Paul Fiddes
The Revd Professor Paul S. Fiddes took first class degrees in English Language and Literature (1968) and in Theology (1970) at the University of Oxford (St. Peter’s College), followed by a D.Phil from Oxford (1975), and was awarded the D.D. of the University of Oxford for published work in 2004. At Regent’s Park College, Oxford, he was successively Research Fellow in Old Testament and Hebrew (1972–75), Fellow in Christian Doctrine (1975–89), Principal (1989–2007), Professorial Research Fellow and Director of Research (2007–2018) and Senior Research Fellow (2018 to the present). He was also Lecturer in Theology at St. Peter’s College, Oxford (1979-85). He was Chairman of the Board of Faculty of Theology of the University of Oxford from 1996–98, and received the title of Professor of Systematic Theology from the University of Oxford in 2002. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bucharest, and Honorary Fellow of St. Peter’s College, Oxford. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2020. He was ordained as a minister in the Baptist Union of Great Britain in 1972, and has extensive ecumenical concerns, including being a Canon Emeritus of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and Prebendary of St Endellion in North Cornwall.
Michael Lloyd
The Revd Dr Michael Lloyd studied theology at Durham University, as part of his ordination training at Cranmer Hall. He did his doctoral work at Worcester College Oxford, under Professor Paul Fiddes. He has taught theology at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He is the author of Café Theology, a popular-level systematic theology. And he contributes to the GodPod, a theological podcast.
Neil Messer
Professor Neil Messer gained a PhD in molecular biology at Cambridge, but his plans for an academic scientific career were rudely interrupted by a call to ordained ministry. Ministry training was the beginning of his theological studies, and he became interested in the intersections of theology and ethics with the biosciences and healthcare: a set of interests that has been at the heart of his research and teaching throughout his academic theological career. He served in pastoral ministry and taught theology and ethics in Oxford, Birmingham, Lampeter, and Winchester before relocating in August 2023 to Texas, where he is Professor of Theological Bioethics at Baylor University. He is the author of many publications in bioethics and in science and theology, including Selfish Genes and Christian Ethics: Theological and Ethical Reflections on Evolutionary Biology (SCM, 2007), Flourishing: Health, Disease, and Bioethics in Theological Perspective (Eerdmans, 2013), Theological Neuroethics: Christian Ethics Meets the Science of the Human Brain(Bloomsbury, 2017), and Science in Theology: Encounters between Science and the Christian Tradition (Bloomsbury, 2020).
Bethany Sollereder
Dr Bethany Sollereder is a Lecturer in Science and Religion at the University of Edinburgh. She specialises in theology concerning evolution and the problem of suffering and is currently working on the theological aspects of climate change. Bethany was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford, received her PhD in Theology from the University of Exeter and an MCS in interdisciplinary studies from Regent College, Vancouver. She is the author of God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering: Theodicy without a Fall and Why is there Suffering? Pick your own theological expedition.
Christopher Southgate
Professor Christopher Southgate trained originally as a biochemist at Cambridge. He has taught on the science-religion debate at the University of Exeter since 1993. FRom 2001-17 he also trained ministers on the South West Ministry Training Course, serving as Principal from 2013. As well as his work on evolutionary theodicy (The Groaning of Creation and Monotheism and the Suffering of Animals in Nature), he has edited a major textbook on science and religion (God, Humanity and the Cosmos), worked on collaborative projects in ecological hermeneutics (Greening Paul) and ministry in the context of traumatising events (Tragedies and Christian Congregations). His most recent monograph is Theology in a Suffering World: Glory and Longing). He is also a much published poet.
Mark Wynn
Professor Mark Wynn FBA is Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion in the University of Oxford. He writes: ‘I completed my BA in Philosophy & Theology at the University of Oxford, and then a DPhil, again at Oxford, under the supervision of Brian Davies and Richard Swinburne. I have held positions at King’s College, London, the University of Glasgow, where I was a Gifford Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the Australian Catholic University, the University of Exeter, and most recently the University of Leeds, where I was Professor of Philosophy and Religion from 2013 to 2020. In general, my research rests on the thought that religious traditions constitute extended experiments in human possibilities — and the belief that in some cases, the careful retrieval of those traditions can throw new light on contemporary questions about how to live well.’
