The Very Rev’d Dr Jonathan Draper is Dean Emeritus of Exeter Cathedral and former General Secretary of Modern Church. Jonathan was born in Boston MA in the USA and came to the UK in 1976 to undertake doctoral work at Durham University, and never left. He trained for ordination in the Church of England at Ripon College Cuddesdon, served a curacy in Manchester and went back to Cuddesdon to teach doctrine. While at Cuddesdon, Jonathan was also a member of the Theology Faculty in the University of Oxford. From Cuddesdon, Jonathan went to be Vicar of Putney in the Diocese of Southwark: an inclusive parish before the term was popular. In 2000, Jonathan and his family moved from Putney to York where he was Canon Theologian at York Minster for 12 years before moving to Exeter to take up the post of Dean in 2012. Jonathan is interested in all things theological (which means all things) and is never surprised to see the Spirit of God at work outside the structures of the church.
Jonathan became was co-opted an independent trustee in 2022 and elected at the AGM 2023, having previously served as a partner trustee representing Modern Church since the 2017 AGM.