We have an outstanding international reputation in the study of all types of religion and their interaction with society in the contemporary World including, inter-cultural theology; the exploration of values and cultural practices; the intersection of belief and trust in science; practical theology; Islamic studies; contemporary and alternative spiritualities; Jewish Studies; and Sikh studies.
Staff with research interests in religion and society
Reader in World Christianity and Pentecostal Studies
My research and publications are in the fields of theological ethics and public theology, focusing through pneumatological, anthropological and ecclesiological lenses on the subjects of social transformation, theology of economics, forgiveness and reconciliation, religion and culture. My work engages also Eastern Orthodox theology (with particular focus on Orthodox liturgical and sacramental ...
Professor of Religion, Gender and Global Security
Gendered politics, especially the securitisation, of religion in the contemporary world; gender and jihadi ideologies; the impact of counter-terrorism efforts on religious women’s rights and Muslim communities.
Associate Professor in Practical Theology
Practical theology, political theology, hermeneutics and the work of Paul Ricoeur.
Professor of Science, Knowledge and Belief in Society
Director Research Institute for STEMM in Culture and Society (ISTEMMiCS)
Science and (non-) Religion in Society and Culture. Public Perceptions of Science and/or (non-) Religion.
Professor of Sikh Studies
Sikh studies, ethnic minorities, religion and law.
Senior Lecturer in Theological Ethics
I am an interdisciplinary scholar: trained in ethics and constructive theology with a background in the humanities, particularly literature and music.
Associate Professor in Jewish and Holocaust Studies
Jewish and holocaust studies, contemporary Christian-Jewish relations; Jewish and Christian (post-)holocaust theologies.
Research
We have substantial links to the department’s other research groupings, including the Centre for Philosophy of Religion, the Centre for Charismatic and Evangelical Studies, the Biblical Studies research cluster and the Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, meaning that postgraduate research takes place in a fully supported, fully integrated environment.
Research topics within the contemporary religion and society research specialism can include:
- Sikh studies
- Islamic studies
- Asian religions
- Quaker studies
- Inter-religious relations
- Contemporary religion and society
- Jewish and Holocaust Studies
Postgraduate programmes
Postgraduate research
We have a number of postgraduate researchers interested in areas of contemporary religion and society at Birmingham, examples of recent theses included:
- Perceptions of Islam among Christians in Kenya, co-supervised by David Thomas
- Muslim women and the blogosphere, supervised by Haifaa Jawad
- Anne Frank and Holocaust Education, supervised by Isabel Wollaston
- Aesthetics in the Qur'an, supervised by Haifaa Jawad
- Turkish Muslim Perception of the Prophet Muhammad during the late Ottoman and post-Ottoman Period, co-supervised by David Thomas and David Cheetham
All of our postgraduate researchers benefit from the academic strengths of our research clusters and are often co-supervised by members of staff from associated clusters across the College of Arts and Law, so that they have access to different perspectives on their research topic. If you are interested in doing postgraduate research in Religious Studies at Birmingham please feel free to contact the member of staff in the cluster that you think will be best suited to supervising your work here.
Theology and Religion research specialisms