John Swinton, FBA , FRSE (born 1957) is a Scottish theologian, academic, and Presbyterian minister. He is the Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the School of Divinity, History, and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen. John is founder of the university's Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability.
John is an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland and Master of Christ’s College, the university's theological college. Swinton is a major figure in the development of disability theology. In 2016 he was awarded the Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing for his book Dementia: Living in the Memories of God. [1] In this book, he coins the word cortextualism to describe a modern belief that the cerebral cortex in the brain is the seat of personhood, with the result that people with dementia, intellectual disabilities, or other difficulties with higher-order thinking are viewed as lesser humans. [2]
John is Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral care. [3] He also serves as an honorary professor of nursing in the Centre for Advanced Studies in Nursing at Aberdeen University. [4] In 2004 he founded the university's Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability. [5] The Centre has a dual focus: the relationship between spirituality and health and the theology of disability.
In 2012 Swinton was appointed Master of Christ’s College in Aberdeen by The Church of Scotland. [6] In 2014 he established the Centre for Ministry Studies, a joint project between Christ’s College and the University of Aberdeen. It provides a broad range of education and training for both lay and ordained people. [7]
Swinton has given numerous public lectures. In 2020 he gave the annual May MacLeod lecture at the United Theological College in Sydney.
He is one of the editors of the Journal of Health and Social Care Chaplaincy. He is also a former editor of Contact: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Pastoral Studies (Now re-titled Practical Theology. He is the founding editor of the Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplains. [4] Swinton is also an ambassador for Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries. [8] [9] [10]
He was awarded the Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2020. [11] He was appointed a Chaplain to Her Majesty in Scotland in 2022. [12]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2021. [13] In 2022, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. [14]
Stanley Martin Hauerwas is an American theologian, ethicist, and public intellectual. Hauerwas originally taught at the University of Notre Dame before moving to Duke University. Hauerwas was a longtime professor at Duke, serving as the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School with a joint appointment at the Duke University School of Law. In the fall of 2014, he also assumed a chair in theological ethics at the University of Aberdeen. Hauerwas is considered by many to be one of the world's most influential living theologians and was named "America's Best Theologian" by Time magazine in 2001. He was also the first American theologian to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland in over forty years. His work is frequently read and debated by scholars in fields outside of religion or ethics, such as political philosophy, sociology, history, and literary theory. Hauerwas has achieved notability outside of academia as a public intellectual, even appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
William Henry Willimon is a retired American theologian and bishop in the United Methodist Church who served the North Alabama Conference for eight years. He is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Duke Divinity School. He is former Dean of the Chapel at Duke University and is considered by many as one of America's best-known and most influential preachers. A Pulpit & Pew Research on Pastoral Leadership survey determined that he was one of the two most frequently read writers by pastors in mainline Protestantism alongside the Roman Catholic writer Henri Nouwen. His books have sold over a million copies. He is also Editor-At-Large of The Christian Century. His 2019 memoir Accidental Preacher was released to wide acclaim, described by Justo L. Gonzalez as "An exceptional example of theology at its best."
Anthony Charles Thiselton was an English Anglican priest, theologian, and academic. He wrote a number of books and articles on a range of topics in Christian theology, biblical studies, and the philosophy of religion. He served on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, appointed by the Minister of Health.
Thomas Forsyth Torrance, commonly referred to as T. F. Torrance, was a Scottish Protestant theologian and Presbyterian minister. He was a member of the famed Torrance family of theologians. Torrance served for 27 years as professor of Christian dogmatics at New College, in the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his pioneering work in the study of science and theology, but he is equally respected for his work in systematic theology.
Craig L. Blomberg is an American New Testament scholar. He is currently the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the New Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado where he has been since 1986. His area of academic expertise is the New Testament,including subjects relating to parables, miracles, the historical Jesus, Luke-Acts, John, 1 Corinthians, James, the historical trustworthiness of Scripture, financial stewardship, gender roles, the Latter Day Saint movement, hermeneutics, New Testament theology, and exegetical methods. Blomberg has written and edited multiple books.
Reinhard Hütter is a Christian theologian and Professor of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology at The Catholic University of America and Visiting Professor of Catholic Theology at Duke Divinity School. During the 2012–2013 academic year, he held The Rev. Robert J. Randall Professor in Christian Culture chair at Providence College.
Oliver Michael Timothy O'Donovan is a British Anglican priest and academic, known for his work in the field of Christian ethics. He has also made contributions to political theology, both contemporary and historical. He was Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford from 1982 to 2006, and Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology at the University of Edinburgh from 2006 to 2013.
Christ's College was one of three colleges in Scotland founded by the Free Church of Scotland for the training of ministers following the Disruption of 1843. The other two were New College, Edinburgh and Trinity College, Glasgow.
Bryan P. Stone is an American theologian who is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Boston University School of Theology, and a Co-director of the Center for Practical Theology. Stone writes on topics related to both systematic theology and practical theology. He is associated with both postliberalism and Christian pacifism, having been influenced by thinkers such as John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, Alasdair MacIntyre, and John Wesley, and in his earliest work with liberation theology and process theology.
Philip Leroy Culbertson was a scholar in practical theology. He was a lecturer at the University of Auckland School of Theology and was Director of Pastoral Studies at St John's Theological College until his retirement in 2007. Before this he taught at the School of Theology, University of the South, Sewanee, TN, from 1985 to 1992. He is an ordained priest of the Episcopalian tradition. He is also a psychotherapist in private practice and has taught at two training institutes in Auckland, New Zealand. He is well published in the fields of Pastoral ministry, counselling, gender and spirituality, and Jewish/Christian dialogue. He eventually converted to Judaism.
David Oscar Moberg was an American Christian scholar, who was Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Marquette University. His areas of specialization included methodology in qualitative research, sociology of religion, sociology of American evangelicals, ageing and religion (gerontology).
Samuel Martin Bailey Wells is an English priest of the Church of England. Since 2012, he has been the vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London, and Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at King's College London. In 2018, he was installed as Honorary Canon Theologian of Guildford Cathedral.
Ralph Philip Martin was a British New Testament scholar.
Bruce Lindley McCormack is an American theologian and scholar of the theology of Karl Barth. He is currently Chair in Modern Theology at University of Aberdeen.
Philip H. Towner is dean of the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship at the American Bible Society, New York City. He is also research professor of New Testament at Ewangelikalna Szkola Teologiczna in Wrocław, Poland. He has been a faculty member of Regent College and the University of Aberdeen. He is also a translation scholar with particular experience in SE Asia and the Americas.
Michael J. Gorman is an American New Testament scholar. He is the Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary and University, where he has taught since 1991. From 1995 to 2012 he was dean of St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute.
Practical theology is an academic discipline that examines and reflects on religious practices in order to understand the theology enacted in those practices and in order to consider how theological theory and theological practices can be more fully aligned, changed, or improved. Practical theology has often sought to address a perceived disconnection between dogmatics or theology as an academic discipline on the one hand, and the life and practice of the church on the other.
P. Kambar Manickam is a Priest of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church and current Asia Pacific representative of the International Council on Pastoral Care and Counselling.
Brian Brock is an American theologian. He holds a Personal Chair in Christian Ethics at the School of Divinity, History, and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen.
William F. Storrar is a Scottish Christian theologian who is the Director of Center of Theological Inquiry, known for his contribution on public theology.