Reverend Alan Jones is an Anglo-Catholic, Dean Emeritus, author and important voice in the Episcopal, academic, political and Emerging Church circles. Dr. Jones retired in January 2009 after 24 years as dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. He was the former Stephen F. Bayne Professor of Ascetical Theology, and Director and founder of the Center for Christian Spirituality, at the General Theological Seminary in New York City. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham, England, and was born in London in 1940. He endorsed the United Religions Initiative (URI), which purpose is to create a United Religions, a world parliament of religions with the stature and visibility of the United Nations.