Biography
King-Ho Leung joined the faculty at King’s College London in September 2024. He was previously Senior Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews, Lecturer in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Chester, and Deputy Director of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham.
Dr Leung’s research is primarily at the intersection of philosophy, theology, and culture, with an emphasis on the phenomenology of human existence and experience, particularly spiritual yearnings and desires for the divine and the ultimate. His other research interests include the metaphysics of transcendental properties, selfhood and existential authenticity, and the religious/secular divide in contemporary philosophy and the broader humanities, culture and the arts.
His most recent book is Spiritual Life and Secular Thought: A Phenomenology (2026), published in the philosophy list at Oxford University Press, and he is currently completing a short book on theology and metaphysics under contract with Cambridge University Press.
Dr Leung is on research leave from September 2025 to May 2028 for the project ‘Existential Gratitude and Spirituality’ funded by the John Templeton Foundation (https://www.templeton.org/grant/existential-gratitude-and-spirituality).
Research interests and PhD supervision
- Existential phenomenology
- Philosophy of religion and non-religion
- Philosophical and systematic theology (especially the doctrine of God, the metaphysics of creation, and theological anthropology)
- Political theology and continental philosophy
- Religion and culture (including Christian theology and the arts)
Dr Leung welcomes enquiries from prospective research students interested in the philosophy of religion, philosophical and systematic theology, political theology, and Christian theology and the arts.
Teaching
Dr Leung teaches in the areas of theology and philosophy and their relation to culture and the arts.
Expertise and Public Engagement
Dr Leung has given talks for TEDx and St John’s Timeline on YouTube. His public-facing writing has appeared in magazines such as Commonweal and Plough Quarterly. Dr Leung also contributes regularly to current dialogues between contemporary culture, philosophy, and religion (for example, Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift in relation to philosophy).
Dr Leung has given talks for TEDx (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I8K_G6ySpU) and St John’s Timeline (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm2qlc8uZYo) on YouTube. His public-facing writing has appeared in magazines such as <i>Commonweal</i> and <i>Plough Quarterly</i>. Dr Leung also contributes regularly to current dialogues between contemporary culture, philosophy, and religion (for example, on Lana Del Rey (https://theconversation.com/the-existentialist-philosophy-of-lana-del-rey-260131) and Taylor Swift (https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2024/10/202410281830/Taylor-Swift-and-philosophy) in relation to philosophy).
Selected publications
- ‘Transcendentality and Conversation’, Modern Theology 38, no. 4 (2022): 796–816.
- ‘Sartre and Marion on Intentionality and Phenomenality’, Theory, Culture & Society 39, no. 1 (2022): 41–60.
- ‘Transcendentality and the Gift’, Modern Theology 38, no. 1 (2022): 81–99.
- ‘Transcendentality and Nothingness in Sartre’s Atheistic Ontology’, Philosophy 95, no. 4 (2020): 471–495.
- ‘The Technologisation of Grace: Meta-theological Insights from Transhumanism’, Studies in Christian Ethics 33, no. 4 (2020): 479–495."