Professor Heather Walton

Professor of Theology and Creative Practice (Theology & Religious Studies)

telephone: 01413305272
email: Heather.Walton@glasgow.ac.uk

R408 Level 4, Theology and Religious Studies, 4 The Square, Glasgow G12 8QQ

Research interests

Practical Theology
Methodologies for Research and Reflective Practice
Theopoetics
Life Writing and Spirituality
Gender and Sexuality

I am a practical theologian deeply engaged with issues relating to faith and everyday life, and my primary research interests lie in the intersection between theology and cultural practice. I am Professor of Theology and Creative Practice and co-ordinate the Literature, Theology and the Arts Research Network within the College of Arts.

My career began with research on racism and representation for the Methodist Church. My doctoral research was on the uses of women’s literature within theological reflection and I have continued to work on the relation between theology and creative writing ever since. I am a life writer and have pioneered the uses of autoethnography as a theological resource.

I am deeply engaged with international developments within practical theology and served as President of the International Academy of Practical Theology (2015-17). I am currently Executive Editor of the OUP journal Literature and Theology and a member of the Belgian Research Council. I find postgraduate supervision hugely rewarding and value the intellectual challenges it brings. I am an experienced supervisor and convene Glasgow’s Doctorate in Practical Theology Programme. I welcome applicants who are wish to undertake research in practical theology, explore interdisciplinary projects or employ creative and arts-based methods in their research.

Research groups

Theology, Religion, Arts & Creative Practice

Publications

List by: Type | Date

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Number of items: 65.

2025

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2025) Practical Theology Beyond the Empirical Turn. SCM Press. ISBN 9780334058991 (In Press)

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2025) Everyday extremeties: encountering the wild in theological discourses of everyday life. In: Radford, Wren (ed.) Resisting Theologies and the Everyday: Addressing Inequalities in Constructive, Practical, and Liberative Approaches. Series: Rethinking theologies: constructing alternatives in history and doctrine. T&T Clark, pp. 25-40. ISBN 9780567714053 (In Press)

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2025) Theopoetics of the broken form. In: Garrett, Stephen M. and Adkins, Imogen (eds.) T&T Clark Handbook of Theology and the Arts. Series: T&T Clark handbooks. T&T Clark, pp. 71-84. ISBN 9780567683755

2024

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2024) Rethinking relations between art and theology in troubled times. In: Smith, Graeme and Todd, Andrew (eds.) Future Faith: Public and Practical Theologies for the Contemporary World. Series: Explorations in practical, pastoral, and empirical theology. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY, pp. 66-81. ISBN 9781032466507 (doi: 10.4324/9781003389743-7)

Gay, Doug ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7182-562X, Walton, Heather ORCID: 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.

2023

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2023) Registering. Theology and poetic practice. In: Cocksworth, Ashley, Starr, Rachel and Burns, Stephen (eds.) From the Shores of Silence: Conversations in Feminist Practical Theology. SCM Press. ISBN 9780334060963

2022

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2022) Rubble and dust: a sacrament of ruins in art and theology. In: Nichols, Bridget and Taylor, Nicholas (eds.) The End of the Church: Conversations with the Work of David Jasper. Sacristy Press: Durham. ISBN 9781789592528

2021

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2021) The children are always lost: Marilynne Robinson and the poetics of theology. In: Möller, Håkan and Sigurdson, Ola (eds.) Marilynne Robinson and Theology. Series: KVHAA Konferenser (105). KVHAA (Kungl. Vitterhets Historie Och Antikvitets Akademien), pp. 29-48. ISBN 9789188763259

2020

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2020) A theopoetics in ruins. Toronto Journal of Theology, 36(2), pp. 159-169. (doi: 10.3138/tjt-2020-0082)

2019

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2019) Creativity at the edge of chaos: theopoetics in a blazing world. Literature and Theology, 33(3), pp. 336-356. (doi: 10.1093/litthe/frz029)

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2019) Special Issue [Guest Editor]. Literature and Theology, 33(3),

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2019) Theopoetics as challenge, change and creative making. Literature and Theology, 33(3), pp. 229-232. (doi: 10.1093/litthe/frz030)

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2019) A theopoetics of practice: re-forming in practical theology. International Journal of Practical Theology, 23(1), pp. 3-23. (doi: 10.1515/ijpt-2018-0033)

2018

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2018) We have never been theologians: postsecularism and practical theology. Practical Theology, 11(3), pp. 218-230. (doi: 10.1080/1756073X.2018.1461489)

2017

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2017) Between Ascension and Pentecost: a theology of adoption. In: Swinton, John and Brock, Brian (eds.) A Graceful Embrace: Theological Reflections on Adopting Children. Series: Theology in practice (4). Brill: Leiden ; Boston, pp. 205-216. ISBN 9789004352896 (doi: 10.1163/9789004352902_015)

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2017) Theology in the way we live now: a theopoetics of life writing. Concilium, 2017(5),

2016

Anderson, Elizabeth, Radford, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2873-2679 and Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (Eds.) (2016) Modernist Women Writers and Spirituality: A Piercing Darkness. Palgrave Macmillan: London. ISBN 9781137560356

Anderson, Elizabeth, Radford, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2873-2679 and Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2016) Introduction: the intricate persistence of strange Gods. In: Anderson, Elizabeth, Radford, Andrew and Walton, Heather (eds.) Modernist Women Writers and Spirituality: A Piercing Darkness. Palgrave Macmillan: London, pp. 1-20. ISBN 9781137530356 (doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-53036-3_1)

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2016) 'And a sword will pierce your soul also’: reflections on the holy mother and the holy child. Holiness: The Journal of Wesley House Cambridge, 2(1), pp. 93-103.

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2016) The consolation of everyday things. LIR, 4(15), pp. 137-152.

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2016) Faith in ruins: fragments and pattern in the late works of Rose Macaulay. In: Anderson, Elizabeth and Radford, Andrew (eds.) Modernist Women Writers and Spirituality: A Piercing Darkness. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 69-94. ISBN 9781137530356

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2016) The history of feminist theology in the Academy: an autoethnographic research journey. In: Gemzoe, Lena, Keinänen, Marja-Liisa and Maddrell, Avril (eds.) Contemporary Encounters in Religion and Gender. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke, pp. 285-306. ISBN 9783319425986 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-42598-6_13)

2015

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2015) Not Eden: Spiritual Life Writing for This World. SCM Press. ISBN 9780334053798

2014

Maddrell, Avril, della Dora, Veronika, Scafi, Alessandro and Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2014) Christian Pilgrimage, Landscape, and Heritage: Journeying to the Sacred. Series: Routledge studies in religion, travel and tourism. Routledge: New York. ISBN 9780415843980

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2014) Writing Methods in Theological Reflection. SCM Press: London. ISBN 9780334051855

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2014) Seeking Wisdom in Practical Theology. Practical Theology, 7(1), pp. 5-18. (doi: 10.1179/1756073X13Z.00000000028)

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2014) Literature, Theology, and Feminism. Series: Manchester studies in religion, culture, and gender. Manchester University Press: Manchester. ISBN 9780719060915

2013

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2013) Desiring things: practical theology and the new materialisms. In: Ganzevoort, R. Ruard, Brouwer, Rein and Miller-McLemore, Bonnie (eds.) City of Desires - a Place for God? Series: International Practical Theology. Lit Verlag: Berlin, pp. 131-140. ISBN 9783643903075

2012

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2012) The course outline: teaching theology through creative writing. Journal of Adult Theological Education, 9(2), pp. 210-218.

2011

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2011) Poetics. In: Miller-McLemore, Bonnie J. (ed.) The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology. Series: Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Religion. Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, pp. 173-182. ISBN 9781444330823

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (Ed.) (2011) Literature and Theology: New Interdisciplinary Spaces. Ashgate: Farnham. ISBN 9781409400110

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2011) When love is not true: literature and theology after romance. In: Walton, H. (ed.) Literature and Theology: New Interdisciplinary Spaces. Ashgate: Farnham, UK, pp. 37-54. ISBN 9781409400110

2010

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2010) Jean Rhys, Elizabeth Smart, and the "gifts" of the King James Bible. In: Hamlin, Hannibal and Jones, Norman W. (eds.) The King James Bible after 400 Years: Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Influences. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 318-335. ISBN 9780521768276

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2010) You have to say you cannot speak: feminist reflections upon public theology. International Journal of Public Theology, 4(1), pp. 21-36. (doi: 10.1163/187251710X12578338897782)

2009

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2009) Calls to preach: constructing vocational theology. Practical Theology, 2(1), pp. 63-74.

2008

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2008) Staging John Coetzee / Elizabeth Costello. Literature and Theology, 22(3), pp. 280-294. (doi: 10.1093/litthe/frn036)

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2008) My green bed. In: Marston, D. (ed.) Goldfish: The Second Anthology of Writing from Goldsmiths. Goldsmiths, University of London: London, UK.

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2008) Our sacred texts: literature, theology and feminism. In: Llewellyn, D. and Sawyer, D.F. (eds.) Reading Spiritualities: Constructing and Representing the Sacred. Ashgate: Aldershot, UK, pp. 85-94. ISBN 9780754663294

2007

Graham, E.L., Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 and Ward, F. (Eds.) (2007) Theological Reflection: Sources. SCM Press: London, UK. ISBN 9780334029779

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2007) The feminist literary revisioning of sacred traditions. In: Hass, A., Jasper, D. and Jay, E. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology. Series: Oxford handbooks. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, pp. 543-557. ISBN 9780199271979

Walton, H. (2007) Imagining Theology: Women Writing and God. T and T Clark. ISBN 9780567031730

Walton, H. (2007) Literature, Theology and Feminism. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719060907

2005

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2005) Sex in the war: an aesthetics of resistance in the diaries of Etty Hillesum. Theology and Sexuality, 12(1), pp. 51-61. (doi: 10.1177/1355835805057786)

Graham, E., Walton, H. and Ward, F. (2005) Theological Reflection: Methods. SCM Press. ISBN 9780334029762

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2005) Literature and theology: sex in the relationship. In: Bird, D. and Sherwood, Y. (eds.) Bodies in Question: Gender, Religion, Text. Ashgate: Aldershot, UK. ISBN 9780754635307

2004

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2004) The gender of the cyborg. Theology and Sexuality, 10(2), pp. 33-44. (doi: 10.1177/135583580401000203)

2003

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2003) Re-vision and revelation: forms of spiritual power in women's writing. Feminist Theology, 12(1), pp. 89-102. (doi: 10.1177/096673500301200108)

Walton, H. (2003) Advent: theological reflections on IVF. Theology and Sexuality, 9(1), pp. 201-209. (doi: 10.1177/135583580200900117)

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2003) Women writing the divine. In: Anderson, P.S. and Clack, B. (eds.) Feminist Philosophy of Religion: Critical Readings. Routledge: London, UK, pp. 123-135. ISBN 9780415257497

2002

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2002) Speaking in signs: narrative and trauma in pastoral theology. Scottish Journal of Healthcare Chaplaincy, 5(2), pp. 2-6.

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2002) Extreme faith in the work of Elizabeth Smart and Luce Irigaray. Literature and Theology, 16(1), pp. 40-50. (doi: 10.1093/litthe/16.1.40)

2001

Walton, H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2001) The wisdom of Sheba: the construction of feminist practical theology. Contact: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Pastoral Studies, 135, pp. 3-12.

2000

Haas, Andrew and Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (Eds.) (2000) Self, Same, Other: Re-visioning the subject in literature and theology. Series: Playing the texts. Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield. ISBN 9781841270180

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2000) Mothers Union: The maternal in feminist reading, writing and theology. Modern Believing, 41(1), pp. 22-30. (doi: 10.3828/MB.41.1.22)

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (2000) Passion and pain: conceiving theology out of infertility. In: Willows, D. and Swinton, J. (eds.) Spiritual Dimensions of Pastoral Care: practical theology in a multidisciplinary context. Jessica Kingsley Publishers: London. ISBN 9781853028922

1999

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (1999) If this political party were a house: Theological reflections upon the style and spirit of New Labour. Political Theology, 1(1), pp. 9-16.

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (1999) Love relations: exploring the intimacy between women's writing and theology. In: Gearon, Liam (ed.) English Literature, Theology and the Curriculum. Series: Theology in dialogue series. Cassell: London. ISBN 9780304704866

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (1999) Passion and pain: conceiving theology out of infertility. Contact : the Interdisciplinary Journal of Pastoral Studies(130), pp. 3-9.

1994

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (1994) Theology of desire. Theology and Sexuality, 1(1), pp. 31-41.

1993

Durber, Susan and Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (Eds.) (1993) Silence in Heaven: A Book of Women’s Preaching. SCM Press: London. ISBN 033401543X

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (1993) Breaking open the Bible. In: Graham, Elaine and Halsey, Margaret (eds.) Life Cycles: Women and Pastoral Care. SPCK: London, pp. 192-199. ISBN 9780281046881

1987

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (1987) An Ethnographic Study of a Moss Side Pub. Series: Working papers in applied social research, 12. Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, University of Manchester: Manchester. ISBN 9780947556129

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (1987) My Mother is Ill: An Experiment in Feminist Research. Series: Working papers in applied social research, 47. Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, University of Manchester: Manchester. ISBN 9780947556181

1986

Walton, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4030-8336 (1986) White Researchers and Racism. Series: Working papers in applied social research, 10. Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, University of Manchester: Manchester. ISBN 9780947556105