Paul Fiddes
The Revd Professor Paul S. Fiddes is Professor of Systematic Theology in the University of Oxford (since 2002), Principal Emeritus of Regent’s Park College, Oxford, and Senior Research Fellow of the College. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford. He was awarded a DD of the University of Oxford in 2004 for published work. He directs an inter-faith project in Oxford called ‘Love in Religion’, whose most recently published volume is Loving the Planet: Interfaith Essays on Ecology, Love, and Theology (Firedint, edited Paul Fiddes). Ordained a minister of the Baptist Union of Great Britain in 1972, his ecumenical connections include being an Emeritus Honorary Canon of Christ Church Cathedral Oxford and a Prebendary of St Endellion in North Cornwall. Among his many books and articles are The Creative Suffering of God (Clarendon Press, 1988), Past Event and Present Salvation (Darton, Longman and Todd, 1989), Participating in God (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2000), Seeing the World and Knowing God (Oxford University Press, 2013) and More Things in Heaven and Earth: Shakespeare, Theology, and the Interplay of Texts (University of Virginia Press, 2022).
Michael Lloyd
The Revd Dr Michael Lloyd studied English Language and Literature at Cambridge University (1979), and theology at Durham University (1983), as part of his ordination training at Cranmer Hall. He did his doctoral work at Worcester College Oxford (1987-90), under Professor Paul Fiddes. He has taught theology at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. He is the author of Café Theology (Hodder and Stoughton, 2005), a popular-level systematic theology, co-author of Image-Bearers (Hodder and Stoughton, 2023) and co-editor of Finding ourselves after Darwin (Baker Academic 2018). He contributes to the GodPod, a theological podcast. Since 2013, he has served as Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
Neil Messer
Professor Neil Messer gained a PhD in molecular biology at the University of Cambridge, but his plans for an academic scientific career were rudely interrupted by a call to ordained ministry. During his theological studies, 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 in the south of England 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 inevitable 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 (Routledge, 2019) and Why is there Suffering? Pick your own theological expedition (Zondervan, 2021). She is co-editor of Emerging Voices in Science and Theology (Routledge, 2022) and of Progress in Theology: Does the Queen of the Sciences Advance? (Routledge, 2025).
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 (Westminster John Knox, 2008)and Monotheism and the Suffering of Animals in Nature (Cambridge University Press, 2023)), he has edited a major textbook on science and religion (God, Humanity and the Cosmos (T&T Clark 1999; 2005; 2011)), worked on collaborative projects in ecological hermeneutics (Greening Paul (Baylor, 2010) and ministry in the context of traumatising events (Tragedies and Christian Congregations (Routledge, 2019)). His most recent monograph is Theology in a Suffering World: Glory and Longing (Cambridge University Press, 2018)). He is also a much published poet.
Mark Wynn
Professor Mark R. Wynn FBA is Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion in the University of Oxford. He completed his 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. He has held positions at King’s College, London, the University of Glasgow, where he was a Gifford Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the Australian Catholic University, the University of Exeter, and most recently the University of Leeds, where he was Professor of Philosophy and Religion from 2013 to 2020. His books include Emotional Experience and Religious Understanding: Integrating Perception, Conception, and Feeling (Cambridge University Press, 2005), Faith and Place: An Essay in Embodied Religious Epistemology (Oxford University Press, 2009), Renewing the Senses: A Study of the Philosophy and Theology of the Spiritual Life (Oxford University Press, 2013), and Spiritual Traditions and the Virtues: Living Between Heaven and Earth (Oxford University Press, 2020).
