In addition to her many prestigious honours and achievements, our Grosvener Research Professor of Practical Theology, Prof. Elaine Graham, was appointed last year as Canon Theologian of Chester Cathedral. As part of that role, on Saturday 7th February 2015 she will deliver her first annual Cathedral Lecture. Below is an outline of the topic she has chosen to tackle:
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE LAITY?
A joyful consecration, an overdue opportunity and a sense of déja vu Continue reading
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This is the view of many teachers, examiners and text-book writers regarding the reform of the Religious Studies A-level curriculum. And they have a point. Never Continue reading
Whether you are or will be celebrating Hanukkah, Pancha Ganapati, Christmas, Dongzhi, Yaldā, Hatsumōde, Kwanzaa, Midwinter, Midsummer, Hogmanay, any other festival, or none in particular, here at TRS Chester we would simply like to take this opportunity to wish you a joyous and peaceful festive season.
Following hot on the heels of the interview with Dr Alana Vincent which we pointed you towards yesterday, the folks at The Religious Studies Project have posted the video of a roundtable discussion which also took place the day that we hosted them here at Chester.
The subject of the discussion was Narrative and Reflexivity in the Study of Religion, and Christopher R. Cotter (chair) and Ethan Gjerset Quillen from TRSP were joined by Continue reading
A few weeks ago the splendid people behind the excellent web-resource that is The Religious Studies Project visited us here at Chester and recorded a live interview with Dr Alana Vincent.
Co-founder of The Religious Studies Project and proud moustache Continue reading
We thought we’d use some quick-fire Q&A to introduce various members of the TRS family, and who better, we asked ourselves, to go first than semi-professional scouser and Senior Lecturer in Religion and Popular Culture, Dr Steve Knowles? After a lengthy meeting we concluded that the answer was ‘no-one’.
When I grow up, I want to be: a firefighter [ed. note: Steve used to be a firefighter]
The album that got me through school: The Hurting by Tears for Fears.
The worst job I ever had: underpinning Continue reading
Davie Ford is studying full-time for a PhD with us here at Chester. His research focusses on how non-religious people approach and interpret the Bible, and is centred on fieldwork conducted with a group of working men. We asked if he would give us an insight into his working week, and he kindly agreed.
Well, there may not actually be such a thing as a ‘normal’ week for a research student, but we all find the rhythm to which we work best. As a full-time PhD student who’s married and has two young children, this is what my rhythm looks like.
Monday: In the ‘office’ (i.e. the post-grad study centre) for nine. It is a good place to work having plenty of desks, lockers, a meeting room and an all-important coffee machine. After a quick chat with Salma and Tari (Clinical Science PhD students) I get to work. I’m due to meet my supervisory team on Thursday and we had agreed that I would email them an essay reflecting on the fieldwork I’d just completed. I draft the Continue reading
Professor Fabrizio M. Ferrari (University of Chester) and Professor Thomas Dähnhardt (University of Venice) are the editors of Charming Beauties and Frightful Beasts: Non-Human Animals in South Asian Myth, Ritual and Folklore (Equinox, 2013). The study of non-human animals as other-than-human persons (including animal-spirits and divine animals) has marked a significant shift in the ethics and politics of the academic study of religion. Charming Beauties and Frightful Beasts investigates Continue reading
The morning after a vibrant two-day event, delegates from the Recovery from Addiction: Bridging the Gap between Policy and Practice conference woke to the sad news that the initial inquest into Peaches Geldof’s death had revealed that heroin is likely to have played a role in her death. Social media, previously channelling devastation at the loss of this young celebrity, lit up with questions, many freighted with judgement. How could she use heroin when looking after her much-loved 11 month old son? Like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Winehouse before her, how could someone so privileged and talented throw their life away so selfishly, and so stupidly? Without first-hand experience of the value-distortions of active addiction it is undoubtedly Continue reading
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Public Theology in a Post-Secular Age
This book begins with sociological theories of secularization and the ‘post-secular’, and proceeds, via public theology, to Christian apologetics. My concern is to respond to social and cultural trends in the West which suggest that religion, far from becoming marginal to society, is returning to public prominence as a significant factor in global politics and civil society. Tony Blair’s recent comment that ‘religious extremism’ will Continue reading
TRS Chester 