Research

Theology & Practice

This cluster researches interactions between Christian theology and faith-based practice, including work on creative practice and on socio-political themes. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤCluster Lead: Heather Walton

Staff

Publications

2026

Walton, H. (2026) Practical theology as creative work in challenging times. Practical Theology,

Spiro, M., Pappenheim, C. (2026) Echoes of the Holocaust in 1960s' Scotland: commemoration and continuity in Glasgow's Jewish Echo. Bloomsbury Publishing

Nelson, S. (2026) The human person: three perspectives for the Twenty-first Century. Baptist Quarterly, 57, pp. 215-230. (doi: 10.1080/0005576X.2026.2707770)

Nelson, S. (2026) What I have learned from Baptist History. Baptist Quarterly, 57, pp. 155-157. (doi: 10.1080/0005576X.2026.2707765)

2023

Walton, H. (2023) Registering. Theology and poetic practice. SCM Press

2021

Gay, D. (2021) Discipling populism: a theopolitical alternative to denial or demonizing. Brill

Toth, L., Gay, D. (2021) Editorial: theology and the environment. Theology in Scotland, 28, pp. 1-4. (doi: 10.15664/tis.v28i2.2322)

Gay, D. (2021) The Edinburgh books and the Iowa books: the challenge of Marilynne Robinson’s literary-theological recovery of Calvin and Calvinism. KVHAA (Kungl. Vitterhets Historie Och Antikvitets Akademien)

Spiro, M. (2021) Crossing in/to Canada: Canada as point of arrival in Holocaust survivor memoirs. University of Toronto Press

Clague, J. (2021) Amoris Laetitia and the state of the world’s families. Dharmaram Publications

Walton, H. (2021) The children are always lost: Marilynne Robinson and the poetics of theology. KVHAA (Kungl. Vitterhets Historie Och Antikvitets Akademien)

2020

Denham, J., Gay, D., Lampard, R., Reddie, A., Ryan, B. (2020) Responses from beyond Anglicanism. SPCK Publishing

Davis, R. A., Conroy, J. C., Clague, J. (2020) Schools as factories: the limits of a metaphor. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 54, pp. 1471-1488. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9752.12525)

Walton, H. (2020) A theopoetics in ruins. Toronto Journal of Theology, 36, pp. 159-169. (doi: 10.3138/tjt-2020-0082)

2019

Spiro, M. (2019) Fascism and anti-fascism. Cambridge University Press

Alexander, P., Holtschneider, H., Spiro, M. (2019) Special Issue on "Narrative Spaces at the Margins of British Jewish Culture(s)" [Guest Editors] Shofar, 37,

Gay, D. (2019) Theological constructions of Scottish national identity. Oxford University Press

Walton, H. (2019) Creativity at the edge of chaos: theopoetics in a blazing world. Literature and Theology, 33, pp. 336-356. (doi: 10.1093/litthe/frz029)

Walton, H. (2019) Special Issue [Guest Editor] Literature and Theology, 33,

Walton, H. (2019) Theopoetics as challenge, change and creative making. Literature and Theology, 33, pp. 229-232. (doi: 10.1093/litthe/frz030)

Walton, H. (2019) A theopoetics of practice: re-forming in practical theology. International Journal of Practical Theology, 23, pp. 3-23. (doi: 10.1515/ijpt-2018-0033)

Graham, E., Walton, H., Ward, F. (2019) Theological Reflection: Methods [2nd Ed.] SCM Press

Spiro, M. (2019) Exhibiting Jewish culture in Postwar Britain: Glasgow's 1951 Festival of Jewish Arts. Shofar, 37, pp. 95-130. (doi: 10.5703/shofar.37.3.0095)

Alexander, P., Holtschneider, H., Spiro, M. (2019) Introduction: Narrative spaces at the margins of British-Jewish culture(s) Shofar, 37, pp. 1-18. (doi: 10.5703/shofar.37.3.0001)

(2019) Jewish Migration in Modern Times: The Case of Eastern Europe.

2018

Gay, D. (2018) Church and State in Scotland: Developing Law. By Francis Lyall. Journal of Church and State, 60, pp. 545-547. (doi: 10.1093/jcs/csy039)

Bennett, Z., Graham, E., Pattison, S., Walton, H. (2018) Invitation to Research in Practical Theology. Routledge

Gay, D. (2018) The Kirk and the Union. Scottish Affairs, 27, pp. 92-98. (doi: 10.3366/scot.2018.0227)

Gay, D. (2018) God Be In My Mouth: 40 Ways to Grow as a Preacher. St. Andrew Press

Walton, H. (2018) We have never been theologians: postsecularism and practical theology. Practical Theology, 11, pp. 218-230. (doi: 10.1080/1756073X.2018.1461489)

Postgraduate research students

Refine By

The Theology and Practice Research Cluster engages in research on key areas where Christian theology and faith-based practice interact and mutually inform each other. Within this broad terrain our current research is focussed in three key areas:

• The social, political and ethical outworkings of theological reflection. Within this field there are specific emphases upon Catholic Social Teaching, political theology, theology and disablility, theology and gender justice, the climate emergency.

• Ecclesial practices and faith communities within their cultural context. This area of research includes specialisms in homiletics, ethnography and ecclesiology, Christian witness in civic, national and international life.

• Theology and creative practice. Innovative work is being undertaken in theology expressed in artistic forms across a range of cultural arenas including literature, music and the visual arts.