Samuel Ferguson Lecture 2026

Public Theology Event. Peter Scott writes: ‘I’m delighted to announce that the 2026 Ferguson lecturer is Prof. Maureen Junker-Kenny (Trinity College, Dublin). Among other topics, Prof. Junker-Kenny has made a distinctive and widely acknowledged contribution to public theology. She will give the Ferguson Presentation at Manchester Cathedral at noon. The title of the presentation is “Conceptions of the Biblical God and the Hope for a Responsive Humanity”. At 4 PM, she will give the Ferguson Lecture at the University of Manchester—the lecture title is “Frameworks for Social Theology: Habermas and Ricoeur on Agency, Ethics, and Religion". Please do come and hear Prof. Junker-Kenny at either or both these events.’ Further details, including a description of the Presentation and the Lecture, may be found here. The Presentation will be followed by lunch; the Lecture will be followed by a drinks reception. The venue at the University for the Lecture is the Ellen Wilkinson Building, Room C1.18. Both events are free and without ticket. Contact: peter.scott@manchester.ac.uk.

YouTube interview for European project

Biblical Studies. The ECCLESIAE Project of the Universities of Bern and Bonn interviewed fifteen academics from around the world who specialise in understanding early Christianity in its historical context, to produce videos for the project’s Early Christian Centers YouTube channel. From the UK they interviewed Tom Holland, N.T. Wright and Peter Oakes. Peter’s interview is online here. He considers why Philippi was special and, more broadly, argues that ‘questions arising from the textual sources of the early Christ movement can only be adequately answered when they are embedded in the lived reality of people in the first century. Archaeological and epigraphic evidence opens up access to this world.’ The channel also includes a one-hour video, Christ and the Gods: How a Jewish Sect Swept the Cities of Rome.

Pizza Party

Event. Everyone from Religion and Theology and Liberal Arts are invited to a Pizza Party, Weds 4th February, 5–7pm, Lime Cafe (bottom floor Samuel Alexander South Wing).

New Publication

Ecotheology. A special issue, Ecotheology in Asia and the Pacific, has been published in the Indonesian Journal of Theology. Co-editor Seoyoung Kim (UoM honorary research fellow) explores what she calls “ecotheology beyond adjective,” bringing together voices from Asia and the Pacific that reflect the region’s lived ecological realities. Contributors come from Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Sri Lanka. Further information. 

Going Beyond Belief Highlights

Public resource. Has the Christmas period sparked your curiosity in Jesus? A crucified Messiah was nowhere in the script of Israelite redemptive history, so how exactly did a man born in a manger and crucified on a cross come to be known as the Christ? On these pages of Beyond Belief, Dr Andrew Boakye explains how Christianity developed its notion of the Messiah, especially examining the works of Paul, and asks how this all raises questions for the church today.

Alumni Success

Christian studies. Seoyoung Kim, an alumna of the department, has been appointed Lecturer in Applied Theology and Ministry Placements Programme Lead at the Belfast School of Theology, beginning in January 2026. An ecotheologian specialising in the theology of water, she completed her PhD under the supervision of Professor Peter Scott. She also serves as a Central Committee member of the World Council of Churches, with particular interests in ecumenical theology and the global ecumenical movement.

New Publication

Dead Sea Scrolls. Jon Darby (from NTC) has published a book: Shaping Text Through Song: The Influence of Singing upon Processes of Textual Interpretation and Variation in the Dead Sea Scrolls, STDJ 156, Leiden: Brill, Dec 2025. Further information.

New Publication

Biblical studies. Samuel Hildebrandt (NTC) and Ekaterina E. Kozlova have published Loneliness in the Hebrew Bible, LHBOTS 718, London: Bloomsbury, Dec 2025. The volume features a chapter by Samuel "Good to be Alone: Positive Loneliness in Lamentations 3 and the Hebrew Bible" and a chapter by Holly Morse "'A Desolate Woman': Gender, Isolation and Loneliness in the Hebrew Bible". Further information.

Christmas Blog Post

For Christmas. The UoM Christian chaplain and Lecturer Omolade Allen shares her blog piece about how Christmas carries meanings far beyond Christianity alone, and why this is a good time for everybody to slow down and reflect on how we treat each other and ourselves. Read it here.

New Publication

Dead Sea Scrolls. George J. Brooke has published "Ritual as a Locus of Narrative, Liturgical and Prophetic Time in Some Sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls" in Performance, Space, and Time in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Papers from the Eleventh Meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies, Zürich 2022, edited by Michael B. Johnson, Jutta Jokiranta, and Molly M. Zahn (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 154; Brill, 2025): 148–162. Further information.

Bogdanow Lectures 2026

Jewish Studies Event. We are delighted to announce that the Bogdanow Lectures in Holocaust Studies 2026 will be given by Professor Susannah Heschel, the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor and chair of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and currently the Gerard Weinstock Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University. Her scholarship focuses on Jewish thought in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, including the history of antisemitism. The Bogdanow lectures are titled: 'The Yellow Star in Church: Baptized Jews in Nazi Germany' and 'It's Happening Here: Antisemitism in the United States' and will be held on 16 & 17 February 2026, 5.30pm.

Hanukkah Celebration

Event for everyone. All colleagues, students and the wider community are invited to take part in a public lighting of the menorah, with live music, hot chocolate and doughnuts. Tuesday 16 December, 6pm, Brunswick Park (outside Simon Building), no sign up necessary, just come along. Further information.

New Publication

Hindu studies. Rosie Edgley and our HRF Jacqueline Suthren Hirst, ‘Addressing plurality in Madhusūdana’s Gītā commentary’, in Brian Black and James Madaio (eds), Provincialising Pluralism: Difference and Diversity in South Asian Traditions, (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2025), pp.321-344. Madhusūdana Sarasvatī was a prolific sixteenth century writer in the Advaita Vedānta Sanskrit tradition. The article argues that Madhusūdana uses this commentary to allow space for three different 'flavours' of contemporary Advaitin practice. Further information.