Anthony Michael Arnold Turnbull (born 27 December 1935) is a retired Church of England bishop. He was ordained in 1961 and in 1988 he was consecrated as the Bishop of Rochester. In 1994, he became the Bishop of Durham until he retired in 2003. In his retirement, Turnbull continues "preaching and teaching and writing".
Turnbull was born in Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire. His early education was in Ilkley Grammar School, a co-educational secondary school in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England, that specialises in humanities and sciences.
Turnbull studied at Keble College, Oxford, graduating in 1958 with a MA. He prepared for ordained ministry at Cranmer Hall and St John's College, University of Durham, graduating with a Diploma in Theology.
He began his ministry in 1960 as a deacon and curate of Middleton in the Diocese of Manchester.
Turnbull was ordained priest in 1961 in Manchester Cathedral. As a priest, he held the following positions:
After ordination to the priesthood, he continued to serve as curate of Middleton in the Diocese of Manchester before moving in 1961 to be curate of Luton with East Hyde in the Diocese of Saint Albans until 1965.
In 1965, he moved to York to be domestic chaplain to the Archbishop of York Donald Coggan and director of ordinands for the Diocese of York.
In 1969, he was appointed chaplain to the University of York, a position he held, for part of the time, in conjunction with being rector of nearby Heslington.
In 1976, he was appointed Chief Secretary of the Church Army.
In 1984, he was appointed Archdeacon of Rochester and Canon of Rochester Cathedral in Rochester, Medway.
As a bishop, Turnbull held the following positions:
In 1988, Turnbull was consecrated as the Bishop of Rochester.
During his episcopacy, "a major [two year] training programme for local evangelists was established".
In a 1994 speech in Church House, Westminster just before his translation to the Diocese of Durham Turnbull was "Asked what he was proudest of among his accomplishments in Rochester, Kent, he replied that the diocese had opened six new churches, and planned to open four more; and that he had set up an order of lay evangelists."
From 1994 (he was translated on 6 July and enthroned on 22 October) until his retirement in 2003, Turnbull was the Bishop of Durham, the fourth most senior bishop in the Church of England with a seat in the House of Lords. He was active in the House of Lords as the lead bishop on constitutional affairs and was prominent in the movement towards regional government in the North East.
In his 1994 speech in Church House, Westminster just before his translation to Durham Turnbull asserted his belief in the Virgin Birth of Jesus, the Resurrection of Jesus, and in Hell, although maybe not as eternal damnation.
In a 1998 survey of Church of England bishops about "possibility of alien life on other worlds," Turnbull said the discovery of other life could be a positive force. "God created all life. If it were possible to engage with life on other planets it would open our lives to the greater wonders of God's creation."
By 2003, Turnbull had been made an Honorary Fellow of St Chad's College, Durham and awarded honorary doctorates from Durham University (DD) and from the University of Greenwich. In 2003, he was appointed CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 2003 for services to the North East and to the Church of England.