DPhil - Oxford (1976) D.D. (Oxford, 2004), D.D. (Bucharest, 2004)
Research Fellow, Regent's Park College (1972-1989)
Principal of Regent's Park College, Oxford (1989-2007)
Professor of Systematic Theology, Oxford (2002)
Director of Research, Regent's Park College, Oxford (2007-)
Fellow of the British Academy (2020)
1979-80 Whitley Lectures
2005 Bampton Lectures - Seeing the world and knowing God: ancient wisdom and modern doctrine.
2008 Holley-Hull Lectures, Samford University
2009 Nordenhaug Lectures, International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague
2018 Richard E Myers Lectures — 'The Play’s the Thing: Shakespeare and Religion'
2020 St Hild Lecture
2022 D. W. D Shaw Memorial Lecture
Chair of the Baptist World Alliance Commission on Doctrine and Inter-church Cooperation (2000-2010)
Co-Chair of the Anglican Communion-Baptist World Alliance International Conversations (2000-2005)
Co-chair of the Baptist World Alliance-Roman Catholic Church Conversations (2006-2010)
Director, Study of Love in Religion (2012-)
Selected Publications
___ Charismatic Renewal: A Baptist View (1980)
___ 'The Signs of Hope' in A Call To Mind: Baptist Essays Towards a Theology of Commitment (Baptist Union, 1981)
___ 'God and History', Baptist Quarterly 30 (1983), 85-88
___ 'The Theology of the Charismatic Movement' in Strange Gifts? A Guide to Charismatic Renewal edited by D. Martin and P. Mullen (Oxford, 1984), 19-40
___ A Leading Question: The Structure and Authority of Leadership in the Local Church (Baptist Union, 1984)
___ 'Covenant - Old and New' in Bound to Love: The Covenant Basis of Baptist Life and Mission (Baptist Union, 1985), 9-23
___ 'Woman's Head is Man': A Doctrinal Reflection upon a Pauline Theme', Baptist Quarterly 31 (1986), 370-83
___ The Creative Suffering of God (Clarendon Press, 1988)
___ 'C. S. Lewis the Myth-Maker' in Rumours of Heaven: Essays in Celebration of C. S. Lewis edited by J. Patrick and Andrew Walker (Eagle Publishing, 1988)
___ Past and Present Salvation: The Christian Idea of Atonement (Darton, Longman & Todd, 1989)
___ 'The Status of Women in the Thought of Karl Barth' in After Eve edited by Janet Martin Soskice (Marshall Pickering, 1990), 138-55.
___ Freedom and Limit: A Dialogue between Literature and Christian Doctrine (Mercer University Press, 1991 [2000])
___ "The Cross of Hosea Revisited: The Meaning of Suffering in the Book of Hosea," Review & Expositor 90 (Spring 1993), 175-90.
___ 'Divine Suffering' and 'Process Theology' in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought edited by Alister McGrath and Duncan B Forrester (Blackwell, 1995)
___ (ed.) Reflections on the Water. Understanding God and the World through the Baptism of Believers (Regent's Study Guides 4; Smyth & Helwys, 1996)
___ '"Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?": Job 28 as a Riddle for Ancient and Modern Readers' in After the Exile: Essays in Honour of Rex Mason edited by John Barton and David J. Reimer (Mercer University Press, 1996)
___ 'Regent's Park College, Oxford', American Baptist Quarterly 18.2 (June 1999), 106-17
___The Promised End: Eschatology in Theology and Literature (Challenges in Contemporary Theology; Blackwell, 2000)
___ Participating in God: A Pastoral Doctrine of the Trinity (Darton, Longman & Todd, 2000)
___ (ed.) The novel, spirituality and modern culture (Religion, Culture and Society; University of Wales Press, 2000)
___ 'Facing the End: The Apocalyptic Experience in Some Modern Novels' in Called To One Hope: Perspectives on the Life to Come edited by John Colwell (Paternoster, 2000)
___ 'Story and Possibility: Reflections on the Last Scenes of the Fourth Gospel and Shakespeare's The Tempest' in Revelation and Story: Narrative Theology and the Centrality of Story edited by H. Sauter and John Barton (Ashgate, 2000)
___ (ed.) Doing Theology in Baptist Way (Whitley, 2000)
___ (ed.) Faith in the Centre: Christianity and Culture (Regent's Study Guides 9; Smyth and Helwys, 2001)
___ 'The Story and the Stories: Revelation and the Challenge of Postmodern Culture' in Faith in the Centre edited by Paul Fiddes (Smyth and Helwys, 2001)
___ 'Creation out of Love' in The Work of Love: Creation as Kenosis edited by John Polkinghorne (Eerdmans, 2001)
___ 'Millenium and Utopia: Images of a Fuller Presence' in Apocalyptic in History and Tradition edited by Christopher Rowland and John Barton (Sheffield Academic Press, 2002)
___ 'Baptism and the Process of Christian Initiation' in Ecumenical Review 54.1 (2002), 49-65.
___ 'Baptism and the Process of Christian Initiation' in Dimensions of Baptism: Biblical and Theological Studies edited by Stanley E. Porter and Anthony R. Cross (Sheffield Academic Press, 2002), 280-303.
___ 'The quest for a place which is not-a-place: the hiddeness of God and the presence of God' in Silence and the Word: Negative Theology and Incarnation edited by Oliver Davies and Denys Turner (Cambridge University Press, 2002), 35-60.
___ Tracks and Traces: Baptist Identity in church and Theology (Studies in Baptist History and Thought Vol 13; Paternoster, 2003)
___ 'The Canon as Space and Place' in John Barton and Michael Wolter (eds.), The Unity of Scripture and the Diversity of the Canon (Walter de Gruyter, 2003), pp.126-149
___ 'Baptism and Membership of the Body of Christ. A Theological and Ecumenical Conundrum' in Gemeinschaft der Kirchen und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung: die Würde des Anderen und das Recht anders zu denken; Festschrift für Professor Dr. Erich Geldbach edited by Lena Lybæk et al (LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2004)
___ (ed.) with Anthony J. Clarke, Flickering Images: Theology and Film in Dialogue (Regent's Study Guides 12; Smyth and Helwys, 2005)
___ 'When Text Becomes Voice: You've Got Mail' in Flickering Images edited by P. S. Fiddes and A. Clarke (Smyth and Helwys, 2005), 97-112.
___ 'Baptist Ecclesiology: A Response to David Carter's Article Review of Tracks and Traces', Ecclesiology 1 (2005) 87-100.
___ 'On God the Incomparable: thinking about God with John Macquarrie' in In Search of Humanity and Deity: A Celebration of John Macquarrie's Theology edited by Robert Morgan (SCM , 2006), 179-99.
___ 'Participating in the Trinity', Perspectives in Religious Studies 33.3 (2006), 361-73.
___ 'The Place of Christian Theology in the Modern University', Baptist Quarterly 42 (April, 2007)
___ 'Salvation' in The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology edited by John Webster, Kathyrn Tanner and Iain Torrance (Oxford University Press, 2007)
___ 'The Passion Story in Literature' in The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology edited by A. Hass, D. Jasper and E. Jay (Oxford University Press, 2007), 742-59.
___ (ed.) Under the Rule of Christ: Dimensions of Baptist Spirituality (Regent's Study Guides 14; Smyth and Helwys, 2008)
___ 'Spirituality as Attentiveness: Stillness and Journey' in Under the Rule of Christ (Smyth and Helwys, 2008)
___ 'Baptism of Believers' in Baptism Today: Understanding, Practice, Ecumenical Implications edited by Thomas F. Best (Liturgical Press, 2008)
___ 'Baptists and Receptive Ecumenism', Louvain Studies 33 (2008), 54-75.
___ 'Ex Opere Operato: Rethinking a Historic Baptist Rejection' in Baptist Sacramentalism 2 edited by Anthony R. Cross and Philip E. Thompson (Paternoster, 2008), 219-38.
___ 'Christianity, Culture and Education: A Baptist Perspective' in The Scholarly Vocation and the Baptist Academy: Essays on the Future of Baptist Higher Education edited by Roger Ward & David Gushee (Mercer, 2008)
___ 'Concept, Image and Story in Systematic Theology', International Journal of Systematic Theology 11.1 (2009)
___ 'G. M. Hopkins' in The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature edited by R. Lemon and C. Rowland (Blackwell, 2009)
___ 'Something will come of nothing: on A Theology of the Dark Side' in Challenging to Change: dialogues with a radical baptist theologian. Essays presented to Dr Nigel G. Wright on his sixtieth birthday edited by Pieter J. Lalleman (Spurgeon's College, 2009)
___ 'Daniel Turner and a Theology of the Church Universal' in Pulpit and People: Studies in Eighteenth Century Baptist Life and Thought edited by John H. Y. Briggs (Paternoster, 2009), 112-27.
___ 'The Body as Site of Continuity and Change' in New Topics in Feminist Philosophy of Religion: Contestations and Transcendence Incarnate edited by Pamela Sue Anderson (Springer-Verlag New York Inc., 2009)
___ 'Church and Sect: Cross-currents in Early Baptist Life' in Exploring Baptist Origins edited by Anthony R. Cross and Nicholas J. Wood (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage, 2010)
___ 'On Theology' in The Cambridge Companion to C. S. Lewis edited by Robert MacSwain and Michael Ward (Cambridge, 2010)
___ 'Ambiguities of the Future: Theological Hints in the Novels of Patrick White', Pacifica 23.3 (2010)
___ 'Dual Citizenship in Athens and Jerusalem: The Place of the Christian Scholar in the Life of the Church' in Questions of Identity: Essays in honour of Brian Haymes edited by Anthony R. Cross and Ruth Gouldbourne (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage, 2011)
___ 'Christian Doctrine and Free Church Ecclesiology: Recent Developments among Baptists in the Southern United States', Ecclesiology 7.2 (2011)
___ 'The Sublime and the Beautiful: Intersections Between Theology and Literature' in Literature and Theology: New Interdisciplinary Spaces edited by Heather Walton (Ashgate, 2011)
___ 'Prophecy, Corporate Personality, and Suffering: Some Themes and Methods in Baptist Old Testament Scholarship' in The "Plainly Revealed" Word of God? Baptist Hermeneutics in Theory and Practice edited by Helen Dare and Simon Woodman (Mercer, 2011)
___ 'A Theology of Public Prayer' in Prayers of the People edited by Karen E. Smith and Simon P. Woodman (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage, 2011)
___ 'Not anarchy but covenant: a nonconformist response to Matthew Arnold's view of religion and culture' in Theology and Human Flourishing: Essays in Honor of Timothy J. Gorringe edited by Mike Higton et al (Cascade, 2011)
___ 'The Root of Religious Freedom: Interpreting Some Muslim and Christian Sacred Texts', Oxford Journal of Law and Religion (2012)
___ 'Ecclesiology and Ethnography: Two Disciplines, Two Worlds?' in Perpsectives on Ecclesiology and Ethnography edited by Pete Ward (Eerdmans, 2012)
___ 'Patterns of hope and images of eternity: listening to Shakespeare, Blake and T.S. Eliot' in Art, Imagination and Christian Hope edited by Trevor Hart, Jeremy Begbie and Gavin Hopps (Ashgate, 2012)
___ 'Ancient and Modern Wisdom: The Intersection of Clinical and Theological Understanding of Health' in Stephen Finamore and John Weaver (eds.), Wisdom, Science and the Scriptures: Essays in Honour of Ernest Lucas (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage and Bristol Baptist College, 2012)
___ 'Suffering' in The Oxford Handbook of Theology and Modern European Thought edited by Nicholas Adams, Graham Ward and George Pattison (Oxford University Press, 2013)
___ 'Baptists and 1662: the Effect of the Act of Uniformity on Baptists and its Ecumenical Significance for Baptists Today', Ecclesiology 9.2 (2013)
___'"For the Dance all Things Were Made": The Great Dance in C.S. Lewis' Perelandra' in C. S. Lewis's Perelandra : Reshaping the Image of the Cosmos edited by Judith Wolfe and Brendan Wolfe (Kent State University Press, 2013)
___ 'Sacrifice, Atonement and Renewal: Intersections Between Girard, Kristeva, and Balthasar' in Sacrifice and Modern Thought edited by Julia Meszaros and Johannes Zachhuber (Oxford University Press, 2013), 48-65.
___ with Günter Badder, 'Whatever Happened to a Pauline Text? 2 Corinthians 3.6 and its Afterlife' in The Spirit and the Letter: A Tradition and a Reversal edited by Günter Badder and Paul S. Fiddes (T & T Clark, 2013)
___ 'The Late-Modern Reversal of Spirit and Letter: Derrida, Augustine and Film' in The Spirit and the Letter: A Tradition and a Reversal edited by Günter Badder and Paul S. Fiddes (T & T Clark, 2013)
___ Seeing the World and Knowing God: Hebrew Wisdom and Christian Doctrine in a Late-Modern Context (Oxford University Press, 2013)
___ 'Relational Trinity: Radical Perspective' in Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity edited by Jason Sexton (Zondervan, 2014)
___ with Brian Haymes and Richard Kidd, Baptists and the Communion of Saints: A Theology of Covenanted Disciples (Baylor, 2014)
___ 'Wisdom and Spirit: The Loss and Re-making of Relationship', Perspectives in Religious Studies 41.2 (Summer 2014)
___ 'The Church Local and Universal: Catholic and Baptist Perspectives on Koinonia Ecclesiology' in Revisioning, Renewing, Rediscovering the Triune Center: Essays in Honor of Stanley J. Grenz edited by Derek Tidball, Brian Harries and Jason Sexton (Cascade, 2014)
___ 'War and Poetry’ in Step Into Your Place. The First World War and Baptist Life and Thought edited by Larry Kreitzer (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage Studies, 2014), 1-22.
___ ‘Law and Divine Mercy in Shakespeare’s Religious Imagination: Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice’ in Poetry and the Religious Imagination: The Power of the Word edited by Francesca Knox (Ashgate: 2015).
___ ‘Charles Williams and the Problem of Evil’, in C. S. Lewis and His Circles: Essays and Memoirs from the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society edited by Judith Wolfe and Brendan Wolfe (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
___ ‘God and Story in the Church and in Doctrine. Reflections on the Ecclesial Basis of Method in Theology’, Ecclesial Practices (2015).
___ ‘Restorative Justice and the Theological Dynamic of Forgiveness’, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion (2015).
___ (ed.), Sharing the Faith at the Boundaries of Unity. Further Conversations Between Anglicans and Baptists (Regent's Park College, 2016)
___ 'Dystopia, Utopia, and Millennium: Competing Images of Presence in an Anxious World', Perspectives in Religious Studies 43.1 (Spring 2016)
___ 'Baptists and Theological Education: A Vision for the 21st Century' in Baptist Identity into the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Ken Manley edited by Frank Rees (Melbourne: Whitley College, 2016).
___ 'Versions of Ecclesiology', Ecclesiology 12.3 (2016), 331-53.
___ 'Father, Son and Holy Spirit: The Triune Creator in Hymn and Theology' in Gathering Disciples: Essays in Honor of Christopher J. Ellis edited by Myra Blyth and Andy Goodliff (Pickwick, 2017).
___ 'Covenant and Participation: A Personal Review of the Essays', Perspectives in Religious Studies 44.1 (Spring 2017).
___ 'A Fourth Strand of the Reformation', Ecclesiology 13.2 (2017), 153-59.
___ with Anthony J. Clarke, Dissenting Spirit: A History of Regent's Park College. 1752-2017 (Oxford: Regent's Park College, 2017).
___ 'Christianity, Atonement and Evil' in The Cambridge Companion to the Problem of Evil edited by Chad Meister and Paul K. Moser (Cambridge University Press, 2017)
___ 'Shakespeare in Church: Reflection on an Intertextual Liturgy Based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream', Ecclesial Practices 4.2 (2017), 199-217.
___ 'The Sacramental Modernism of David Jones and the World as Text' in David Jones: A Christian Modernist? edited by Paul S. Fiddes et al. (Brill, 2018), 227-48.
___ 'Covenant: An Ecclesiology of an Undivided Christ' in David S. Dockrey et al (eds.), Worship, Tradition, and Engagement: Essays in Honor of Timothy George (Pickwick, 2018)
___ 'Covenant and the Inheritance of Separatism' in The Fourth Strand of the Reformation edited by Paul S. Fiddes (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage Series, 2018)
___ 'Baptist Concepts of the Church and their Antecedents' in Paul Avis (ed.), The Oxford Handbook to Ecclesiology (Oxford University Press, 2018)
___ 'A Theological Reconsideration of 'The Wild'', Louvain Studies 41.3 (2018), 317-27
___ 'The Rhythm of God on Monday' in Rhythm of Faithfulness: Essays in Honor of John E. Colwell edited by Andy Goodliff and Paul Goodliff (Pickwick, 2018)
___ 'The Trinity, Modern Art, and Participation in God' in C. R. Brewer (ed.), Christian Theology and the Transformation of Natural Religion: From Incarnation to Sacramentality: Essays in Honour of David Brown (Peeters, 2018)
___ 'Religious Rights and Freedoms within the Baptist Tradition: Theological Foundations' in Crossing Baptist Boundaries edited by Erich Geldbach (Mercer, 2019).
___ (ed.) with John H. Y. Briggs, Peoples of God: Baptists and Jews over Four Centuries (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage Series, 2019)
___ 'The Web of Peacemakers' in 'A World Order of Love': Baptists and the Peacemakers edited by Paul S. Fiddes (Centre for Baptist History and Heritage Series, 2019).
___ 'Is This the Promised End? Shakespearen Tragedy and a Christian Tragic Theology for Today' in The Transformations of Tragedy edited by Fionnuala Tonning et al (Brill, 2019).
___ 'Forgiveness, Empathy and Vulnerability: An Unfinished Conversation with Pamela Sue Anderson', Angelaki 25.1-2 (2020)
___ with Brian Haymes and Richard Kidd, Communion, Covenant and Creativity: An Approach to the Communion of Saints through the Arts (Cascade, 2020).
___ 'Ecumenical Relations and the Creation of Liturgy' in Reconciling Rites: Essays in Honour of Myra N. Blyth edited by Andy Goodliff et al (Oxford: Centre for Baptist Studies, 2020).
___ 'Baptist Ecclesiology' in T & T Clark Handbook of Ecclesiology edited by Kimlyn J. Bender and D. Stephen Long (T & T Clark, 2020).
___ 'Sacraments in a Virtual World: A Baptist Approach' in Baptist Sacramentalism 3 edited by Anthony R. Cross and Philip E. Thompson (Pickwick, 2020).
___ 'Creation in Freedom and Love' in Theology of Freedom: Religious and Anthropological Foundations of Freedom in a Global Context edited by Irina Yazykova (2021).
___ 'Wisdom in Christian Theology' in The Oxford Handbook of Wisdom and the Bible edited by Will Kynes (Oxford University Press, 2021).
___ 'Shakespeare and Spirituality' in Re-Membering the Body: The Witness of History, Theology and the Arts in Honour of Ruth M. B. Gouldbourne edited by Anthony R. Cross and Brian Haymes (Pickwick, 2021).
___ 'A Short History of the Angus Library and Archives, Regent's Park College, Oxford', Baptist Quarterly 52.3 (2021).
___ (ed.), Love as Common Ground: Essays on Love in Religion (Lexham, 2021).
___ 'God is Love, but is Love God? Towards a Theology of Love as Knowledge' in Love as Common Ground: Essays on Love in Religion (2021)
___ Charles Williams and C.S.Lewis: Friends in Co-inherence (Oxford University Press, 2021)
___ Iris Murdoch and the Others: A Writer in Dialogue with Theology (T & T Clark, 2021)
___ 'A Sacramental World: Refiguring the Sacred and the Secular in David Jaspar's "Sacred" Trilogy' in Sacred Modes of Being in a Postsecular World edited by Andrew Haas (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
___ 'Baptists in the Age of Brahms' German Requiem', Baptist Quarterly 53.1 (2022).
___ More Things in Heaven and Earth: Shakespeare, Theology, and the Interplay of Texts (Virginia, 2022).
___ 'Imagination, Theology and Literature (D. W. D. Shaw Memorial Lecture 2022', Theology in Scotland 29.1 (2022) 7-22.
___ 'Ministry and Poetry' in Ministry in Conversation: Essays in Honour of Paul Goodliff edited by Andy Goodliff and John Colwell (Wipf & Stock, 2022).
___ 'The Mythology and Theology of the Unicorn' in Attending to the Margins: Essays in Honour of Stephen Finamore edited by Helen Paynter and Peter Hatton (Regent's Park College, 2022).
___ 'Revelation and Normativity' in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Theology and Qualitative Research edited by Pete Ward and Knut Tveitereid (Wiley-Blackwell, 2022).
___ 'Unity and Universality, Locality and Diversity According to Baptist Thinking about the Church' in Receptive Ecumenism as Transformative Ecclesial Learning: Walking the Way to a Church Re-formed edited by Paul Murray et al (Oxford University Press, 2022).
___ 'Outlines of an Eco-Love-Theology' in Loving the Planet: Interfaith Essays on Ecology, Love, and Theology edited by Paul Fiddes (Firedint, 2022).
___ 'Covenanting Churches' in Seeds of the Church: Towards an Ecumenical Baptist Ecclesiology edited by Teun van der Leer et al (Cascade, 2022).
___ 'Baptists and the Writing of Literature in the Nineteenth Century', Baptist Quarterly 54.1 (2023).
___ 'The Baptist Idea of a University', Perspectives in Religious Studies (2023).
___ 'The Suffering of God' in T & T Clark Handbook to Suffering and the Problem of Evil edited by Matthias Grebe and Johannes Grossl (T & T Clark, 2023).
___ 'Jesus as the Pattern of Love in Atonement', St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology
___ 'Synodality: A Perspective from the Baptist Tradition of Covenant', Ecclesiology 20.1 (2024)
___ 'Sam Sharpe: The Scriptures that Motivated Him and their Implications for Today', Baptist Quarterly 55.3 (2024)
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