International Scholars' Visit

Coptic manuscripts. Jeremy Penner will host a group of scholars and research students from University of Texas, Austin, to study unpublished and uncatalogued Coptic manuscripts in the John Rylands Institute and Library for two weeks in June.

Religions and Theology Postgraduate Study Day 2025

For postgrads. On 13 June, UoM is hosting the Religions and Theology Postgraduate Study Day 2025 for researchers from Nazarene Theological College; Cliff College; Luther King Centre; and the Department of Religions and Theology, University of Manchester. Siobhán Jolley and Scott Midson will run a workshop on "Theology, Technology, and Interdisciplinarity". Other workshops include "Engaging with scholarship from the Global South/Majority World" and "Preparing for your viva". Munyurangabo Benda from the Centre for Black Theology, Queen’s Foundation Birmingham will deliver the keynote lecture "Finding the Fur: Tragedy, Trauma and Transformative Black Political Theology". The conference takes place in Samuel Alexander building, starting at 10am and concluding at 3.15pm. Email David Law with any questions.

Editorial Board Appointment

Biblical studies. Todd Klutz is on the editorial board for a forthcoming series "The Gnostic Imagination - Supplements to Gnosis" with Brill. The Gnostic Imagination Series analyzes, on a case-by-case basis, the impact of the Gnostic worldview on individuals and groups from antiquity to today and their cultural productions (i.e., literature, arts, film, media, material objects). The aim of the series is to provide theoretically-mature but succinct case studies about how, when, where, and why Gnostic thought impacts societies and culture from antiquity to today.

Social Responsibility Presentation

Social responsibility. Scott Midson is presenting 'Are friends electric?' at the Social Responsibility and Civic Engagement: Public Engagement in-house training session on Weds 21st May. Details on StaffNet.

Postgraduate Research Seminar

Jewish Studies. PhD student Rob Kanter presented to the History PGR research seminar on 'A United front against Fascism/Nazism? Jewish-Muslim relations in England, c1933-41.' The presentation explored the complexities of Jewish-Muslim relations in the British context. Whilst tensions in Palestine, including the Arab Great Revolt of 1936-39 formed a backdrop to Jewish-Muslim relations in England, pre-existing cultural, intellectual and religious interactions forged ahead. As the threat of Nazism became more pronounced, Jewish-Muslim solidarity continued to develop within the wider tapestry of nascent interfaith relations. University of Manchester, 22 May 2025.

Promotion to Senior Lecturer

Department news. Please join me in congratulating Katja Stuerzenhofecker on her promotion to Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies in Religion.

New Publication

Biblical studies. Honorary Research Fellow David Lamb has published The Function of Narrative Comments in the Gospel of John: A Literary and Linguistic Analysis in the "Interpreting Johannine Literature" series (Lexington Books/Fortress Academic). R. Alan Culpepper comments that this "sets a new milestone in Johannine scholarship". (The author is particularly pleased with the cover design, which includes one of his own photos.) Further information.

PGR Biblical Studies Conference

Biblical studies. UoM is hosting the Northern Universities PGR Biblical Studies & Patristics Day Conference 2025, Friday 23rd May, 10.30am-4pm, Ellen Wilkinson Building. UoM PGR papers include Lev Eakins, "A Really Nerdy and Geeky discovery concerning Eusebius’ Chronicle"; Daniel Skuce, "“I know your poverty”: A thought exercise in modelling from 1st Century Smyrna"; John Saleeb, "Early Christianity in Cyrenaica"; and Kate Bowen-Evans (NTC), "Broadening ableism beyond disability in biblical interpretation". Other papers are from PGRs at Durham and Chester. Andy Boakye is giving the plenary paper: "The Supra-Mortals: Paul and the Forces of Life". Thanks to Hannah Campbell and Siobhán Jolley for all the organisational efforts. Please contact Hannah with any questions.

Rylands Blog Post

Islamic studies. Kamran Karimullah has published "Unlocking the Secrets of the John Ryland’s Manuscript Collection: A Digital Humanities Study of an Arabic Manuscript of Galen’s ‘On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body'" on the Rylands blog. This work stems from his Rylands pilot grant, ‘Islam, teleology and Galen: A preliminary investigation of the Arabic translation of On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body’. Read the blog entry here.

The PGR Voice survey

For PGR students. The PGR Voice Survey is now open which means it’s your chance to tell us about your experience as a postgraduate researcher. Launched in 2023, the PGR Voice Survey has been developed and delivered in collaboration with the University of Sheffield to give you the opportunity to provide feedback on your experiences as a postgraduate researcher. We hope that you will take the time to complete the survey with your honest feedback so that we can continue to make the University of Manchester a great place to be a postgraduate researcher. The survey is open until Friday 20 June. It will only take around 15 minutes to complete. Your responses are confidential, and the reporting of results will be completely anonymous. For every survey completed, the University will donate £1 to charities, and you'll be entered into a prize draw. Further information.

Liberal Arts Student Conference

Student activities. The third annual Lib Arts Northern Network student conference took place in Leeds, 21st March. 14 of our students attended. An output of the day was this creative padlet page asking "Why do Liberal Arts Matter?"

Framing Religious Art Online Workshop

Religion and Arts. Siobhán Jolley is speaking at an online event "Framing Religious Art in UK Collections" on 17 June 2025, 13:30-15:30. In this workshop, artists, curators, and academics will present brief position papers that reflect on the museum as a space for faith and belief, making religious art today, and some possibilities for presenting historical and contemporary religious artworks to audiences who come from diverse faith backgrounds or none at all. The second half of the session will be a facilitated discussion focused on how museums and collections shape and share in cultural narratives about faith and religion. Participants are welcome to bring their experiences of the collections they work for or research into the discussion. Further information and registration here.

New Publication

Religion & Politics. Michael Hoelzl has published "Die imaginierte Gemeinschaft von Nachfolge und followers. Ein politisch-theologischer Vergleich" in: Lukas Bormann, Ansgar Kreutzer (eds). Politische Theologien. Aufbrüche und Neukonzipierungen (Herder, 2025) pp. 469-486. The aim of this essay is to confront the theological and sociological concept of fellowship in Johann Baptist Metz Neue Politische Theologie with the social media phenomenon of followers. It is argued that both the traditional understandings of discipleship as well as the virtual communities of followers can be conceived as imagined communities, despite some fundamental differences between them. In the conclusion it will be argued that both conceptions of fellowship need to be taken into account for pastoral reasons but also for the sake of a further development of political theology today. Further information.

Edinburgh Passion Play Panel

Biblical studies. Sarah Parkhouse is speaking on a panel about the Edinburgh 2025 Passion Play, "Behold the Man"; University of Edinburgh, 9 May, 2pm. Further information.

Historical Association Conference Presentation

Jewish studies. On 9 May, PhD student Rob Kanter will present an interactive session at the annual Historical Association conference in Liverpool. The session: 'Exploring multiple Arab and Jewish voices to understand the background to the Arab-Israeli conflict, c1917-38'. This session will explore the background to and the main developments and events during the Mandate period. Rob has develop a conference style activity to explore with educators which investigates multiple Arab and Jewish perspectives on the Peel Partition Plan and aims to draw lessons for interacting with contemporary debates surrounding the current phase of the conflict. Further information.

International Conference Paper

Asian Religions. Erica Baffelli will be presenting at the XXIII IAHR Congress in Kraków in August 2025 as speaker on a roundtable on “Recentring Fear in the Study of Religion: Theorising from Asia” and as discussant for the panel “The Religious Aesthetics of Intense Devotion in the Ancient World”. Further information.

East Asian Religion Seminar

Buddhist Studies. The East Asia Research Seminar invites you to "Extraordinary Lives: Illustrated Hagiographies in Ming Book Culture" by Dr Noga Ganany (University of Cambridge), May 14th, 16.00-18.00pm, Sam Alex A112. For more information on the research seminar, please feel free to send your queries to Zhaokun Xin.