Reverend Associate Professor Frank Rees studied philosophy before beginning theology and training as a Baptist pastor. He brings all these elements into his work as a teacher and leader in the University of Divinity.
In 1991 he took up the position of Professor of Systematic Theology at Whitley College, a role he held until 2016. During that period, he was appointed Dean of Whitley College (from 2000 to 2005) and then Principal (from 2006 to 2016).
Frank was Chair of the Academic Board in the University of Divinity from 2017 to 2023 and has taught as an adjunct lecturer at several colleges within the University.
His recent research interests have focussed on theology as biography and he teaches a course on ‘Lives of faith’. He wrote a biography of Mervyn Himbury, the founding Principal of Whitley College. He has supervised a number of doctoral projects relating theology and the arts.
Frank was a member of the International Commission on Doctrine and Christian Unity, within the Baptist World Alliance, where he led an international study project collecting life stories of ‘Baptist saints’. He also served as Co-Chair of a dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and the Roman Catholic Church on ‘The Dynamic of the Gospel’.
Frank also writes a blog at tobefrank: Thinking honestly about life and faith