Research

Christian Doctrinal Theology

‘Doctrinal theology’ is not one thing. It is my name for a varied and changing collection of activities. I am thinking of activities of conversation, reflection, confession, teaching, proclamation, deliberation, argument, and apology, and all sorts of others. And I am thinking of these activities insofar as they provide people with opportunities to express and explore claims about God and God’s ways with the world. Christian doctrinal theology takes place wherever Christians express claims about God to which they take themselves and their churches to be committed, and wherever they explore what those commitments mean and what they demand of them.

These activities of doctrinal theology can be found laced through all the activities of Christian life. They are there in the mix, as part of the untidy weave of threads that makes Christian life what it is – in all its ambivalence. These activities are one part (and only one part) of the story of Christian faith. I am interested in understanding the forms that they take, and the roles that they play in the life of the churches.

Christology

I have a specific interest in Christian claims about Jesus, and in the roles which those claims play in the life of the churches.I am interested in the interplay between (a) classic doctrinal claims, such as the Chalcedonian definition, (b) ways of reading scripture, especially the gospels, (c) the wider practices of Christian life. I don’t think these strands can be disentangled. Classical doctrinal claims function, in part, to hold in place certain ways of reading (and to summarise their yield), and to express and reinforce certain patterns of Christian practice.

Practices of Biblical Reading

The practices of doctrinal theology are tangled up with Christian practices of scriptural reading in other ways as well.  As part of my broader interest in Christian doctrinal theology, I am interested in Christian disciplines of scriptural reading in the churches, their relation to other practices of reading, and their connections to Christian doctrinal commitments.

Theology and Higher Education

At an earlier stage, my work focused on universities – asking whether it is possible to give a Christian theological account of the nature and purpose of Higher Education.

I have worked in universities that tend to present themselves as secular institutions, and I have tried to write my theological account of Higher Education in and for such institutions.  I have written about the pursuit of intellectual virtue, the sociality of learning, and the contribution that universities might make to the common good.

Scriptural Reasoning

I worked for three years in the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme, which has been one of the centres internationally for the practice of Scriptural Reasoning, in which Jews, Christians and Muslims gather in small groups to read and discuss portions of their scriptures together.  Participants don’t need to agree about the status of these texts, the nature of proper interpretation, the truth or meaning of their respective traditions, or the goal of the practice – but it turns out to be a fruitful and often exciting way of being driven deeper into understanding of other traditions, deeper into reflection on one’s own tradition, and deeper into inter-faith friendships.