Theology and Ethics/Science and Religion

Mondays, 4:10pm-5:30pm. All in the Martin Hall and online unless otherwise stated.

All welcome. Everyone is welcome to attend any of our seminars – please spread the word and invite those who might be interested. We use an email list to keep attendees informed of upcoming events and to send reminders and updates about seminars – please get in touch if you want to be added to the list.

We record most of our events; recordings are only available to members of the University.

Enquiries

For enquiries regarding these seminars, please contact either Rachel Muers (rachel.muers@ed.ac.uk) or Shoaib Malik (shoaib.malik@ed.ac.uk).

Semester 1: Autumn 2026

Instructions for joining online will be circulated early in the semester and at regular intervals – we’ll use the same link every time!

Date SpeakerTopic
28 SeptemberDr Bethany Sollereder (Associate Professor in Science and Religion, University of Oxford)'Hope and Climate Change'
12 OctoberDr Leon van Ommen (Co-Director of the Centre for Autism and Theology, University of Aberdeen)'The Senses, Liturgy, and Neurodiversity: Interdisciplinary Research and Theological Questions'
26 OctoberDr Lois McFarland (Edinburgh) and guests

Book launch 

'Creation and Apocalypse in Feminist Speculative Fiction' 

Sponsored by Scottish Network for Religion and Literature

9 NovemberDr Michael Fuller (Edinburgh)'Artificial Intelligence: A Provocation'
16 November 

Book launch

Professor David Bebbington’s 'Denominations: A Cultural History of Anglo-American Christianity' (Baylor, 2026)

Joint with the History of Christianity seminar

23 November

5:30-6:30pm

Martin Hall and Online

 

Centre for Theology and Public Issues presents a panel discussion and workshop on ‘Theology, Race and Nation’

Registration and Further information

Additional Seminars and Events in Semester 1

Research events in the School and beyond that are likely to be of interest to members of this seminar.

Date SpeakerTopic

11 September

4:15pm, Martin Hall

Dr Tracy Wietecha (Max Planck Institute, Berlin)

Albertus Institute Lecture

‘Albert the Great on Becoming Fully Human: Virtue, Judgement, and Perfection’

Further information

23 September

1:30-2:30pm, Elizabeth Templeton Lecture Theatre

Dr Alex Chow, Dr Kirsty Murray, Dr Paul Fuller, Prof Paul Foster

Cross-School seminar 'Religion and Mission'

Registration

20 October

5pm, Edinburgh Futures Institute

Professor Steven Shapin (Harvard)

Gifford Lectures ‘Beyond the Series’

‘The Edible Complex: Food and the Moral Order, Past & Present'

Registration

Semester 2: Spring 2027

Instructions for joining online will be circulated early in the semester and at regular intervals – we’ll use the same link every time!

Date SpeakerTopic
18 JanuaryDr Anna Blackman (Lecturer in Catholic Religious Education, University of Glasgow)TBC
1 FebruaryDr Katie Harling-Lee (Edinburgh)TBC
22 FebruaryTBCTBC
8 MarchTBCPostgraduate student presentation session
22 MarchDr Selina Stone (Edinburgh)TBC

Other activities for semester 2 to be announced.

Tuesdays 1pm-2pm, in the Baillie Room and online, unless otherwise stated. The group is open to all students and staff – please contact Wilson Chak, wilson.chak@ed.ac.uk, if you plan to join these sessions. The theme for the semester is Theological Humanism and the list of readings below is provisional.

22 September: David Klemm and William Schweiker, "The Logic of Christian Humanism" in Religion and the Human Future: An Essay on Theological Humanism

29 September: Jennifer A. Herdt, "Reclaiming Dialogical Humanism," Political Theology 22, no. 7 (2021): 597-610.

13 October: Anthony B. Pinn, "Community as Centering Category," in The End of God-Talk: An African American Humanist Theology

27 October: Linn Tonstad, "Bodies that Speak," in Beyond the Doctrine of Man: Decolonial Visions of the Human, eds. Joseph Drexler-Dreis and Kristien Justaert

10 November: Chad Wrigglesworth, "Theological Humanism as Living Praxis: Reading Surfaces and Depth in Margaret Edson's Wit," Literature & Theology 22, no. 2 (2008): 210-222.

24 November: TBC


And please note that everyone is encouraged to attend other seminars in the School, especially in weeks when there is no Theology and Ethics/Science and Religion seminar!

 

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