Editorial Consultant Appointment

Church History. Honorary research fellow Dr Peter Nockles has been appointed to the role of editorial consultant for the Newman Studies Journal.

New Publication

Religion and theology. Wren Radford has published 'Of bodyminds and blank pages: the transmutability of life writing and an ethic of reading with crip queer care' in Literature and Theology, Volume 39, Issue 1, (March 2025), Pages 4–19. The abstract: "Life writing, and particularly trans, queer, and disability life writing, remains a contested site, accused of being too personal to spur on social change and of feeding a public appetite for forms of confessional, apologetic writing that reinforces social scripts about bodies and selves. Yet queer, trans, and disabled life writers are also transmuting the genre, working with making unbearable conditions bearable. Recognizing life writing as a mode of theological construction and a site of debates around embodiment, selves, and epistemology, the article engages articulations of the material body as a locus of theological knowledge. The article develops an ethic of reading with crip queer care, refusing to read for diagnosis, disclosure, and cure, and instead reading with disorientation, dissociation, exhaustion, and familiarity." Further information.

Student Activity

Summer placement. Second-year student Ed Bullock has just completed a work experience project with the Genizah research unit in Cambridge. They worked there for 3 weeks in July, writing descriptions of fragments for a digital archive. Ed's activities included checking articles to identify given fragments and performing material analysis such as measuring the fragments, identifying the writing materials, etc. Ed also spent the first week comparing the spelling of two Bible manuscripts (one a scroll and one a codex) to the accepted text of the Ben Asher tradition, locating interesting material for further analysis.

Grant Success

Coptic studies. Sarah Parkhouse (PI) and Jeremy Penner (Co-I) have been awarded an UKRI Catalyst Grant for a project "Coptic in Manchester: Connecting Manuscripts and Communities" (£246,578.92) to run from February 2026 for two years. The funding bid was supported by a John Rylands pilot grant (2024).

BBC Radio 4, Sunday

Religion and Technology. Scott Midson was on Radio 4's Sunday programme chatting about chatbots, faith, and spiritual guidance. 10 August 2025. Listen again (Scott starts around 24 mins in).

Didsbury Lectures 2025

Christian Theology. The 2025 Didsbury Lectures, delivered by UoM HRF Stephen C. Barton, will explore how early Christianity shaped and transformed emotions, examining the connection between faith and feelings through insights from the New Testament, social sciences and ancient history. October 27th - 30th, 2025, 7:00 PM, NTC Chapel. Further information and registration here.

Rowan Williams Public Lecture

Christian theology. As part of the 500th Anniversary Lectures of Christ Church Oxford, the third in the series of  "Humanist Learning: A Vision for Today?" will be given by The Right Reverend Dr Rowan Williams here in Manchester. Dr Williams will discuss faith in today's world and uncover education's integral role in the creation of human beliefs. The keynote lecture will be followed by responses and a Q&A with The Reverend Professor Andrew Davison and Professor Michael Symmons Roberts FRSL. Thursday 11 September, Carol Nash Hall, Stoller Hall, M3 1DA, 7pm. Further information and tickets.

Art & Christianity Retreat

Christian studies. Siobhán Jolley will be part of the team leading the Art+Christianity Annual Retreat in September. Siobhán's session will involve a visit to the Helen Chadwick exhibition at the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. It’s possible to join for all or part of the weekend. Further information.

Church Times Letter

Christian theology. David Law has had published a letter "Pronoun avoidance depersonalises the Holy Spirit" in the Church Times. Read it here.

Student Prize Award

European studies. Orla Kennedy, who has just completed a degree in Liberal Arts, has been awarded the Jean Monnet Centre UG Dissertation Prize for her engagement project, "Legal Redress and Trauma Informed Support for Survivors of Mother and Baby Homes in Ireland". The Manchester Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence UG Dissertation Prize awards £100 Blackwells vouchers to one outstanding individual to celebrate the hard work and insights of a new generation of scholars in European studies. Congratulations Orla on this fantastic achievement! 

The Conversation - Women Retelling Jesus

Biblical studies. Sarah Parkhouse has written "Cynthia Erivo will be the most talked about Jesus of 2025 – but women have long retold the gospel" for The Conversation. This is, in part, part of a project funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Read it here.

New Publication

Biblical studies. Siobhán Jolley has published the entry for Pontius Pilate in Visual Art for the Encyclopaedia of the Bible and its Reception, which is available online now ahead of the physical publication of Volume 24 in the autumn. Further information.

International Conference Papers

Asian Religions. Erica Baffelli will be presenting at the XXIII IAHR Congress in Kraków in August 2025, chairing a roundtable on “Recentring Fear in the Study of Religion: Theorising from Asia” and as discussant on two panels  “The Religious Aesthetics of Intense Devotion in the Ancient World” and "Methodologies in Global Religious History: Is there "Esotericism" in Japan?". Further information.