Jackson was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, the son of a Church of Ireland rector (latterly appointed Archdeacon of Elphin & Ardagh), and educated at Ballinamallard Primary School and Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. He achieved the Louis Claude Purser Entrance Scholarship to Trinity College, Dublin.[citation needed] In 1976,[1] as only a Junior Freshman, he was elected as a Scholar of the College in classics, the greatest undergraduate achievement. As a Senior Freshman was awarded the Bishop Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek. As a Sophister, he achieved a First in the Moderatorship Part I along with a Mullins Classical Exhibition, before finally taking a first class Moderatorship II in Classics and a Gold Medal, and graduating with a B.A. in 1979. He incepted to M.A. in 1982.
He is married to Inez Cooke, a medical doctor who was born in County Fermanagh, and they have one daughter, Camilla.[2]
Ecclesiastical career
He was ordained to the Anglican ministry as a deacon in 1986 and a priest in 1987. His first pastoral appointment was as a curate at Zion Parish, Dublin, and he also lectured at Trinity College Dublin and the Church of Ireland Theological College (now Institute). His next appointment was as college chaplain at Christ Church, Oxford, from 1989 to 1997 where was also a Student. He returned to Ireland and served as the incumbent of St Fin Barre's Union and Dean of Cork, from 1997 to 2002. Jackson has held many notable positions in the Church of Ireland, including chairmanship of the Church in Society Committee and, currently, chairmanship of the Board for Social Theology.
Jackson also plays an active role in the wider Anglican Communion, especially in the areas of ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue.
Jackson declined to make a statement either in favor of or against the March 2024 Irish constitutional referendums, citing the level of debate around the term "durable".[7] Ultimately, both proposals were rejected by the voters, leading Leo Varadkar to decide to step down as Taoiseach; while some media outlets linked this decision to the failure of both referendums, the Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan said he did not believe it was the "defining reason" for the resignation.[8][9]