Conferences
The School of Divinity hosts conferences, symposiums, colloquiums and workshops throughout the year to discuss scholarly works on specific topics and to present research from the related research institutes and centres.
Find out about future and past conferences and other research events here.
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European Academy of Religion: Religion from the Inside
June 2023
Keynote speakers:
- Diwakar Acharya
- Lejla Demiri
- John Makransky
- David Brown
- Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg
Joint Hosts
- Australian Catholic University
- St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology
Partner events:
- UKABS
- Cusanus Society UK & Ireland
- Christoph Schwöbel: Theology in Conversation
- Music & Spiritual Realities
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Practical Challenges Facing the Church
April 2019
Plenary speakers:
- Jeremy Rois
- Brian Brock
- Caireen Likely.
Logos Conference 2019
June 2019
The conference aimed to explore the relationship between divine and human reconciliation from a basis in exegetically informed theology bringing theologians, biblical scholars and philosophical theologians into focused discussion of the topic.
Plenary speakers:
- Amy-Jill Levine
- David Moffitt
- Esau McCaulley
- Christoph Schwöbel
- NT Wright
- Eleonore Stump
- Kevin Diller
- Patrick Smith
- Jürgen Moltmann
Christ & Trauma: Doing Theology East of Eden
July 2019
Plenary speakers:
- Chelle Stearns
- Rachael Clinton
- Preston Hill
- Elaine Storkey
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Atonement: Sin, Sacrifice, and Salvation in Jewish and Christian Antiquity
The St Andrews Symposium for Biblical and Early Christian Studies featured world-class biblical scholars and short papers on the topics of atonement, priesthood, sacrifice, and temple cult.
Plenary speakers:
- Christian Eberhart
- Martha Himmelfarb
- David Moffitt
- Carol Newsom
- Andrei Orlov
- Deborah Rooke
- Catrin Williams
- David Wright
- NT Wright.
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Formation and Interpretation: Ways of Knowing and the Knowledge of God
This day conference explored how moral and spiritual formation shapes the practices of theological reason and exegetical interpretation. The conference embraced historical, theological, philosophical, and exegetical perspectives.
Presenters:
- Martin Westerholm
- Lydia Schumacher
- Nathan Eubank
- TJ Lang
- Timothy Baylor.
Medieval Scriptural Exegesis
This colloquium was co-sponsored by the Institute of Bible, Theology, and Hermermeutics and the St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies.
Presenters:
- Lesley Smith
- John Gallagher
- William Hyland
- Mark Elliott.
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The Doctrine of God – Conversations with Paul S Fiddes
This colloquium was hosted by the School of Divinity. It focused on considering the Doctrine of God in conversation with Paul Fiddes.
Presenters:
- Steve Holmes
- Ian McFarland
- Andrew Moore
- John Webster
- Judith Wolfe.
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Standards of In/Coherence in Ancient Jewish Literature
This research workshop was funded by the Carnegie Trust, and considered the expectations, perceptions, tolerances, or measures of textual coherence and coherence in antiquity and the significance of these for analysis of ancient Near Eastern, biblical, and ancient post-biblical Jewish texts. At issue was the genuine understanding of the literature and thought forms of cultures in antiquity that sometimes differ profoundly from our own – an issue essential to the historical humanities as a whole.
Presenters:
- Philip Alexander
- Ronnie Goldstein
- Reinhard Kratz
- Alexander Samely
- Andrew Teeter
- William Tooman
- Yair Zakovitch.
In Principio Erat Verbum: The Contribution of St Mary’s College to Scottish Theology and Church Life
This day conference focused on contributions from Scottish academics and academics at Scottish institutions, considering the contribution of St Mary’s College to the wider theology and church life of Scotland.
Presenters:
- Steven Reid
- Scott Spurlock
- Christian Maurer
- Mark Elliott
- Stewart Brown
- David Fergusson
- Ian Bradley.
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Knowing Creation
The conference was organised by Scientists in Congregations Scotland, a programme funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The aim of the conference was to involve a broad range of speakers in the theme of understanding creation through science and religion. A volume, published by Zondervan, is forthcoming on the proceedings of the conference.
Presenters:
- John Webster
- Denis Alexander
- Trevor Hart
- John Haldane
- Rod Wilson
- Mark Harris
- Stephen Evans.
Give War a Chance?: Contesting Themes from In Defence of War
Scholars from both sides of the Atlantic, and representing a range of disciplines, engaged In Defence of War, which has quickly been regarded as one of the most important recent books on the morality of war. In it, Oxford theologian and priest Nigel Biggar challenged what he regarded as wishful thinking: the increasingly fashionable view that war has become unnecessary. He contended that war can be morally legitimate, legally justified, and indeed Christian. Arguing from a range of sources including military history, real-life battle accounts, philosophy, theology, and international law, In Defence of War is the book with which future pacifists and realists will have to contend.
Presenters
- Adrian Pabst
- Mary Ellen O’Connell
- David Rodin
- Anthony Lang
- Nigel Biggar.
What is Theological?
This day conference questioned what it is that makes the practice of ethics or politics, or the interpretation of art, a distinctly “theological” undertaking, and what this reveals about the nature and ends of theology as a discipline.
Presenters:
- Phil Ziegler
- William Wood
- John Webster
- Martin Westerholm.
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Views of the Doctrine of the Trinity
Sponsored by the School of Divinity, this conference put leading academics on the subject of the Trinity in conversation to discuss classical views of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Presenters:
- Paul Molnar
- Stephen Holmes
- Paul Fiddes
- Thomas McCall.
33rd Annual British New Testament Conference
The University of St Andrews had the honour of hosting, as one of its 600th Anniversary events, the British New Testament Conference. This annual conference brought together scholars from across the United Kingdom to explore the various areas of research pertaining to the New Testament.
Presenters:
- James Davila
- Louise Lawrence
- Larry Hurtado
- Kathy Ehrensperger.
Ecclesia and Ethics: An Eco-friendly and Economically-feasible Online Biblical Studies and Theology Conference
This online conference was supported by a generous grant from the Capod Innovation Grant, through the University of St Andrews. The conference concerned the role of the church in Christian ethics and moral formation.
Presenters:
- NT Wright
- Michael Gorman
- Dennis Hollinger
- Shane Claiborne
- Stanley Hauerwas
- Brian Rosner
- Mariam Karnell
- Nijay Gupta
- Michael Barber.
Sacred Texts in their Social-Political Contexts: 3rd St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies
This graduate conference was included as part of the Society of Biblical Literature’s International Meeting. Sessions explored the political and theo-political visions of authoritative and sacred texts in their historical contexts. It was aimed at graduate students and early career scholars.
Presenters:
- Nathan MacDonald
- Loren Stuckenbruck
- Matthew Novenson
- Candida Moss.
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Theatrical Theology: Conversations on Performing the Faith
Theatrical Theology: Conversations on Performing the Faith sought to demonstrate the fruitfulness for constructive Christian theology and theatre alike of pursuing the conversation further, tracing some of the advances that have already been made, and identifying new challenges and opportunities still to be reckoned with as the interaction continues and develops further.
Influenced and inspired by Hans Urs von Balthasar’s seminal work in Theo-Drama, a growing number of contemporary scholars in various theological disciplines are discovering the potential for interdisciplinary conversation between theology and theatre. From a theological perspective, there are several reasons why drama and theatre present themselves as particularly fitting conversation partners, including:
- the inherently dramatic form of God’s revelation in word and deed
- the role of Scripture as a text which invites performance rather than passivity
- faithful action as both the goal and means of theological understanding
- the public and communal nature of theology
- the indeterminacy, provisionality, and ‘improvised’ nature of the theological task.
Presenters:
- David Brown
- Shannon Craigo-Snell
- David Cunningham
- Jim Fodor
- Timothy Gorringe
- Ivan Khovacs
- George Pattison.
Paul’s Letters to the Galatians and Christian Theology
The fourth St Andrews conference on Scripture and Christian Theology took place in July 2012. Since the first conference on the Gospel of John in 2003, the St Andrews conferences have been recognised as amongst the most important occasions when biblical scholars and systematic theologians are brought together in conversation about a biblical text. With the book of Galatians as the key text for this conference, biblical scholars and theologians of the Christian tradition gathered to work out how exegesis and theology meet, critique and inform each other.
Presenters:
- Thomas Söding
- Volker Rabens
- NT Wright
- Karla Pollmann
- Mark Elliott
- Timothy Wengert
- Scott Hafemann
- John Barclay
- Bruce McCormack
- Oliver O’Donovan
- Jean-Noël Aletti
- Simeon Zahl
- Richard Hays.
Manuscripts and their Texts: Perspectives on Textual Criticism
With an emphasis on textual criticism, the second St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies was aimed at graduate students and early career scholars. Contributors were welcomed from the following fields of research:
- Old Testament and Hebrew Bible
- Pseudepigrapha
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- New Testament
- Early Christianity.
Presenters:
- Richard Hays
- NT Wright
- Oliver O’Donovan
- Jean-Noël Aletti
- John Barclay
- Ivor Davidson
- Beverly Gaventa
- Bruce McCormack.
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Authoritative Texts and Reception History: Aspects and Approaches
With an emphasis on textual reception history, the first St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies was aimed at graduate students and early career scholars. Contributors were welcomed from the following fields of research:
- Old Testament and Hebrew Bible
- Pseudepigrapha
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- New Testament
- Early Christianity.
Presenters:
- Kristin De Troyer
- James Davila
- NT Wright
- Mark Elliott.
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Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture: Conversations with the Work of David W Brown
This conference provided a forum for careful theological, historical, biblical, philosophical, and literary engagement with five major volumes from David Brown FBA, the Wardlaw Professor of Theology, Aesthetics, and Culture at the University of St Andrews.
The ‘fundamental thesis’ underlying all five volumes is that ‘both natural and revealed theology are in crisis, and that the only way out is to give proper attention to the cultural embeddedness of both.’ Responding to the richness of the Christian tradition and undeniable presence of ‘divine generosity’ within more recent art and culture, Professor Brown explores various artistic contributions both within the Christian tradition and outside the Church.
Together, these five volumes offer a prescient account of divine revelation and an experience of God through culture and the arts. This conference delved into the cumulative significance of Brown’s thesis as developed in these five volumes for a wider and richer theological conversation.
Presenters:
- Maragret R Miles
- Tina Beattie
- Gordon Graham
- Charles Taliaferro
- Jeremy Begbie
- Clive Marsh
- Ben Quash
- David W Brown.
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Genesis and Christian Theology
The third St Andrews conference on Scripture and Christian Theology was run in 2009. Since the first conference on the Gospel of John in 2003, the St Andrews conferences have been recognised as one of the most important occasions when biblical scholars and systematic theologians are brought together in conversation about a biblical text. The conferences aimed to cut through the megaphone diplomacy or the sheer incomprehension that so often marks attempts to communicate across disciplines.
Presenters:
- Gary Anderson
- David Fergusson
- Kathryn Tanner.
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Offence of Beauty
This conference, run by the Institute for Imagination, Theology, and the Arts, raised the question: can there be a theological perspective on beauty that takes these suspicions seriously, while at the same time refusing to set aside the notion of beauty altogether? More particularly: in what ways can attending to the triune God of Jesus Christ, and this God’s gracious, reconciling, self-revealing activity in and for the world, inform and transform our conceptions of beauty? In this light, are there ways in which it might be quite legitimate to speak of the ‘offence’ of beauty – especially in relation to the ‘scandal’ at the heart of the Christian faith, the vindication of the crucified Jesus? And – the focused concern of this colloquium – what might such theological construals of beauty imply about the way we practise, interpret and enjoy the arts in the 21st century?
Presenters:
- Bernard Beartty
- Carol Harrison
- Trevor Hart
- Robert Jenson
- Grant Macaskill
- Patrick Sherry
- Nicholas Wolterstorff.
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The Epistle to the Hebrew and Christian Theology
This conference was a major opportunity for biblical scholars and Christian theologians to come together in dialogue around a biblical text which had a profound influence on Christian theology.
Presenters:
- Richard Hays
- Morna Hooker
- John Webster.
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Anthropology and Biblical Studies: The Way Forward?
This summer symposium was dedicated to exploring interdisciplinary links, innovations, and developments between anthropology and biblical studies. Aimed primarily at biblical scholars, the conference sought to bring together practitioners of both disciplines to discuss the pertinence of anthropology to the interpretation of both the Old and New Testaments and Psuedepigraphal and apocryphal texts.
The Gospel of John and Christian Theology
This conference brought together substantial figures in the fields of both New Testament and Theological studies to discuss papers related to the topic. It included a lecture on and performance of Bach’s St John’s Passion.
Presenters:
- Martin Hengel
- Jurgen Moltmann
- Rowan Williams.
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International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls as Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity
This conference gathered scholars from around the world to explore how the Dead Sea Scrolls contribute to our knowledge of the background of both rabbinic and non-canonical forms of Judaism, and of the origins and early development of Christianity.
Presenters:
- Richard Bauckam
- James Davila
- Steve Fraade
- Timothy Lim
- Bilham Nitzan
- Lawrence Schiffman.
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International Conference on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus
This conference gathered a team of scholars from around the world to explore the origins of christology in the first century and its relation to Jewish monotheism. Attention was also given to relevant biblical, Jewish, and Greco-Roman traditions in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman periods in order to gain a better understanding of the cultural background in which early Christianity grappled with the meaning of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Presenters:
- Margaret Baker
- Richard Bauckham
- PM Casey
- Adela Yarbro Collins
- April De Conick
- Larry Hurtado
- Michael Mach
- Pheme Perkins
- Alan Segal
- Loren Stuckenbruck.