John William Bluck (born 22 July 1943) is a New Zealand author and an Anglican clergyman who served as the 14th AnglicanBishop of Waiapu from 2002 until 2008.[1] From 1990 to 2002 he was the eleventh Dean of ChristChurch Cathedral; until he was ordained to the episcopate on 17 August 2002.[2]
Early life and education
Bluck was born in Napier in 1943, the eldest son of Edgar and Alice Bluck.[3] Bluck spent his childhood in Nūhaka. He is a maternal nephew of two other New Zealand Anglican Bishops, Edward Norman and Peter Mann, bishops of Wellington and Dunedin, respectively. He boarded at Napier Boys’ High School, and at the age of 18 studied English literature and theology at the University of Canterbury. Bluck was offered a place at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts but finished most of his studies at Harvard Divinity School. While studying in the United States, Bluck was a reporter for The Pilot, Boston's Catholic Newspaper.
Ordained ministry
Bluck was ordained as a priest in 1971[4] by Bishop Paul Reeves and began his ministry at Holy Trinity, Gisborne.[5] He soon moved to Wellington to tutor journalism at Wellington Polytechnic, as well as being the institution's chaplain.[6] Bluck soon moved to Auckland and was editor of The New Zealand Methodist.
In 1990, Bluck was invited to be the Dean of ChristChurch Cathedral by Bishop David Coles, which he accepted. Bluck held this position until 2002 where he became the 14th Anglican Bishop of Waiapu.
Bluck is now an author.[9] He creates podcasts for Radio New Zealand[6] and writes articles and opinion pieces for them and other New Zealand media companies.
^Amongst others he wrote Everyday Ecumenism, 1987; Christian Communication Reconsidered, 1989; Canberra Takeaways, 1991; Long, White and Cloudy, 1998; Waking Up in Strange Places, 1999; Killing Us Softly, 2001; The Giveaway God, 2001 > British Library web site accessed 21:38 GMT 12 January 2010.
