Department of Theology & Religious Studies

Expertise

The Department of Theology & Religious Studies stands out for its broad range of research on religion in all its aspects. It draws on the expertise of a community of outstanding researchers in the humanities and social sciences who investigate religious traditions from around the world in their specific cultural and historical contexts.

The Department’s research programme advocates a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of religion through its research centres and the shared thematic interests that bind together its many research projects. Its key fields of research include the interfaces between text, context and material culture; arts and the sacred; religious and ethnic diversity; religion and politics; life writing; and spirituality and the body.

Committed to impactful research beyond academia and to promoting the values of a civic university, TRS maintains an outward-facing research profile through its cultural engagements, contributions to society, and study of religious innovations.

List of TRS staff by research interest

Theology

Professor Ben Quash

Professor of Christianity & the Arts
Dr Susannah Ticciati

Reader in Christian Theology
Professor Markus Vinzent

Professor of the History of Theology (with specialism in Patristics)

Religion, Politics and Society (Social Sciences and Religion)

Dr Daniel Nilsson DeHanas

Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Religion
Dr Marat Shterin

Reader in Sociology of Religion, Head of Department
Dr Katherine Swancutt

Reader in Social Anthropology

Philosophy of Religion

Professor Clare Carlisle

Professor of Philosophy
Dr Christopher Hamilton

Reader in Philosophy
Dr Vittorio Montemaggi

Senior Lecturer in Religion and the Arts
Dr Lydia Schumacher

Reader in Historical and Philosophical Theology

Biblical Studies

Professor Edward Adams

Professor of New Testament Studies
Rev Robin Griffith-Jones

Reader in New Testament Studies
Professor Paul Joyce

Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible
Dr Jonathan Stökl

Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
Professor Joan Taylor

Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism

Patristics and History of Theology

Dr Ioannis Papadogiannakis

Senior Lecturer in Patristics
Professor Markus Vinzent

Professor of the History of Theology (with specialism in Patristics)

History of Christianity

Dr David Crankshaw

Lecturer in the History of Early Modern Christianity
Dr Michael Ledger-Lomas

Lecturer in the History of Christianity in Britain
Dr Lydia Schumacher

Reader in Historical and Philosophical Theology

Buddhist Studies

Professor Kate Crosby

Professor of Buddhist Studies
Dr Phibul Choompolpaisal

Research Associate in Thai Meditation Texts
Dr Kuan Guang

Research Fellow in Chinese Buddhism
Dr Pyi Phyo Kyaw

Research Associate in Abhidhamma Meditation
Dr Andrew Skilton

Senior Research Fellow in Buddhist Studies

Study of Islam and the Muslim World

Dr Carool Kersten

Reader in the Study of Islam & the Muslim World
Dr Daniel Nilsson DeHanas

Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Religion
Dr Marat Shterin

Reader in Sociology of Religion, Head of Department
Dr Kazuyo Murata

Lecturer in Islamic Studies

Jewish Studies

Dr Tali Artman-Partock

Teaching Fellow in Jewish Studies
Dr Andrea Schatz

Reader in Jewish Studies
Dr Jonathan Stökl

Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
Professor Joan Taylor

Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism

Religion and the Arts

Professor Kate Crosby

Professor of Buddhist Studies
Dr Christopher Hamilton

Reader in Philosophy
Dr Vittorio Montemaggi

Senior Lecturer in Religion and the Arts
Dr Kazuyo Murata

Lecturer in Islamic Studies
Professor Ben Quash

Professor of Christianity & the Arts
Dr Katherine Swancutt

Reader in Social Anthropology
Professor Markus Vinzent

Professor of the History of Theology (with specialism in Patristics)

Religion in Eastern Asia

Professor Kate Crosby

Professor of Buddhist Studies
Dr Carool Kersten

Reader in the Study of Islam & the Muslim World
Dr Katherine Swancutt

Reader in Social Anthropology
Dr Phibul Choompolpaisal

Research Associate in Thai Meditation Texts
Dr Kuan Guang

Research Fellow in Chinese Buddhism
Dr Pyi Phyo Kyaw

Research Associate in Abhidhamma Meditation
Dr Andrew Skilton

Senior Research Fellow in Buddhist Studies