Postdoctoral Research Associate of the Lincoln Theological Institute. Dr Charlotte Bray has joined the Religions and Theology department as a postdoctoral research associate with the Lincoln Theological Institute. Her research project aims to develop a theological basis for anti-racism, EDI, and 'decolonising development' work within the UK’s international development and humanitarian aid sector. Through dialogue with Catholic practitioners, this project seeks to better resource Catholic organisations to make connections between the practical realities of EDI and anti-racism work and their values and identities as faith-based organisations. It will critically engage with Catholic social teaching and various political and liberation theologies to constructively develop a theological response to the structural racism and inequitable power dynamics present within the sector. Charlotte has recently completed a PhD at Durham University with the Centre for Catholic Studies. Her thesis constructively developed the idea of social sin within Catholic theological and social thought. She drew on a diverse range of thinkers from various disciplines including Judith Butler, Thomas Aquinas, leading figures in Catholic social thought, and Latin American Liberation Theologians such as Jon Sobrino, Ignacio Ellacuría, and José Ignacio González Faus. Her thesis has recently been accepted for publication. Her upcoming book will be titled ‘Sin and the Vulnerability of Embodied Life: Towards a Catholic Theology of Social Sin’.
