Research Seminars

Thursday May 7th (2nd week)

Michael Mawson

‘Faith in Protest: Liberation Theologies and Activism in Aotearoa New Zealand’

Michael Mawson is Maclaurin Goodfellow Chair in Theological and Religious Studies, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Previously he taught at Charles Sturt University, Sydney, and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, following doctoral studies at the University of Notre Dame. He has research interests spanning a range of themes in theology and ethics, including German theology (especially Dietrich Bonhoeffer), disability theology, ageing, religion and politics, environmental ethics, decolonisation, and contextual theologies in Aotearoa and the Pacific. Key publications include books Christ Existing as Community (2018) and Standing Under the Cross: Essays on Bonhoeffer’s Theology (2023), as well as recent essays on theology in settler colonial contexts. Mawson has also edited numerous volumes, including Bonhoeffer and Contemporary Challenges: Crisis and Hope (2026), Unsettling Theologies: Memory, Identity and Place (2024), and The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2019).

Thursday May 21st (4th week)

Vincent Lloyd

‘What is political theology?’

Book launch and discussion with response

Michael Dummett Lecture Theatre, Christ Church

Drinks and Canapes Reception Afterwards – please register by emailing mcdonaldcentre@theology.ox.ac.uk Vincent Lloyd is Professor of Theology & Religious Studies and Directs the Center for Political Theology at Villanova University, having earlier taught at Syracuse University and Georgia State University. He has held visiting positions at the University of Durham, University of Wisconsin, the University of Virginia, and the University of Notre Dame. Lloyd is a leading thinker in Black religious studies and critical theory, his research focusing on the philosophy of religion, religion and politics, and race. He has published extensively in the media on topics related to religion and politics, and has received widespread acclaim and recognition for his work through various awards and grants. His numerous sole authored and edited volumes include: Black Dignity: The Struggle Against Domination (2022); Religion of the Field Negro: On Black Secularism and Black Theology (2017); Black Natural Law (2026); Law and Transcendence: On the Unfinished Project of Gillian Rose (2009). He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for which he is working on a book entitled Harold Cruse: Contrarian Radical, a biography of one of the forgotten founders of Black studies. In addition to his academic work he created and led for a number of years the Political Theology Network. Ahead of the book launch, Dr Sam Tranter (McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow) will lead a reading group on the book. This is open to anyone interested.

• Thursday 7th May, 11am-12noon (discussing Intro & Chapter 1)

• Thursday 21st May, 11am-12noon (discussing Chapters 2, 3, 4)

The reading group will meet at Christ Church. Get in touch at samuel.tranter@theology.ox.ac.uk to sign up and for

further details.

Friday May 29th (5th Week)

Joint seminar with the New Testament Studies Seminar

Ruan Bessa and Sam Tranter, with response by Oliver O’Donovan

Oliver O’Donovan’s Resurrection and Moral Order: An Outline of Evangelical Ethics (1986) Forty Years On: Two Responses to O’Donovan’s Engagement with Scripture

Location: Lecture Theatre, H B Allen Centre, Keble College,

Time: 2:30-4:00

Do keep the conversation going in the pub afterwards

Ruan Bessa is a Research Fellow in Christian Ethics in the Faculty of Theology and Religion. He earned his PhD from Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI), where he served as a teaching/research assistant and associate director of Admissions. His research interest includes questions in meta-ethics, the relationship between Scripture and Christian ethics, and Oliver O'Donovan's moral and political theology. He edited Oliver O'Donovan's The Courage of Truth andtranslated Resurrection and Moral Order into Portuguese. Samuel Tranter is McDonald Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Christian Ethics and Public Life in the Faculty of Theology of Religion. He has taught theology and ethics in theological colleges and universities across the UK and, for a year, in Southeast Asia. Most recently he served as Academic Dean at St John’s College, Durham University. His Durham PhD was published in 2020 as Oliver O’Donovan’s Moral Theology: Tensions and Triumphs (Bloomsbury T & T Clark). More recently he has published essays on the connections between sin and agency, ecological responsibility and eschatology, and social justice and spirituality in journals including Scottish Journal of Theology, Practical Theology, and Studies in Christian Ethics.

Thursday June 11th (7th week)

NB different time & location

Slavica Jakelić

'Religious and Secular Humanisms: Politics Beyond Power'

Public Lecture as part of the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life

Reimagining Humanism Conference (11-13th June)

Location: Michael Dummet Lecture Theatre, Christ Church

Time: 5.30-7.15 (with drinks & canapes reception afterwards)

please register by emailing mcdonaldcentre@theology.ox.ac.uk

Slavica Jakelić is a Professor in the Humanities at Valparaiso University, USA. Combining political theology and social science, her scholarly interests and publications centre on religion and nationalism, religious and secular humanisms, theories of religion and secularism, and interreligious conflict and dialogue. She is a Senior Fellow of the “Religion & Its Publics” at the University of Virginia, where she was a faculty member and co-director at the UVA’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture for several years. She has held a number of fellowships at interdisciplinary institutes in Europe and the United States and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life for the academic year, 2025-26. Jakelić's writings have appeared in journals such as the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Journal of Religious Ethics, Political Theology, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, Studies in Religion, and Sciences Religieuses. Alongside numerous articles and several co-edited volumes, she has published the following books: "Collectivistic Religions" (2010/2016); "Both Freedom and Belonging: Essays on Religion, Nationalism, and Solidarity" (2024); and "Pluralizing Humanism" (2025). She is currently working on a book titled ‘Ethical Nationalisms.’

Friday June 19th (8th week)

Summer Party

Weather permitting a drinks party will be held for seminar participants in the gardens of the South West Canonry at Christ Church. An invitation will be sent out nearer the time to determine numbers wishing to attend.

Thursday 22nd Jan (Week 1)

Prof Mark D. Chapman

‘Theology, Europe, and the Persistence of War’

Mark D. Chapman is Professor of the History of Modern Theology at the University of Oxford, having formerly served as Vice-Principal at Ripon College, Cuddesdon for many years. He has published widely in historical theology (from 1750, with a focus on the UK, Germany, and the US), ecumenism, the history and theology of Anglicanism, liberal theology, as well as political and social theory. Among numerous books, edited volumes, and essays, Prof Chapman is the author of Theology at War and Peace: English Theology and Germany in the First World War (2017), Theology and Society in Three Cities: Berlin, Oxford, and Chicago 1800-1914 (2014), and Doing God: Religion and Public Policy in Brown’s Britain (2008).

Thursday 12th Feb (Week 4)

Prof David Gushee

‘Ethical Implications of the Book of Job’

David Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University and Chair of Christian Social Ethics at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. He is also a visiting scholar at the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life. A past president of both the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Christian Ethics, he has contributed widely in both academic and broader public settings. Author or editor of almost 30 books, some of Prof Gushee’s key texts include Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies (2023), The Sacredness of Human Life (2013), and Kingdom Ethics (with Glen Stassen, 2003, 2016).

Thursday 26th Feb (Week 6)

Dr Eleanor McLaughlin

‘Disability, Relationality and Technology: A Bonhoefferian Perspective’

Eleanor McLaughlin in Lecturer in Theology at Ripon College Cuddesdon and an associate member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford. She is the author of Unconscious Christianity in Bonhoeffer’s Late Theology: Encounters with the Unknown Christ, foreword by Rowan Williams (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020). Her most recent publications include ‘Bonhoeffer,’ in Ashley Cocksworth and Rachel Muers (eds), Ford’s The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology Since 1918 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2024), and ‘Human Flourishing, disability, and technology’ in Jens Zimmermann (ed), Human Flourishing in a Technological World: A Theological Vision (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023).

Thursday 12th March (Week 8)

Prof John Berkman

“Anscombe on Killing and Murder: The Unpublished Book Sequel to Anscombe's Intention”

John Berkman is Professor Ordinarius of Moral Theology at the Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto. He previously taught at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology/Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, and The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. He has published widely in the field of Christian ethics, with a particular focus on healthcare and medical ethics, animal ethics, issues of war and peace, and the ethics and philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe. He is a visiting scholar with the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life (January – June 2026) during which time he is working on an intellectual biography of Elizabeth Anscombe.

Thursday October 16th (1st week)

Mathew Kirkpatrick

“Bonhoeffer on Freedom-From, -For, and -With the Other”

Mathew Kirkpatrick is Tutorial Fellow in Ethics and Doctrine, Tutor for Graduates, and Dean of Degrees at Wycliffe College, University of Oxford. His interests include the interplay of existentialism and Christianity, the theology of death, the relationship between theology and psychology, and the thought of Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer. Alongside numerous articles and chapters he has published several books, including Bonhoeffer for the Church: An Introduction (2024); Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Impact and Influence of Bonhoeffer’s Life and Thought (2016); Attacks on Christendom in a World Come of Age: Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and the question of “Religionless Christianity” (2011).

Thursday November 6th (4th week)

Slavica Jakelić

“Religions and Nationalisms as Antipolitics”

Slavica Jakelić is Richard P. Baepler Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Valparaiso University. Her scholarly interests and publications centre on religion and nationalism, religious and secular humanisms, theories of religion and secularism, theories of modernity, and interreligious conflict and dialogue. She is a Senior Fellow of the “Religion & Its Publics” at the University of Virginia, where she was a faculty member and co-director at the UVA’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture for several years. She is also a Senior Fellow of the “Orthodoxy and Human Rights” project based at Fordham University.  She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the McDonald Centre for the academic year, 2025-26.

Thursday November 20th (6th week)

Tyler VanderWeele

“A Theology of Health”

Tyler VanderWeele is Director of The Human Flourishing Program, Co-Director of the Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion, and John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard University. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University in mathematics, philosophy, theology, finance, and biostatistics. His empirical research spans psychiatric and social epidemiology; the science of happiness and flourishing; and the study of religion and health. He has published over 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is author of five books, including A Theology of Health (2024).

December 4th (8th week)

Clair Linzey

“Can Christian Humanism be Redeemed from Anthropocentrism? (And Should it be?)”

Clair Linzey is Research Fellow in Animal Ethics at Wycliffe Hall, University of Oxford. She also co-directs the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, initiated and directs the Annual Oxford Animal Ethics Summer School, and holds a teaching position at the ecumenical Graduate Theological Foundation. Alongside numerous chapters and articles her single authored book is Developing Animal Theology: An Engagement with Leonardo Boff (2021), and her numerous books written or edited in collaboration with Andrew Linzey include Animal Theologians (2023), Animal Ethics and Animal Law (2023), Ethical Vegetarianism and Veganism (2018), and The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics(2018).