Search for tag: "theology"

Masters students describe their experience of learning and living in Nottingham. Six students tell their stories of what it was like to study for a masters degree in the Faculty of Arts. From…

Theology and religion courses overview and Q&A.

Dr Sara Parks introduces an important group in Second Temple Judaism. This group, whose most famous member is probably Paul, is seemingly familiar from the Christian scriptures – but they…

In this video, Dr Marian Kelsey discusses the Book of Jonah and how despite its short length it is packed with imagery. The thumbnail image in this video can be found here:…

Dr Marian Kelsey explains that when we see the names of cities in the Hebrew Bible (especially the names of non-Israelite cities such as Tyre) we should not think of them as simply references to…

Dr Marian Kelsey examines how the memories of the Hebrew Bible are structured, using the memory of the patriarch Jacob as an example. The thumbnail image for this video is used under the CC0 licence…

Professor Alison Milbank argues that Gothic novels – for example, Dracula by Bram Stoker – are part of religious discourse. This discourse arose in the aftermath of the Reformation and…

Dr Michael Burdett introduces constructive theology and argues that ‘systematics’ – that one can make a coherent statement about the whole of Christian faith – is back in…

Dr Marian Kelsey answers the age-old question; "Why Study Theology?" with an argument that Biblical Studies is actually far more interesting than Theology! The image used in the thumbnail…

Professor Alison Milbank discusses her Distance Learning MA module and what students taking the module will be studying.

Dr Tim Hutchings describes his research into the new phenomenon of on-line churches and, with Thomas O’Loughlin, discusses what this phenomenon means for the traditional understanding of…

Students from Foundation Arts share what it's like and the benefits it brings. Find out more about our foundation programme and the subjects you could study:…

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) was a famous Muslim jurist from Damascus. This video, part of a series on the concept of benefit (maslaha) in Ibn Taymiyya’s thought, explores his dynamic view of…

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) was a famous Muslim jurist from Damascus. This video, part of a series on the concept of benefit (maslaha) in Ibn Taymiyya’s thought, examines his attitude toward…

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) was a famous Muslim jurist from Damascus. This video, part of a series on the concept of benefit (maslaha) in Ibn Taymiyya’s thought, explores how he views the caliphate…

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) was a famous Muslim jurist from Damascus. This video, part of a series on the concept of benefit (maslaha) in Ibn Taymiyya’s thought, explores how he viewed the concepts…

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) was a famous Muslim jurist from Damascus. This video, part of a series on the concept of benefit (maslaha) in Ibn Taymiyya’s thought, explores how he viewed benefit and…

In 1917, at the height of the First World War, F.B. MacNutt edited a collection of 17 essays entitled The Church in the Furnace. These essays were written by Anglican army chaplains who reflected on…

‘Woodbine Willie’ – the Anglican World War I padre who gave cigarettes to the troops and wrote poetry - is well known. But the man himself, G.A. Studdert-Kennedy is not nearly so…

Dr Stuart Bell argues that the early twentieth-century Anglican writer, G.A. Studdert-Kennedy (better known as ‘Woodbine Willie’), is the first modern British theologian in that he…

Dr Sara Parks introduces the text that lies behind the gospels of Matthew and Luke – to which we give the name ‘Q’. In turn, this allows her to study what this text says about women…

Prof. Richard Bell looks at how the work of Richard Wagner (1813-83), the famous German composer of operas such as The Ring, has been an inspiration for many physicists including Stephen Hawking…

Prof. Richard Bell looks at a work of Richard Wagner (1813-83) that never reached the operatic stage. In the late 1840s, Wagner was planning an opera on the life of Jesus but, while still far…

Dr Tarah van de Weile examines the Genesis story of the aftermath of Noah’s flood. She shows us the complexity of the storyteller’s design and how he want to convey the goodness and order…

Dr Ali-reza Bhojani explains the distinction between sharia (what is the right way to live as known within the mind of God), the exposition by jurists – fiqh –of what this is from sources…

Dr Sara Parks introduces the text that lies behind the gospels of Matthew and Luke – to which we give the name ‘Q’. This notion of Q was put forward to explain a literary problem:…

Dr Ali-reza Bhojani one of the key questions about morality that confronts theists: is the Good what God commands, or, is what God commands ‘the Good’?

Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) made the theme of finitude, human finitude, central to his philosophy: humans have ‘being towards death.’ In this video Prof. Agata Bielik-Robson challenges…

Dr Ali-reza Bhojani introduced the notion that the basis of morality is not simply based in the acts of divine revelation, but is inherent in the moral order that human beings find within themselves.

Prof. Thomas O’Loughlin discusses with Dr Sara Parks the origins of the Christian notion of a ‘gospel’ and how it moved from being a political notion in the Roman Empire, to being a…

Professor Frances Knight introduces the two distance learning MA programmes run by the department: the MA in Church History; and the MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology. All details in this…

What makes a good liturgy? Many approaches are taken to this question – and it is a question everyone asks, at least implicitly, after every act of participation. In this video Professor Thomas…

Every two years the University of Nottingham appoints an eminent theologian to deliver the Firth Lectures which comprise of two public lectures (since 2012 these are available on YouTube) and a…

In this video, John Barclay, the Firth Lecturer for 2018, presented a fresh reading of grace and gift in Paul's theology – and especially what is found in 2 Corinthians. This shows us that…

In his book, Paul and the Gift (2015) John Barclay presented a fresh reading of grace and gift in Paul's theology, studying it in view of ancient notions of ‘gift’ and shining new…

Sarah Hancock, philosophy and theology alumna, works for The Challenge. She gives advice on how you can stand out in the recruitment process, the skills charities look for and the evidence that you…

2017 marks the five-hundred anniversary of the beginning of the European Reformation. As part of a series of events to commemorate this event which has done so much to share modern Europe and…

Despite the passing of 500 years, the ideas of the Reformation are still exerting their influence on theology today. So argues Dr Simeon Zahl in this video where he notes that while these ideas are…

How has the memory of the Reformation been an important element is the creation of English identity? In this video, Prof. Frances Knight argues that for an older generation – perhaps brought up…

How ever remember the past is related to how we see what is happening in our present. In this video Dr David Gehring – of Nottingham’s Department of History – looks at how our…

The reformers were faced with many challenges, but one that is often forgotten was the need to justify their actions historically. How did it come about that the church needed reform? To what image…

Dr Simeon Zahl explores what are the distinctive characteristics of Protestant theology. In years gone by this would have been expressed as the proposition ‘it is acceptance of the doctrine of…

Famous to the British soldiers of the Great War as ‘Woodbine Willie,’ the Revd G.A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929) is also a great forgotten theologian. In this video, Dr Stuart Bell…

The First World War was the single most important event is shaping modern European society. In this video Dr Stuart Bell discusses how the experience of the war had a long lasting affect on Christian…

The First World War was the single most important event is shaping modern European society. In this video Dr Stuart Bell discusses the experience of one man from Derbyshire in the Great War and how…

The First World War was the single most important event is shaping modern European society. In this video Dr Stuart Bell discusses the myths that grew up about the Great War and religion.

Kevin McGinnell and Tom O’Loughlin discuss the challenge of creating an incarnational liturgy fifty years after the close of the Second Vatican Council.

Dealing with the body of someone who has died – generically referred to as ‘disposal’ – is a crucial intersection of social custom, religious practices, human ritual,…

Kevin McGinnell and Tom O’Loughlin discuss the complexity of how liturgy is perceived / received / celebrated in contemporary multi-ethnic urban Britain. An underlying assumption of most…

Prof. Frances Knight, an expert on the religious history of the late nineteenth century, examines the religious dimension of the cultural movements we associate with the term ‘Fin de…

Walter Walsh (1857-1931) published a book called The Secret History of the Oxford Movement in 1897. The book is examined in this video by Prof. Frances Knight, an expert on the religious history of…

One of the major developments in Christianity in recent years has been the growth of ecumenical approaches to liturgy. Here one of the leaders of those conversations in the English-speaking world,…

Martin Luther (1483-1546) is the most famous of the sixteenth-century reformers who began his attach on the practices of the Catholic Church five centuries ago in 1517. Here Dr Simeon Zahl looks at…

There are many definitions of theology and in this video Dr Simeon Zahl shared his view of what he does as a theologian and why he thinks it important. He sees himself as engaging in a formal manner…

Tables are a part of everyday life, but they also have significance in many religious rituals which are connected with food / eating. Here Prof. Tom O’Loughlin looks at a range of meanings…

The Eucharist is a central ritual of Christians, and a central to that ritual is the use of a cup of wine for which thanks have been offered to God. But what is often forgotten is that in this…

Footwashing has been part of the ritual inheritance of Christians since at least the time John composed his gospel, but it has also been a much misunderstood and avoided ritual. Here Thomas…

Dr Frances Knight explores some of the religious dimensions of the life and works of Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) and in particular his Ballad of Reading Goal and De Profundis. She also examines…

Edward Gibbon (1737-94) published his most famous work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in 1776. Famous or notorious in presenting the rise of Christianity as the cause of the decline of…

Until very recently the standard model for assessing the place of religion in the Enlightenment was one of simple opposition: Religion represented the superstition and darkness that the rational…

Professor Jeremy Gregory examines the case that the history of religion is as close as we can get to ‘total history’: looking at all aspects of individuals in societies in the past in…

Dr Simeon Zahl describes his experience, as an American, of celebrating a relatively modern festival: Thanksgiving in the United States of America.A similar video from the Sacred Calendars…

Joe Scales – and undergraduate in the department – asks two of his teachers why they study theology. There are as many definitions of theology as there are theologians – and here…

Joe Scales – and undergraduate in the department – asks two of his teachers why they consider it so important for people in general (not just a few experts) to have a basic religious…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines what is meant when theologians refer to ‘the analogy of being’ (analogia entis). Other videos that look at the same topic include; Why Study the…

Professor William Kay, one of the world’s leading Pentecostal theologians, introduces a striking, and often controversial, feature of Pentecostalism: its emphasis on healing and the way it…

In discussion of ethics and morality one can often hear someone say that ‘the bible says … .’ But this video explores how what ‘the bible says’ is far from a simple…

Dr Claire Taylor of the Department of History, one of the scholars belonging to that department’s Heresy Network, introduces the value attached to the study of heresy to hear voices from the…

Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656) is now known, almost exclusively, for his dating the creation to 4004 BC. But far from being an obscurantist, he was a model scholar of his time – and in…

For over forty years the question of why the Reformation did not gain significant traction in Ireland in the sixteenth century has fascinated historians. In this video Prof. Alan Ford introduces the…

Identity is an important topic in seeking to understand a religion. It expresses itself in culture, rules about food, marriage, dress, and views of the divine. In this video Dr Carly Crouch looks…

All religions use time as a central element in the way they celebrate. They have a sacred year – a sequence of festivals arranged in an annual cycle. Most also have a sacred month or a sacred…

Dr Francisca Rumsey looks at the importance of liturgy in Christianity. She takes her starting point on its importance the fact that human beings are ritual animals. We constantly communicate with…

Dr Francisca Rumsey discusses the book know as the ‘maryrology’ with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin You can find other videos in the Sacred Calendars series here;…

Dr Francisca Rumsey reflects in the significance of the Second Vatican Council (1963-5) in conversation with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin

Dr Doug Ingram and Dr Peter Watts look at one short and enigmatic biblical text: the Book of Ecclesiates – sometimes also called Qoheleth – and at the questions is poses not only to…

Dr Doug Ingram and Dr Peter Watts look at the value of studying that diverse library of books that go to make up the Old Testament. This has a value as an exploration of people quite apart from its…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines how the use of ‘X’ in everyday discourse is similar to the way that the word ‘god’ is used in Christian theology. Other videos in the…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines what is meant by the word ‘word’ and its complex uses in Christian theology Other videos in the A-Z of Theology series can be found here;…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines what is meant by the word ‘myth’ when used by theologians and he argues that myths are sets of symbols that are transparent for transfinite…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines what is meant by the word ‘codex’ and how this was the characteristic book-form in early Christianity.Other entries in the A-Z of Theology playlist…

Rabbi Mendy Lent discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin a precious item found in many Jewish homes: a copy of the biblical Book of Esther in its original form as a scroll. Mendy Lent gives an…

Rabbi Mendy Lent explains the significance of attached to the festival of Shavuot which takes place 50 days after the celebration of Passover. It was this celebration which was continued by the early…

Rabbi Mendy Lent explains the significance of the festival of Rosh Hashanah to the Jewish people. This festival represents the start of the Jewish New Year. Other videos you may wish to watch…

Rabbi Mendy Lent tells the story behind the festival of Purim when Jews still celebrate their deliverance at the time of Queen Esther – as found in the Book of Esther in the bible

Professor Tom O'Loughlin and Rabbi Mendy Lent discuss the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement when Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and…

All religions use time as a central element in the way they celebrate. They have a sacred year – a sequence of festivals arranged in an annual cycle. Here Rabbi Mendy Lent introduces one of…

Every religion has – whether they are proud of it or not – special things and places. Most human beings – whether they are proud of it or not – have objects of special…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin how the Catholic Church understands the historic phrase extra ecclesiam nulla salus. McDonald argues that it must not be understood…

The Firth Lectures take place every other year in the University of Nottingham, and it is the custom to ask the lecturer to conduct a post-graduate seminar on some aspect of her/his work. In 2016 the…

Prof. Philip Goodchild introduces the thought of Simone Weil (1909-1943) who has been described as a philosopher, a religious thinker, a mystic, and linked with any number of philosophers from…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin how the Catholic Church sees the challenges facing ecumenism today: there has been real progress on many of the historic issues…

Conor Cunningham looks at the intimate connection between Goodness, Truth, and Beauty as these are studied by theologians. Together these are known as the transcendentals because they are…

Conor Cunningham introduces one of the great movements in twentieth-century philosophy – phenomenology – which is playing an ever more significant role in theology today. He dos this by…

Conor Cunningham introduces the work of the French philosopher Michel Henry (1922-2002) and the contribution that he made to theology. Henry’s work, he argues, can be seen as an attempt to draw…

Conor Cunningham introduces the issue of theism as confronting ‘deep’ materialism and nihilism. The question that theologians must address is not the traditional ‘is there…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin what the Catholic Church sees as the nature of ‘the church’ and how the notion of ‘the church’ relates to…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin the self-perception of the Catholic Church, in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism,…

Philip Goodchild, the Professor of Religion and Philosophy, notes that in both our ordinary thinking, and in formal philosophical reflection, that love, death, and existence are connected. He…

Philip Goodchild, the Professor of Religion and Philosophy, explores the notion that human beings have to come to terms with living within limits if they are to live well. Only when we confront our…