The Very Reverend Phillip Jensen is a prominent Australian clergyman of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, currently the Dean of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. He is the brother of Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney.

Phillip Jensen studied theology at Moore Theological College, and won the Hey Sharp prize for coming first in the ThL (Licenciate of Theology, the standard course of study at that time), a year after his brother Peter also won it. Phillip became chaplain to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 1975 and Rector of St Matthias, Centennial Park, in 1977. Phillip Jensen could be described as the "Ian Chappell" of Anglicanism - deeply conservative in his Calvinist theology yet radical and iconoclastic in his ministry style.

Basing his University ministry around expository preaching and "walk-up evangelism", Phillip Jensen and his "Campus Bible Study" revolutionised student ministry. The result was a large number

It was the exponential growth of the MTS strategy in other universities and churches throughout the 1980s and 1990s that saw student number at Moore Theological College grow from around 150 in 1985 to over 400 in 2004. Many of these graduates are now Rectors of Anglican Churches in Sydney, and leaders in many evangelical churches throughout Sydney and the world. Phillip Jensen founded Matthias Media. He also authored the popular Two Ways To Live Evangelistic tract, and founded The Briefing, an insightful and sometimes polemical magazine that mixes conservative Evangelical and Calvinistic theology with intellectual rigour in

Phillip Jensen is a vocal opponent of ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate within the Anglican Church of Australia and has also spoken publicy against gambling, same-sex relationships and Roman Catholicism. Jensen often decries what he terms "liberal relativism".

In 2003 Peter Jensen appointed Phillip Jensen as Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. Phillip Jensen broke with tradition by not being "installed" as dean, but merely accepting his licence from the Archbishop at a service of commencement.

Phillip Jensen's attitude to traditional Anglican styles of cathedral worship has drawn criticism, but has also removed barriers to those not attracted by traditional Anglicanism. Phillip Jensen has discarded the traditional evangelical Anglican robes of cassock, surplice, scarf and hood preferring to preach in an academic or Geneva gown. He put the communion table on wheels, and reduced the choir's participation in Sunday services. Choral Evensong on Sunday evenings has been discontinued and replaced with "The Bible Talks" and a more contemporary style of worship. The St Andrew's Cathedral School's Girls' Vocal Ensemble has for the first time been allowed a regular opportunity to sing in the Cathedral. Liturgy in St Andrew's Cathedral has undergone radical change since Phillip Jensen became dean. The cathedral no longer holds daily services of Holy Communion. Regular systematic bible teaching is now the key feature of Sunday services.

In 2004 the Sydney Morning Herald reported that whilst in Britain addressing "Reform" - an association of conservative evangelical members of the Church of England - Phillip Jensen was quoted as referring to Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury as "a theological prostitute". The Herald also claimed that Jensen had described Charles, Prince of Wales as a "public adulterer" and the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge as a "temple of paganism". Jensen claimed that he did not refer to Williams in person, and has sought to put his comments into their correct context.

See also

• Sydney Anglicans
• Peter Jensen (brother)

Notes

1.   (October 28, 2002). Sydney Morning Herald.
2.   (October 19, 2004). Anglican Media Sydney.