Core Team
Our core team is responsible for leading the Centre’s research, programmes and day-to-day work.
Prof Luke Bretherton
Regius Professor of Moral & Pastoral Theology
Prior to Oxford, Luke Bretherton was the Robert E. Cushman Distinguished Professor of Moral and Political Theology and Senior Fellow of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. Before joining Duke in 2012, he was Reader in Theology & Politics and Convener of the Faith & Public Policy Forum at King's College London.
Dr Samuel Tranter
McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow in Christian Ethics and Public Life
Sam joined the Centre in September 2025 as McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow in Christian Ethics and Public Life. At present his major focus is on developing faithful and fruitful theological responses to the moral, social, and political issues raised by emerging technologies
Benjamin Nicka
McDonald Doctoral Scholar in Christian Ethics and Public Life
Ben Nicka has spent a career at the intersection of theology and work in finance.
He conceives of his academic research as an exercise in theological counsel, a process wherein finance and theology engage in dialogic disclosure of both moral reality and the contemporary practical field of action in the moral culture of finance.
Emily Labutte
Research Centre Coordinator
Visiting Fellows
The McDonald Centre supports Visiting Fellows who can contribute to our research.
Visitors can be affiliated with the Centre (upon a successful application) for up to a year. For more information, read more about it here: Visitorships at the McDonald Centre.