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Dr Sam Newington

Dr Sam Newington
Dr Sam Newington
Dr Sam Newington

MA (King's College, University of London), PhD (St John's College, University of Durham).

Senior Lecturer

About
Email Address
s.newington@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 272274
School/Department
School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History
Pure

Biography

This is my 14th fantastic year here in the Divinity department at the University of Aberdeen. I am delighted to announce too that I was promoted to Senior Lecturer which took effect in August 2021.

I studied Classics at King's College (University London) where I read for my MA. In 2006, I graduated from Durham University, St John's College, with a PhD. My PhD research involved exploring creation myths from ancient Greece and the ancient Near East.

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

I have a number of administration roles:

Programme Co-ordinator for Christian and Religious Studies Programme: Divinity (February 2011- January 2019)

Undergraduate Programme Co-ordinator - Student Experience: Divinity (February 2019-August 2022)

Admissions: Divinity (August 2021-August 2022)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer: DHPA (August 2021-July 2024)

Interim Director of Teaching and Education: DHPA (August 2022-September 2022)

Elected Member of Senatus Academicus: DHPA (January 2023- January 2026) 

Member: Reimagining our campuses - Education working group (November 2023-May 2024)

Member: Gifford Lectures Committee (April 2024-date)

External Memberships

Academic Advisory Board, Groundings Ancient (2014-2015: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/6192/)

Member, CAS committee (2023-date: https://cas.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/)

Director, CAS: Ancient Voices (2019 - date: https://cas.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/ancient-voices/)

Visiting Lecturer (Erasmus+), University of Bergen (15th May 2023-19th May 2023)

Member, British School at Athens (2023 - date: https://www.bsa.ac.uk/)

Member, British Institute at Ankara (2024-date: https://biaa.ac.uk/).

 

Latest Publications

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

AUSA Shortlist Nominations:

  • 2022 Best Lecturer
  • 2023 Mental Health Champion
Research

Research Overview

Although my teaching centres on Greek and Roman language, culture and history, my research area includes Near Eastern Studies. I am currently researching cross-cultural influences between the Near East and Greece.

I am able to supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students looking to research within the following areas:

  • Greek literature (in particular epic, lyric and drama)
  • Ancient Greek religion, in particular, mystery religion

Research Areas

Divinity

Supervising
View Research Area

Religious Studies

Supervising
View Research Area

Research Specialisms

  • Classical Studies
  • Theology and Religious Studies
  • Classical Greek Studies

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Current Research

Current publications include:

I recentlyy co-edited a volume Body and Soul (2024) with Jurgen Gatt and Michaela Senkova

I am also working on a commissioned volume on Trauma in Ancient Greek Tragedy for publication in 2025.

Current research projects include the following:

  • Organising a conference and publication on Beautification and defilement (September 2024), in Ortigia, Sicily.

 

 

Past Research

In summer 2022, I steered a symposium on Theology, Ecology and Climate - past and present.

I also organised a seminar series - Visualising the Divine (2022-2023)

Knowledge Exchange

Throughout the year, I offer a range of outreach event in collaboration with CAS. More recently, providing online international workshops on ancient languages and providing talks on a range of ancient history and classical studies topics. Further details are also located on the CAS webpage: https://cas.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2020/10/29/euge-latin-for-absolute-beginners/

 

I am currently the Director for the CAS: Ancient Voices Summer Workshop, which is an annual event. Further details area located here: https://cas.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/

 

I am a recently elected committee member for CAS (2023).

Collaborations

I have collaborated with Dr Sian Lewis (St Andrews University) on two workshops: Sacred Animals and Monsters in Greek and the Near Eastern Religions (22nd-23rd January 2014) and Animals, Monsters and Demons: a Comparative Approach (22nd-23rd January 2015). 

 

 

 

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Divinity, Religious Studies.

I have successfully supervised PhD research in the following areas:

i. Theories of Religion: Jung and Fraser

ii. Theories of Religion and AI

iii. Ancient Greek religion: Orphism and eschatology

iv. Ancient Greek religion and notions towards death and the hereafter

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

I am the course co-ordinator for a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules (unless otherwise stated below):

Level 1 and Level 2

  • DR1039/DR1078: New Testament Greek I
  • DR101E/DR101F/DR201E/DR201F: What it Means to be Dead
  • DR101C/DR101B/DR201C/DR201B: Religions of Ancient Greece and Beyond
  • DR151A/DR151B/DR250A/DR250B: Ancient Empires: Religion, Power and Politics
  • DR1538/DR1578: New Testament Greek II
  • DR153G/DR253G/ DR153H/DR253H: Wine, Revelry and Dangerous Women: Followers of Dionysus
  • DR152C/DR152D/DR252C/DR152C: Magic, Mystery, Spells and Potions
  • LT1009/LT1010: Latin 
  • LT1507/LT1508: Latin

 

Level 3 and Level 4 

  • DR301P / DR351P / DR355C: Special Subject
  • DR4046/DR4543: Senior Honours - Special Subject
  • DR351Y/DR351Z/DR451Z/DR451Y: Cosmos and Creation in the Ancient World
  • DR352X/DR352Y/DR452Y/DR452X: Animals and Monsters in the Ancient Greek World and Beyond
  • DR4544: Dissertation

 

Level 5 and Postgraduate:

  • Dissertation and Research supervision

 

 

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