REF2021 appointment

National research exercise. Prof emeritus Philip Alexander, FBA, has been appointed as an expert in Jewish Studies to REF2021 Panel 31 (Theology and Religious Studies). The REF is the UK’s system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Further information.

Reading Group

Hannah Arendt's The Life of the Mind. All meetings will take place on Wednesdays, at 5pm via zoom. Please contact Professor Alex Samely (alex.samely@manchester.ac.uk) for a zoom invite. First Semester two meeting: 3 Feb 2021. Further information.

Religions & Theology Research Seminar

Christian Theology. Dr Leah Payne (George Fox University, Oregon), “Gender and Pentecostal Revivalism: Making a Female Ministry in the Early Twentieth Century”. 4pm, 18 Feb 2021. Further information.

Podcast, Jewish Renaissance

Jewish Studies. Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe Post-Doctoral Fellow Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz joined a panel podcast with the philosopher and rabbi Sam Lebens and Clive Lawton on the subject of Hanukah. 16 Dec 2021. Listen again.

Event programme, Luther King House

Christian theology. Luther King House is one of our partner institutions and is located in nearby Fallowfield. It represents Baptist, Methodist, United Reformed and Unitarian traditions. See their programme of activities, incuding a conference on Theology and Aging (29-30 Jan 2021).  Further information.

Event programme, Nazarene Theological College

Christian theology. The Nazarene Theological College is one of our partner institutions and is located in nearby Didsbury. Associated with the Church of the Nazarene, which emerged in the nineteenth-century, NTC belongs to the World Methodist Council. See their programme of activities, including video-conference events on 'Faith and Media' (8 Feb) and 'When the World Crumbles: Reading the Book of Job in the Pandemic' (1 March). Further information.

Editorial board appointment, Lit Verlag

Political Theology. Michael Hoelzl has been appointed to the editorial board of the Religion-History-Society series of the publisher Lit Verlag. Michael has overall responsibilities for philosophy, Jewish Studies and Islamic Studies. Further information.

New publication

Jewish Studies. Hon. Research Fellow in the Centre for Biblical Studies, Helen R. Jacobus, "Zodiacs of Heaven and Earth" in Representing Jewish Thought. Proceedings of the 2015 Institute of Jewish Studies Conference Held in Honour of Ada Rapoport-Albert. Edited by Agata Paluch (Leiden: Brill, 2021), 186-217. Further information.

Faculty award for student

Undergraduate academic excellence. It is with great pleasure that we report that Adam North, who studied for our BA(Hons) in Theological Studies in Philosophy and Ethics, has received the Faculty of Humanities Dean's Award for Achievement 2020, which recognizes the top eschalon of the undergraduate graduating year within the Faculty of Humanities. Adam is currently studying for an MA in Religions & Theology.

Update, Honorary Research Fellow

Biblical Studies. David Lamb, one of our Honorary Research Fellows, has recently completed a year's research in sociolinguistics as a Visiting Scholar at Bangor University, working with Professor Thora Tenbrink, the Director of Research for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Business. He focussed on an aspect of Systemic Functional Linguistics known as Appraisal Theory and sought to apply it to the Gospel of John and Hellenistic Greek biographies. He presented a summary of his work at the (online) University of Cambridge Faculty of Divinity New Testament Research Seminar in November 2020 and is intending to present a revised version of this paper at the Ehrhahrdt Seminar on 11th March.

New publication

Dead Sea Scrolls. George Brooke, “Esoteric Wisdom Texts from Qumran” in Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 30:2 (2020), 101-114. Further information.

Samuel Ferguson lecturer 2021, Rowan Williams

Christian Theology. In partnership with Manchester Cathedral, the Department announces that the 2021 Ferguson Lecturer is Dr Rowan Williams (Cambridge). The lecture will focus on the writings of Maria Skobtsova (1891-1945), poet and political exile, who developed a unique ministry in Paris with refugees and destitutes, and was eventually killed by the Nazis because of her active support for French Jews. The lecture will take place on Thursday 4 March 2021 at 4 PM, by Zoom. For registration and further details, see further information.

Podcast, Limmud

Jewish Studies. Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe Post-Doctoral Fellow Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz contributed a session at Limmud panel entitled 'Unity and Tradition: The Tower of Babel'. 28 Dec 2020. Watch again.