Birmingham has an outstanding international reputation in the area of philosophical theology and philosophy of religion. Many of the world’s most recognisable figures in the discipline have taught here: John Hick, Ninian Smart, Denys Turner, David Ford, Julius Lipner, Karen Kilby, and John Milbank.
We provide expert supervision at the intersection of philosophy and theology, with a focus on the European tradition from Kant to Nietzsche, the impact of German Idealism on theology, Islamic Philosophical Theology, ethical issues (including technology, environment and design), the theology and philosophy of religions, and interreligious engagement
Staff with research interests in philosophical theology
Professor of Philosophical Theology
The impact of German Idealism on Christian theology; the investigation of philosophical problems in inter-religious engagement.
Professor of Philosophical Theology
Co-Director, Birmingham Centre for the Philosophy of Religion
Christianity and Asian religions; theology and the arts: theology of religions; philosophy of religion, contemporary theology and religion.
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.
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
Lecturer in Islamic Studies
Pre-modern Islamic thought, especially philosophy, theology and Sufism
Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology
Islamic ethics, particularly forms of Islamic ethics with a strong rationalist edge; the complex phenomenon of wonder and the many conceptual threads that meet on its grounds-intellectual, spiritual, ethical, aesthetic.
Focal areas of research
- Ethics of design
- Environmental ethics
- Hegel and theology
- Islamic philosophy of religion
- Islamic philosophical and theological ethics
- Kant and theology
- The impact of German idealism on theology
- Philosophical problems in interreligious engagement
- Philosophy of religion (esp. existence of God)
- Reparative reasoning in theology
- Scriptural reasoning
- Technology
- Theology of religions
Theology and Religion research specialisms