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About David Atkinson (bishop)
- David John Atkinson (born 5 September 1943) is the former Bishop of Thetford.Atkinson was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and King's College London (he became an Associate of King's College {AKC} and, at other points, a Doctor of Philosophy {PhD}, Master of Letters {MLitt}, Oxford Master of Arts {MA Oxon}, and Bachelor of Science {BSc}).
- After a short career as a chemistry teacher he was ordained in 1973.
- His career began with a curacy at St Peter Halliwell, Bolton, after which he was Curate at St John, Harborne, Birmingham, and then Librarian at Latimer House, Oxford.
- From 1977 he was Chaplain (and a Fellow) of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and part-time Lecturer at Wycliffe Hall, then a Canon Residentiary at Southwark Cathedral and finally (before his elevation to the Episcopate) Archdeacon of Lewisham.
- He was Bishop of Thetford from 2001 to 2009.
- In 2009 he became an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Southwark.
- He has been Northrupp Visiting Professor at Hope College, Holland, Michigan, and Visiting Lecturer at St John's College, Hong Kong, and at the South Asia institute of Advanced Christian Studies.
- He is a member of the Society of Ordained Scientists, and has served on the Board of Operation Noah.
- Atkinson is married with two children and eight grandchildren.
- He retired on 16 September 2009.On 11 February 2017, Atkinson was one of fourteen retired bishops to sign an open letter to the then-serving bishops of the Church of England.
- In an unprecedented move, they expressed their opposition to the House of Bishops' report to General Synod on sexuality, which recommended no change to the Church's canons or practices around sexuality.
- By 13 February, a serving bishop (Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham) and nine further retired bishops had added their signatures; on 15 February, the report was rejected by synod.
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