected a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. She is also a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, and was made Reader in Church History in 2004.
Maltby's main research interests are church history and the history of early modern Britain. Particular intersts include "16th and 17th century English religion", "liturgy and the history of the Church of England", ecumenism, and "Anglican responses to persecution during the 1640-50s".
In 1999, Maltby was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS).
Ordained ministry
From 1989 to 1992, Maltby trained for Holy Orders on the Southern Theological Education and Training Scheme. She was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1992. From 1992 to 1993, she was an honorary parish deacon at the Parish of Wilton with Netherhampton & Fugglestone in the Diocese of Salisbury. She was ordained as a priest on 17 April 1994 by Richard Harries, Bishop of Oxford. She was one of the first women ordained to the priesthood in the Church of England, and one of the first 70 in the Diocese of Oxford.
Since 1993, Maltby has been the chaplain of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. She has also been honorary canon theologian of Leicester Cathedral since 2004, and canon theologian of Winchester Cathedral since 2011. In 2006, she was made an honorary canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
Views
Maltby opposed the creation of provincial episcopal visitors for opponents of the ordination of women.