Christine Hardman is the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle, one of the first woman priests, archdeacons and bishops ordained in the Church of England. She is a graduate in Economics from Thames Polytechnic and was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from the university in 2018.
“I completely fell in love with the subject. Economics is a broad discipline, but it challenges you to understand how to allocate scarce resources”, she explains. “How does our economy work? It’s at the heart of our life all the time.”
Unemployment and child poverty affect thousands in the North East of England, where she ministers. But the knowledge Bishop Hardman acquired during her degree informed a lifelong commitment to social justice.
“As a Christian I see a decision about how I spend my money, and how I want the government to spend my money on my behalf, as a deeply spiritual question.”
Reflecting on her degree, Bishop Hardman reflects, “One’s time at college is a journey of discovery. For me it was falling in love with economics.”
