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Linda  Woodhead

Professor Linda Woodhead MBE FBA FRSE FAcSS

F.D. Maurice Professor in Moral and Social Theology

  • Head of Department, Theology & Religious Studies

Research interests

  • Religion

Biography

Linda Woodhead was appointed F.D. Maurice Professor at King’s College in 2022, where she is also Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Previously she was Distinguished Professor at Lancaster University. She studied Theology and Religious Studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and first taught at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford. She grew up in rural Somerset and now lives in both London and Glasgow.

Research interests and PhD supervision

  • Religion, magic, spirituality
  • Values and ethics
  • Contemporary religious and cultural change
  • Gods and spirits, good and evil

Linda works across different disciplines, particularly theology, religious studies, and the social scientific study of religion. She has written extensively about the decline of institutional religion, especially the churches, and the rise of alternative spiritualities.

She would welcome applications from research students in any of the areas on which I am currently working:

  • ‘Values’ and how they have become a new religion
  • The enduring influence of practices like tarot, astrology and ‘fortune telling’
  • How survivors of sexual abuse in religious contexts survive. 

Selected publications

  • Unknowing God: Towards a Post-Abusive Theology. With Peter Harvey. Cascade 2022.
  • Gen Z, Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age. With Roberta Katz, Sarah Ogilvie, Jane Shaw. University of Chicago Press 2021.
  • The Routledge International Handbook of Religion in Global Society. Ed. with Jayeel Cornelio, Francois Gauthier, Tuomas Martikainen. Routledge 2021.
  • That Was the Church That Was: How the Church of England Lost the English People. With Andrew Brown. Bloomsbury 2016.
  • The Spiritual Revolution. Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality. With Paul Heelas. Blackwell 2005.

Teaching

Linda teaches in the broad areas of Ethics and Values;  Sociology of Religion; Gods and Spiritual entities.

Expertise and public engagement

Linda works with journalists covering religion, culture and values, and regularly broadcast on these topics. She founded the Westminster Faith Debates with the Rt Hon Charles Clarke.

Linda continues to work collaboratively on improving how religion is handled in schools and public life.

 

    Research

    diverse-people-showing-speech-bubble-symbols
    Offence

    With growing interconnectedness, especially online, and with personal identities having more salience, the issue of offence has risen up the agenda.

    Project status: Ongoing

    News

    We need to understand academic freedom if we are to protect it

    The inaugural King’s Presidential Series event explored the difference between academic freedom and freedom of speech, and the price we will pay as a society...

    Professor Shitij Kapur speaking at the event on academic freedom held on 5 Dec 2022

    Three King's academics elected as Fellows of the British Academy

    Three academics from King’s have been welcomed to the prestigious British Academy Fellowship, in recognition of their pioneering research in the areas of law,...

    British Academy Triptych

    Features

    Why universities must lead the conversation on redefining academic freedom

    The concept of academic freedom, which arose to protect academics and allow them to research and teach in areas where they have scholarly expertise, now needs...

    Audience clapping - 1903x558

    Desmond Tutu (1931-2021): Spirituality, Social Justice and Leadership

    Commemorating the life and work of King's alumnus and Nobel Prize winner, the late Desmond Tutu, King’s College London and the University of the Western Cape,...

    1903x558 Tutu

    A nation stood still: How King's shared expertise following the death of The Queen

    As news broke on 8 September 2022 of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, academics from King's offered their expertise to the media on what this...

    queen's death tributes media image 1903 558

      Research

      diverse-people-showing-speech-bubble-symbols
      Offence

      With growing interconnectedness, especially online, and with personal identities having more salience, the issue of offence has risen up the agenda.

      Project status: Ongoing

      News

      We need to understand academic freedom if we are to protect it

      The inaugural King’s Presidential Series event explored the difference between academic freedom and freedom of speech, and the price we will pay as a society...

      Professor Shitij Kapur speaking at the event on academic freedom held on 5 Dec 2022

      Three King's academics elected as Fellows of the British Academy

      Three academics from King’s have been welcomed to the prestigious British Academy Fellowship, in recognition of their pioneering research in the areas of law,...

      British Academy Triptych

      Features

      Why universities must lead the conversation on redefining academic freedom

      The concept of academic freedom, which arose to protect academics and allow them to research and teach in areas where they have scholarly expertise, now needs...

      Audience clapping - 1903x558

      Desmond Tutu (1931-2021): Spirituality, Social Justice and Leadership

      Commemorating the life and work of King's alumnus and Nobel Prize winner, the late Desmond Tutu, King’s College London and the University of the Western Cape,...

      1903x558 Tutu

      A nation stood still: How King's shared expertise following the death of The Queen

      As news broke on 8 September 2022 of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, academics from King's offered their expertise to the media on what this...

      queen's death tributes media image 1903 558