Rev Doug Gay

  • Senior Lecturer (Theology & Religious Studies)

telephone: 01413302073
email: Doug.Gay@glasgow.ac.uk

R501 Level 5, Theology and Religious Studies, 4 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X

Research interests

Research interests

His research interests lie in two main areas: ecclesiology and political theology.

Within ecclesiology he works on the relationships between the reformed tradition, emerging church and ecumenism; on the relations between ecclesiology and missiology (with a particular interest in Scotland) and also writes on contemporary perspectives on liturgy and preaching.

Within political theology, he is interested in the relationship between Reformed and Anabaptist perspectives on politics and is currently working on questions of theology and nationalism, with particular reference to Scotland.

Biography

Doug joined Theology and Religious Studies in October 2005 after PhD studies in New College, Edinburgh under Will Storrar and David Fergusson. He holds an MA degree in Modern History and International Politics from the University of St Andrews and a BD from the University of Glasgow. Doug is an ordained minister who trained for ministry in the Church of Scotland and worked as a Church of Scotland minister for two years, before spending six years working in Hackney, East London as a minister of the United Reformed Church. He has worked as a religious columnist for The Times and is also active as a hymnwriter and liturgist.

Research groups

  • Theology, Religion, Arts & Creative Practice

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2004 | 2003
Number of items: 36.

2025

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X, Jasper, Alison and Jasper, David (Eds.) (2025) Theology Through Creative Practice: Engagements with the Work of Heather Walton. Sacristy Press. ISBN 9781789593983

2024

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X, Walton, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 and Ross, Matthew (2024) Discerning Scotland's Future: Ecumenical conversations in Scottish churches about Scotland’s constitutional future. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2024) On conciliarity and Protestantisation: a Reformed Presbyterian perspective on synodality. In: McKinney, Stephen, O’Loughlin, Thomas and Tóth, Beáta (eds.) Synodality and the Recovery of Vatican II: A New Way for Catholics. Messenger Publications. ISBN 9781788126724

2022

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2022) Hannah Strømmen and Ulrich Schmiedel, The Claim to Christianity: Responding to the Far Right(London: SCM, 2020), pp. 192, ISBN 978-0334059233. £19.99. Theology in Scotland, 29(1), pp. 87-97. (doi: 10.15664/tis.v29i1.2428)[Book Review]

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2022) Justice, peace and national identity in Scotland. In: Ross, Matthew and Kim, Jin Yang (eds.) Seek Peace and Pursue It : Reflections on the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace in Europe. WCC Publications & Globethics.net, pp. 113-119. ISBN 9782889314706 (doi: 10.58863/20.500.12424/4192461)

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2022) Worship and discipleship as meta-themes in the theology of John Swinton. In: van Ommen, Armand Léon and Brock, Brian R. (eds.) Disciples and Friends: Investigations in Disability, Dementia, and Mental Health. Baylor University Press. ISBN 9781481317009

2021

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2021) Discipling populism: a theopolitical alternative to denial or demonizing. In: Schmiedel, Ulrich and Ralston, Joshua (eds.) The Spirit of Populism: Political Theologies in Polarized Times. Series: Political and public theologies (1). Brill: Leiden ; Boston, pp. 212-225. ISBN 9789004498310 (doi: 10.1163/9789004498327_015)

Toth, Lina and Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2021) Editorial: theology and the environment. Theology in Scotland, 28(2), pp. 1-4. (doi: 10.15664/tis.v28i2.2322)

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2021) The Edinburgh books and the Iowa books: the challenge of Marilynne Robinson’s literary-theological recovery of Calvin and Calvinism. In: Marilynne Robinson and Theology. Series: KVHAA Konferenser (105). KVHAA (Kungl. Vitterhets Historie Och Antikvitets Akademien): Stockholm, pp. 89-106. ISBN 9789188763259

2020

Denham, John, Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X, Lampard, Rachel, Reddie, Anthony and Ryan, Ben (2020) Responses from beyond Anglicanism. In: Chaplin, Jonathan and Bradstock, Andrew (eds.) The Future of Brexit Britain: Anglican Reflections on National Identity and European Solidarity. SPCK Publishing: London. ISBN 9780281084296

2019

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2019) Theological constructions of Scottish national identity. In: Fergusson, David and Elliott, Mark (eds.) The History of Scottish Theology. Volume III: The Long Twentieth Century. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198759355

2018

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2018) Church and State in Scotland: Developing Law. By Francis Lyall. Journal of Church and State, 60(3), pp. 545-547. (doi: 10.1093/jcs/csy039)[Book Review]

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2018) The Kirk and the Union. Scottish Affairs, 27(1), pp. 92-98. (doi: 10.3366/scot.2018.0227)

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2018) God Be In My Mouth: 40 Ways to Grow as a Preacher. St. Andrew Press: London. ISBN 9780861539963

2017

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2017) Reforming The Kirk: the Future of the Church of Scotland. Saint Andrew Press: London/Edinburgh. ISBN 9780861539017

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2017) ‘The Practical is Political’ — Duncan Forrester and the ‘political service’ of theology in Scotland. Practical Theology, 10(3), pp. 277-290. (doi: 10.1080/1756073X.2017.1354513)

2016

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2016) (Re)imagining Scotland's future. In: Barrow, Simon and Small, Mike (eds.) Scotland 2021. Bella Caledonia/Ekklesia: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780993294235

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2016) Andrew N. T. Muirhead, Reformation, Dissent and Diversity – The Story of Scotland’s Churches 1560–1960. Theology, 119(3), pp. 224-225. (doi: 10.1177/0040571X15623749o)[Book Review]

2015

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2015) Between Kin and Cosmopolis, an ethic of the nation. Third Way, 39(4), p. 41. [Book Review]

2014

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2014) Honey from the Lion: Christianity and the Ethics of Nationalism. SCM: London. ISBN 9780334046479

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2014) Prospective practitioners: a pioneer’s progress. In: Baker, Jonny and Ross, Cathy (eds.) The Pioneer Gift: Explorations in Mission. Canterbury Press: Norwich, pp. 39-54. ISBN 9781848256514

2013

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2013) Is a christian vision of Scottish identity viable in the early 21st century? Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, 31(1), pp. 33-42.

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2013) Uncommon order? Possible futures of worship in the Church of Scotland. In: Stewart, J. (ed.) A Useable Past: Belief, Worship and Song in Reformation Context. Scottish Church Service Society: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780992772505

2012

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2012) Patriotism good - nationalism bad? The news from Scotland. Modern Believing, 53(4), (doi: 10.3828/MB.53.4.419)

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2012) On Englishness. Anvil, 28(2),

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2012) The hind let loose or a deer caught in the headlights? Gordon Brown does God in public. Crucible: The Journal of Christian Social Ethics,

2011

Gay, D.C. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2011) Review essay: rewiring practical theology. Political Theology, 12(4), pp. 596-600. [Book Review]

Gay, D.C. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2011) Remixing the Church: The Five Moves of Emerging Ecclesiology. SCM Press: London, UK. ISBN 9780334043966

2009

Forrester, Duncan B. and Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (Eds.) (2009) Worship and Liturgy in Context. SCM: London. ISBN 9780334041689

Gay, D. (2009) Gordon Brown and his presbyterian moral compass. In: Scott, P., Baker, C.R. and Graham, E.L. (eds.) Remoralizing Britain? Political, Ethical and Theological Perspectives on New Labour. Series: Continuum resources in religion and political culture. Continuum: London, UK. ISBN 9780826444141

2008

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2008) Boulton, M. M. 2008. God against Religion: Rethinking Christian Theology through Worship. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 260pp. Pbk. ISBN: 978-0802829726. £15.99. Practical Theology, 1(3), pp. 366-367. (doi: 10.1558/prth.v1i3.366)[Book Review]

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X and Rienstra, R. (2008) Veering off the via media: emerging church, alternative worship, and new media technologies in the United States and United Kingdom. Liturgy, 23(3), pp. 39-47. (doi: 10.1080/04580630802003693)

2007

Gay, D. (2007) Faith in, with and under Gordon Brown - a Scottish Presbyterian/Calvinist reflection. International Journal of Public Theology, 1(3-4), pp. 306-321. (doi: 10.1163/156973207X231644)

Gay, D. (2007) "Embodying divine economy": credit unions as the practice of political theology. Political Theology, 8(1), pp. 117-122. (doi: 10.1558/poth.2007.8.1.117)

2004

Gay, D. (2004) Worship alternatives: use of arts and creativity in worship. In: Eastman, M. and Latham, S. (eds.) Urban Church: A Practitioner's Resource Book. SPCK: London, UK. ISBN 9780281056033

2003

Baker, J., Gay, D. and Brown, J. (2003) Alternative Worship. SPCK: London, UK. ISBN 9780281053964

This list was generated on Thu Nov 20 21:44:02 2025 GMT.
Jump to: Articles | Books | Book Sections | Book Reviews | Edited Books | Research Reports or Papers
Number of items: 36.

Articles

Toth, Lina and Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2021) Editorial: theology and the environment. Theology in Scotland, 28(2), pp. 1-4. (doi: 10.15664/tis.v28i2.2322)

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2018) The Kirk and the Union. Scottish Affairs, 27(1), pp. 92-98. (doi: 10.3366/scot.2018.0227)

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2017) ‘The Practical is Political’ — Duncan Forrester and the ‘political service’ of theology in Scotland. Practical Theology, 10(3), pp. 277-290. (doi: 10.1080/1756073X.2017.1354513)

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2013) Is a christian vision of Scottish identity viable in the early 21st century? Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology, 31(1), pp. 33-42.

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2012) Patriotism good - nationalism bad? The news from Scotland. Modern Believing, 53(4), (doi: 10.3828/MB.53.4.419)

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2012) On Englishness. Anvil, 28(2),

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2012) The hind let loose or a deer caught in the headlights? Gordon Brown does God in public. Crucible: The Journal of Christian Social Ethics,

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X and Rienstra, R. (2008) Veering off the via media: emerging church, alternative worship, and new media technologies in the United States and United Kingdom. Liturgy, 23(3), pp. 39-47. (doi: 10.1080/04580630802003693)

Gay, D. (2007) Faith in, with and under Gordon Brown - a Scottish Presbyterian/Calvinist reflection. International Journal of Public Theology, 1(3-4), pp. 306-321. (doi: 10.1163/156973207X231644)

Gay, D. (2007) "Embodying divine economy": credit unions as the practice of political theology. Political Theology, 8(1), pp. 117-122. (doi: 10.1558/poth.2007.8.1.117)

Books

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2018) God Be In My Mouth: 40 Ways to Grow as a Preacher. St. Andrew Press: London. ISBN 9780861539963

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2017) Reforming The Kirk: the Future of the Church of Scotland. Saint Andrew Press: London/Edinburgh. ISBN 9780861539017

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2014) Honey from the Lion: Christianity and the Ethics of Nationalism. SCM: London. ISBN 9780334046479

Gay, D.C. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2011) Remixing the Church: The Five Moves of Emerging Ecclesiology. SCM Press: London, UK. ISBN 9780334043966

Baker, J., Gay, D. and Brown, J. (2003) Alternative Worship. SPCK: London, UK. ISBN 9780281053964

Book Sections

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2024) On conciliarity and Protestantisation: a Reformed Presbyterian perspective on synodality. In: McKinney, Stephen, O’Loughlin, Thomas and Tóth, Beáta (eds.) Synodality and the Recovery of Vatican II: A New Way for Catholics. Messenger Publications. ISBN 9781788126724

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2022) Justice, peace and national identity in Scotland. In: Ross, Matthew and Kim, Jin Yang (eds.) Seek Peace and Pursue It : Reflections on the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace in Europe. WCC Publications & Globethics.net, pp. 113-119. ISBN 9782889314706 (doi: 10.58863/20.500.12424/4192461)

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2022) Worship and discipleship as meta-themes in the theology of John Swinton. In: van Ommen, Armand Léon and Brock, Brian R. (eds.) Disciples and Friends: Investigations in Disability, Dementia, and Mental Health. Baylor University Press. ISBN 9781481317009

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2021) Discipling populism: a theopolitical alternative to denial or demonizing. In: Schmiedel, Ulrich and Ralston, Joshua (eds.) The Spirit of Populism: Political Theologies in Polarized Times. Series: Political and public theologies (1). Brill: Leiden ; Boston, pp. 212-225. ISBN 9789004498310 (doi: 10.1163/9789004498327_015)

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2021) The Edinburgh books and the Iowa books: the challenge of Marilynne Robinson’s literary-theological recovery of Calvin and Calvinism. In: Marilynne Robinson and Theology. Series: KVHAA Konferenser (105). KVHAA (Kungl. Vitterhets Historie Och Antikvitets Akademien): Stockholm, pp. 89-106. ISBN 9789188763259

Denham, John, Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X, Lampard, Rachel, Reddie, Anthony and Ryan, Ben (2020) Responses from beyond Anglicanism. In: Chaplin, Jonathan and Bradstock, Andrew (eds.) The Future of Brexit Britain: Anglican Reflections on National Identity and European Solidarity. SPCK Publishing: London. ISBN 9780281084296

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2019) Theological constructions of Scottish national identity. In: Fergusson, David and Elliott, Mark (eds.) The History of Scottish Theology. Volume III: The Long Twentieth Century. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 9780198759355

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2016) (Re)imagining Scotland's future. In: Barrow, Simon and Small, Mike (eds.) Scotland 2021. Bella Caledonia/Ekklesia: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780993294235

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2014) Prospective practitioners: a pioneer’s progress. In: Baker, Jonny and Ross, Cathy (eds.) The Pioneer Gift: Explorations in Mission. Canterbury Press: Norwich, pp. 39-54. ISBN 9781848256514

Gay, D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2013) Uncommon order? Possible futures of worship in the Church of Scotland. In: Stewart, J. (ed.) A Useable Past: Belief, Worship and Song in Reformation Context. Scottish Church Service Society: Edinburgh. ISBN 9780992772505

Gay, D. (2009) Gordon Brown and his presbyterian moral compass. In: Scott, P., Baker, C.R. and Graham, E.L. (eds.) Remoralizing Britain? Political, Ethical and Theological Perspectives on New Labour. Series: Continuum resources in religion and political culture. Continuum: London, UK. ISBN 9780826444141

Gay, D. (2004) Worship alternatives: use of arts and creativity in worship. In: Eastman, M. and Latham, S. (eds.) Urban Church: A Practitioner's Resource Book. SPCK: London, UK. ISBN 9780281056033

Book Reviews

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2022) Hannah Strømmen and Ulrich Schmiedel, The Claim to Christianity: Responding to the Far Right(London: SCM, 2020), pp. 192, ISBN 978-0334059233. £19.99. Theology in Scotland, 29(1), pp. 87-97. (doi: 10.15664/tis.v29i1.2428)[Book Review]

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2018) Church and State in Scotland: Developing Law. By Francis Lyall. Journal of Church and State, 60(3), pp. 545-547. (doi: 10.1093/jcs/csy039)[Book Review]

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2016) Andrew N. T. Muirhead, Reformation, Dissent and Diversity – The Story of Scotland’s Churches 1560–1960. Theology, 119(3), pp. 224-225. (doi: 10.1177/0040571X15623749o)[Book Review]

Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2015) Between Kin and Cosmopolis, an ethic of the nation. Third Way, 39(4), p. 41. [Book Review]

Gay, D.C. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2011) Review essay: rewiring practical theology. Political Theology, 12(4), pp. 596-600. [Book Review]

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (2008) Boulton, M. M. 2008. God against Religion: Rethinking Christian Theology through Worship. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 260pp. Pbk. ISBN: 978-0802829726. £15.99. Practical Theology, 1(3), pp. 366-367. (doi: 10.1558/prth.v1i3.366)[Book Review]

Edited Books

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X, Jasper, Alison and Jasper, David (Eds.) (2025) Theology Through Creative Practice: Engagements with the Work of Heather Walton. Sacristy Press. ISBN 9781789593983

Forrester, Duncan B. and Gay, Douglas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X (Eds.) (2009) Worship and Liturgy in Context. SCM: London. ISBN 9780334041689

Research Reports or Papers

Gay, Doug ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X, Walton, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 and Ross, Matthew (2024) Discerning Scotland's Future: Ecumenical conversations in Scottish churches about Scotland’s constitutional future. Project Report. University of Glasgow, Glasgow.

This list was generated on Thu Nov 20 21:44:02 2025 GMT.

Supervision

Doug is interested in receiving proposals from PhD students wishing to study in the following areas:

  • Ecclesiology
  • Liturgy and worship
  • Homiletics
  • Political theology
  • Church in Scotland
  • Missiology

Teaching

Teaching Areas

  • Practical Theology
  • Church in Scotland
  • Missiology
  • Liturgy and Homiletics
  • Political Theology