Speakers Biographies
John Milbank is Professor of Religion, Politics and Ethics at the University of Nottingham. He previously taught at the University of Virginia and the University of Cambridge. His writings include Theology and Social Theory and Being Reconciled. Together with Graham Ward and Catherine Pickstock he edited the ground-breaking volume Radical Orthodoxy. His work is the subject of conferences around the world.
Jeremy Morris is Dean Robert Runcie Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He is Director of Studies in theology. He read modern history at Balliol College, Oxford and theology at Clare College, Cambridge. Before moving to Trinity Hall he was Director of Studies and then Vice-Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge. He is a member of the Faith and Order Advisory Group of the Church of England.
Paul Richardson has been Assistant Bishop of Newcastle since 1998. During eighteen years in Papua New Guinea he served as parish priest, theological college lecturer and then Principle, before becoming Dean of the Cathedral and finally Bishop of Aipo Rongo. Before returning to Newcastle he was Bishop of Wangaratta in Australia for three years. His particular interests include current affairs, education and theological studies.
Edmund Newey is vicar of St Andrew Handsworth in the Diocese of Birmingham. He studied theology in Cambridge and undertook his doctorate at the University of Manchester. His most recent theological research has been on the theology of childhood in the writings of Charles Péguy.
Alison Milbank is Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham. She studied theology and English literature at Cambridge, and then took her doctorate at Lancaster. She was John Rylands Research Institute Fellow at Manchester and has taught at Cambridge and Middlesex followed by five years at the University of Virginia. Her research and teaching focuses on the relation of religion to culture in the post-Enlightenment period, with particular literary interest in non-realist literary and artistic expression, such as the Gothic, the fantastic, horror and fantasy.
John Inge is the Bishop of Worcester. He studied at St Chad's College, Durham University where he took a BSc and an Master of Arts in 1994. He completed a PhD at Durham in 2002. He has also studied in Oxford and trained for ordination at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield. He has been Vice Dean of Ely Cathedral and was consecrated as Bishop Suffragan of Huntingdon in 2003. His book A Christian Theology of Place was published in 2003.
Michael Northcott is Professor of Ethics at the University of Edinburgh. He was educated at Durham and Sunderland Universities. He taught at the Seminari Theologi Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur before coming to the University of Edinburgh in 1989. He is an Anglican Priest, a trustee of the Fair Trade organisation Traidcraft, Honorary Canon of Liverpool Cathedral and Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology. He is best known for his work in environmental theology.
Graham Ward is Professor of Contextual Theology and Ethics at the University of Manchester and Head of the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures. He studied English and French at Cambridge before teaching critical theory and literary criticism for the University's English Faculty. He then read for a degree in theology and took a doctorate in Theology focusing upon the philosophy of language. Professor Ward taught theology at Exeter College, Oxford before returning to Cambridge as Dean of Peterhouse. He is known for his work on Christian social ethics, political theory and cultural hermeutics. He is currently involved in a large international research project, sponsored by the British Academy, concerned with examining 'The New Visibility of Religion in European Democratic Culture'.
Alister McGrath is Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education in the Department of Education and Professional Studies at King's College, London. He read chemistry at Oxford and was Domus Senior Scholarship at Merton College whilst working on his doctorate in biochemistry. He read theology at St John’s College, Cambridge and prepared for ordination at Westcott House. He was a lecturer in theology at Oxford University, where he was Principal of Wycliffe Hall and then a Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College. He is known for his work on systematic theology, apologetics and the relation of theology and science.
Andrew Davison is Tutor in Christian Doctrine at St Stephen’s House and junior chaplain of Merton College. He read chemistry and undertook his doctorate in biochemistry both at Merton College, Oxford. He trained for ordination at Westcott House and read theology at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His current research is on notions of finitude in Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus. He runs the annual St Stephen’s House summer school in apologetics.
Alessandra Gerolin works with the Athenaeum Centre for the Social Doctrine of the Church, Catholic University, Milan on the research project “Lavoro, persona e società: il dibattito filosofico-sociale nel pensiero anglosassone contemporaneo e le sue radici storiche”. Her doctoral research was on the philosophical and social thought of F. D. Maurice. Her first degree, in philosophy, was from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy. She cooperated with the Centre of Theology and Philosophy, University of Nottingham in organising the conference ‘The Grandeur of Reason’ in Rome last year.
Nicola Reali obtained his baccalaureato and licenza in theology at the Facoltà Teologica dell’Italia Settentrionale, Milano and his doctorate in theology at the Pontificia Università Lateranense, Roma. He has taught at the Pontificio Istituto Giovanni Paolo II per Studi su Matrimonio e Famiglia, Rome, The Pontifical John Paul II Institute, Thuruthy, Kerala, India and the Universidad Catolica de Santa Fe, Argentina. He is currently Professore incaricato di ecclesiologia at the Facoltà Teologica dell’Italia Centrale, Florence. He is a priest of the diocese of La Spezia, Italy.
Richard Chartres is the Bishop of London. He was chaplain to Robert Runcie before moving to a parish in London, where he was also Gresham Professor of Divinity. He was consecrated Bishop of Stepney in 1992 and was translated to London in 1996. He founded St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace and is currently the Chairman of the Trustees.
Stephen Platten is the Bishop of Wakefield. He is chair of the Liturgical Commission of the Church of England. Before moving to Wakefield he was Dean of Norwich Cathedral. He studied at the Universities of London and Oxford and was chaplain and Tutor in Ethics at Lincoln Theological College. He was Archbishop of Canterbury’s Secretary for Ecumenical Affairs for Robert Runcie and George Carey.
Simon Oliver is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the University of Wales, Lampeter and the Director of the Centre for Faith Reason and Ethics. He has taught in Oxford (where he was chaplain of Hertford College) and read theology in Cambridge, where he undertook his doctoral research on the theological significance of notions of motion. His current work is focused on the importance of teleology.