The Futures of Public Theology Conference, 2017

'Salt of the Earth or City on the Hill? The Future Scope of Public Theology' by Elaine Graham

Elaine Graham is the Grosvenor Research Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Chester. For her PhD, she studied the impact of gender theory on the discipline of pastoral studies within the Western Christian tradition. From there, via an interest in religion and the body, she started to think about the ways in which popular culture and scientific discourses provide the Western cultural imagination with all sorts of depictions of what it means to be human in a digital, biotechnological and cybernetic age. She recently jointly-authored a volume on advanced research methods in Practical Theology, to be published by Ashgate in 2017. In addition to her University commitments, she holds the honorary post of Canon Theologian at Chester Cathedral.

Watch

'People Get Ready: Prophetic Practical Theology as Public Theology' by Douglas Gay

Douglas Gay is a Lecturer in Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow. Doug joined Theology and Religious Studies in October 2005 after PhD studies in New College, Edinburgh under Will Storrar and David Fergusson. He holds an MA degree in Modern History and International Politics from the University of St Andrews and a BD from the University of Glasgow. Doug is an ordained minister who trained for ministry in the Church of Scotland and worked as a Church of Scotland minister for two years, before spending six years working in Hackney, East London as a minister of the United Reformed Church. He has worked as a religious columnist for The Times and is also active as a hymnwriter and liturgist.

Watch

'The Primacy of Ethics' by Glen Pettigrove

Glen Pettigrove holds the Chair of Moral Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, University of Glasgow. He has previously worked at the University of Aukland, Massey University, and Santa Clara University. His primary research interests are in virtue ethics and moral psychology. Intertwined with projects in normative ethics and moral psychology is an ongoing engagement with Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, especially Francis Hutcheson, David Hume, and Adam Smith. His most recent volume is 'Reconciliation and Love' (Oxford 2012).

Watch

'Response to the Futures of Public Theology panel' by Robin Gill

Robin Gill is Emeritus Professor of Applied Theology at the University of Kent. He was previously the first holder of both the Michael Ramsey Chair at Kent and the William Leech Research Chair at Newcastle. He has published extensively in sociological theology, the sociological study of churches, Christian and religious ethics, and health care ethics.

Watch

'The Common Good: Does it Represent a Political Programme' by Oliver O'Donovan

Oliver O’Donovan is Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh. He was the Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology and Canon of Christ Church at the University of Oxford from 1982 until 2006, before which he taught at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford (1972-7) and at Wycliffe College, Toronto (1977-82). He is a past President of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics. Ordained as a priest of the Church of England, he has been an active participant in ecumenical dialogue and has served on the General Synod. He has been a Fellow of the British Academy since 2000. He is the author of 'Resurrection and Moral Order' (Eerdmans, 1986), 'On the Thirty-Nine Articles' (Paternoster, 1986), 'Peace and Certainty' (Eerdmans, 1989), 'The Desire of the Nations' (Cambridge University Press, 1996), 'Common Objects of Love' (Eerdmans, 2002) and 'The Ways of Judgment' (2005).

Watch

'Political Theology in the Anthropocene Epoch' by Michael Northcott

Michael Northcott is Professor of Ethics at the University of Edinburgh. His teaching and research is in the areas of Christian Ethics, ecology and religious ethics, and economy and ethics. He has published 12 books and over 70 academic papers. He has been visiting professor at the Claremont School of Theology, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Flinders University, and the University of Malaya. He leads a large AHRC grant on faith-based ecological activism in the UK entitled 'Caring for the Future Through Ancestral Time. He is a co-investigator on the Human-Business at Edinburgh Initiative investigating the ethical implications of current modes of representing economic value.

Watch

'Fragments and Contexts in Islamic and Christian Political Theology' by Teresa Callewaert

Teresa Callewaert received her doctorate in Theological Ethics from the University of Uppsala. Her doctoral thesis, Theologies Speak of Justice, is a comparative study of Islamic and Christian social ethics. It concerns the role of religious arguments in public, and theological contributions to the meaning of social justice, as well as issues of authority and interpretative methods. Her other research interests include disability theology, and she is currently working as a minister in the Church of Sweden with the Church’s work for and with people who have cognitive disabilities.

Watch

'Response to Papers on the Futures of Political Theology Panel' by Joshua Ralston

Joshua Ralston is Lecturer in Muslim-Christian Relations at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. Prior to moving to Scotland, he was Assistant Professor of Theology at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy at Wake Forest University, before going on to study World Christianity at Edinburgh (MTh with distinction), divinity at Candler School of Theology (MDiv), and Christian Theology and Islamic Thought at Emory University. His primary work is concerned with theological, ethical, legal-political, and scriptural encounters between Christians and Muslims across the centuries with a particular focus on Protestant Christianity and Sunni Islam. He approaches these questions from an interdisciplinary perspective that draws on political theology, Islamic Studies, Christian theology, critical theory, migration studies, and comparative theology.

Watch

'Norm and Form: The Challenge of Contemporary Theological Practise' by Heather Walton

Heather Walton is Professor of Theology and Creative Practice at the University of Glasgow. Her research interests include narrative and life writing in theological reflection; theology, literature and critical theory; methodology in practical theology; and gender and sexuality. Her most recent publications include 'Not Eden: Spiritual Life Writing to This World' (SCM 2015) and 'Writing Methods in Theological Reflections' (Routledge 2014).

Watch

'Between the “Ideology of Expertise” and the Solipsism of Sectarian Community' by Jeremy Kidwell

Jeremy Kidwell is Lecturer in Theological Ethics at the University of Birmingham. His interdisciplinary research seeks to interact with scholars and practitioners in informatics and humanities, and to address those tricky ethical issues which can benefit from the insights of real experience and philosophical reflection. He has a background in the IT industry and prior to coming to Birmingham was a post-doctoral research associate the University of Edinburgh. His most recent publication is 'The Theology of Craft and the Craft of Work: From Tabernacle to Eucharist' (Routledge 2016).

Watch

'On Why Doing Practical Theology is Enough' by Leah Robinson

Leah Robinson is Lecturer in Practical and Pastoral Theology at the University of Edinburgh. Between 2010-2015 she was Lecturer in Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow. She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh (2011) and graduated from Mercer University with a Masters of Divinity (2007). Her main interest areas include sectarianism in the Scottish and Northern Ireland contexts, practical theology and the way we further define and understand this concept in the contemporary world, the theology of violence/reconciliation in war time, the way that theology is practically used in politics in both a negative and positive way, and liberation theologies.

Watch

'Response to the Futures of Practical Theology Panel' by David Lyall

David Lyall is the former Principal of New College (1999-2002), where he was also Lecturer in Christian Ethics and Practical Theology. In the past, he has worked as a parish minister and hospital chaplain. He has published extensively in the area of pastoral care and has considerable experience of lecturing in practical theology. Since 2007, he has lived in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Watch

'It Is Time to Live and Breathe Justice and Peace' by Aruna Gnanadson

Aruna Gnanadson is a member of the Church of South India. She directed the programme on Women in Church and Society and the Justice, Peace and Creation work of the World Council of Churches, Geneva. She now lives in Chennai, India and resources the churches and the ecumenical movement in India and globally reflecting on the role, the challenge and the alternatives offered by the gospel in addressing the impact of patriarchy, caste and global capitalism on the people and the earth. She has contributed innumerable articles to Christian and secular journals, magazines and books on a wide variety of topics – especially on issues related to women and to North-South relations. She is the author of the book 'No Longer a Secret: The Church and Violence Against Women', and a book on eco-feminist theology from the Indian perspective 'Listen to the Women, Listen to the Earth'.

Watch

and Religion and Science. She takes part in ecumenical and interfaith activities nationally and internationally, including the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Building Bridges dialogues between Muslims and Christians. Harriet was formerly a University Lecturer in Theology, and continues to teach and write. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Divinity School in Edinburgh. She is currently editing a volume on Atheisms, and has been commissioned to write a narrative of evil.

Watch

'Seeing Through Fragments of Violence and Peace' by Jolyon Mitchell

Professor Jolyon Mitchell is Professor of Communications, Arts and Religion and Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI) at the University of Edinburgh. He is also President of the UK’s National Association for Theology and Religious Studies (AUDTRS). Educated at Cambridge, Durham, and EdinburghUniversities, Jolyon Mitchell worked as a producer and journalist for BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4 before he was appointed to the University of Edinburgh. His publications reflect some of his research interests and include: 'Promoting Peace, Inciting Violence: The Role of Religion and Media' (Routledge: 2012); 'Martyrdom: A Very Short Introduction' (Oxford University Press, 2012); 'Media Violence and Christian Ethics' (Cambridge University Press, 2007); 'The Religion and Film Reader' (co-editor with S. Brent Plate, Routledge, 2007). Prof. Mitchell is a regular broadcaster and he has given numerous invited lectures around the world. He has carried out original research in a wide range of  countries both in Europe and beyond including Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana, the USA and the Philippines.

Watch

'Response to Papers on the Futures of Justice and Peace Panel' by David Clough

David Clough is Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Chester. After completing his doctoral studies in the US, he moved to Durham as FD Maurice Postdoctoral Fellow in Christian Ethics at St Chad’s College, Durham, and then taught systematic theology and ethics at St. John’s College. He is currently serving as the President of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics, convenes the Theological Ethics seminar at the Society for the Study of Theology, co-chairs the Animals and Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion, and is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Animal Welfare, University of Winchester. He is a Methodist Local Preacher, a member of both the UK Methodist Church, Faith and Order Network and the Methodist Joint Advisory Committee on the Ethics of Investment, and has served on national ecumenical working groups on the ethics of modern warfare and the theology of climate change.

Watch

'Final Comments on the Futures of Public Theology Conference' by Thomas Schlag

Thomas Schlag is Ordinary Professor for Practical Theology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and Director of the Centre of Church development, ZKE. He is currently a visiting scholar at the School of Divinity, Edinburgh. His core areas of research and interest are public theology and public church, youth theology and religious communication, the political dimension of church practice and religious education, religious education in church and school, and new forms of Church in the digital age. He is the editor of the online-platform Göttinger Predigten im Internet and is an ordained minister in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Württemberg, Germany. His recent publications include Frei glauben. Reformatorische Anstösse zu einer protestantischen Lebenskultur, with Christina Aus der Au (Göttingen 2017), Confirmation, faith and volunteerism. A longitudinal study on Protestant adolescents in the transition towards adulthood, with Friedrich Schweitzer et al. (Gütersloh 2017).

Watch

'Final Comments on The Futures of Public Theology Conference' by Peter Scott

Watch