The Hon Rev Dr Lynn Arnold AO, assistant priest at St Peter’s Cathedral, former Premier of South Australia and one-time head of AnglicareSA, has been appointed the next Chancellor of the University of Divinity.
Dr Arnold will take up the role on 1 January 2027 for a three-year term, succeeding the University’s inaugural Chancellor, Dr Graeme L Blackman AO, who has held the office since the institution became a university in 2012.
The appointment puts an Adelaide priest at the head of Australia’s specialist university in theology, which draws together theological colleges and schools from seven denominations. Among them is St Barnabas College in Adelaide, where Dr Arnold completed his Graduate Diploma in Theology and served as Reader in Public Theology until 2022.
Vice-Chancellor Professor James McLaren said the University was delighted with the appointment.
“It is exciting to welcome Dr Arnold as the second Chancellor of the University,” Professor McLaren said. “He brings a wealth of experience that will help ensure the University continues to contribute to enriching and enhancing the wellbeing of Australian society.”
Professor Gabrielle McMullen AM, who chaired the search committee appointed by the University Council, said candidates had been considered from across the country.
“Along with his outstanding achievements, Dr Arnold has a deep commitment to the University’s mission and vision,” she said. “His appointment is of particular importance at this time when the University is growing its national profile.”
Dr Blackman said his successor brought “a rare combination of pastoral insight, executive leadership and a lifelong commitment to serving others”.
Few Australians come to a chancellorship by Dr Arnold’s route. He spent 15 years in the South Australian Parliament, more than 11 of them in Cabinet, and served as the state’s 40th Premier in 1992–93. He then moved into international aid, spending a decade with World Vision as Chief Executive of World Vision Australia and later Regional Vice-President for Asia-Pacific, before returning home to lead Anglicare SA from 2008.
He was ordained deacon in 2013 and priest in 2014, and has served at St Peter’s Cathedral since. He holds a PhD in sociolinguistics along with degrees in arts and education from the University of Adelaide, and sits on the Public Affairs Commission of the Anglican Church of Australia.
Dr Arnold is also a former chair of the Don Dunstan Foundation and of the Crawford Fund’s South Australian board, an Australia Day Ambassador, and for a decade the host of Sunday Night with Lynn Arnold on 1079Life.
