Click the tabs below for more information on what Aberdeen has to offer by way of research expertise and doctoral supervision, how to apply, and what students can expect when studying with us.
- Bonhoeffer in Aberdeen
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The Divinity department at Aberdeen has significant strengths in Bonhoeffer studies. In recent years the department has hosted a number of events on Bonhoeffer’s theology, including academic workshops (hosting scholars from around the world) and public lectures (by Jennifer McBride and Chris Holmes). In 2014 the University awarded Clifford Green an honorary doctorate in recognition of his contribution to Bonhoeffer studies. In early 2015, Aberdeen’s Centre for Ministry hosted the daylong event Bonhoeffer for Pastors. Staff currently teach postgraduate and undergraduate courses on Bonhoeffer’s theology and there are also a large number of doctoral students working on projects in this field.
- Staff
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We are interested in hearing from students wishing to undertake postgraduate level work on Bonhoeffer at the doctoral level. We are also keen to support students to spend time in Germany as a part of their doctoral work for language study and research (i.e., through applications for DAAD fellowships, the Erasmus program, or independently). Please contact one of the supervisors below if you are thinking about applying for a PhD in their subject area.
Professor Brian Brock: Brian Brock has regularly drawn inspiration from Bonhoeffer for his constructive theological work, particularly his biblical hermeneutics, understanding of the Psalms, approach to the role of creation in Christian ethics, dialogues with Karl Barth, and role as a representative of a contemporary Lutheran theology. Engagements with Bonhoeffer figure centrally in Brock’s main works: Christian Ethics in a Technological Age (Ch. 4) and Singing the Ethos of God (Ch. 5).
Professor Tom Greggs: Tom Greggs’ interests in Bonhoeffer relate to his understanding of religion and religionless Christianity, to his political theology, and to the relationship between the theologies of Bonhoeffer and Barth. Bonhoeffer’s ecclesiology has also been a significant influence, and will be a formative part of his own three volume project on the church. He has written widely on Bonhoeffer’s thought directly. Prof. Greggs has been involved for a number of years with the International Bonhoeffer Colloquium, and has contributed a number of essays to the International Bonhoeffer Interpretations series.
Professor Phillip Ziegler: Philip Ziegler’s work focuses on Bonhoeffer in the context of modern Protestant theology generally, and in particular with reference to the German Church Struggle of the 1930s. He is also interested also in the on-going significance of Bonhoeffer’s theology and ethics. He continues to work on a book length study of the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer titled Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Theologian of the Word of God (which will be in the Great Theologians series from Ashgate), and together with Mike Mawson is editing the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He has lectured widely on Bonhoeffer, and also delivered papers at the International Bonhoeffer Congress, the International Bonhoeffer Colloquy, AAR/SBL and the Wheaton Theology Conference. Professor Ziegler is on the Steering Committee of the Bonhoeffer, Theology and Social Analysis Group of the AAR, a member of the Board of Directors of the International Bonhoeffer Society, and represented the English Language Section of the Society on the planning group for the International Bonhoeffer Congress which took place in Basel in July 2016.
- Publications
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The following are some selected publications engaging or drawing on Bonhoeffer by staff at the University of Aberdeen.
Dr Brian Brock
- “Bonhoeffer and the Bible in Christian Ethics: Psalm 119, the Mandates, and Ethics as a ‘Way’,” Studies in Christian Ethics, 18:3, December 2005, 7-29. [This article was the journal’s second most electronically accessed article (831 downloads) from July 2006-July 2007.]
- Christian Ethics in a Technological Age. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010, ch. 4.
- Singing the Ethos of God: On the Place of Christian Ethics in Scripture. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007 ch. 5.
- “‘Sorrow and Joy’: Public Disasters, Works of Love, and the Inwardness of Faithfulness,” in Bernd Wannenwetsch, ed., Who Am I? Bonhoeffer’s Theology Through His Poetry. London: T&T Clark, 2009, 47-69.
Professor Tom Greggs
- “Beyond the binary: Forming evangelical eschatology” in Tom Greggs (ed.), New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology, (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010), 153-167.
- “Pessimistic Universalism: Rethinking the Wider Hope with Bonhoeffer and Barth.” Modern Theology, 26, no. 4 (2010), 495-510.
- “Religionless Christianity and the Political Implications of Theological Speech: What Bonhoeffer’s Theology yields to a World of Fundamentalisms.” International Journal of Systematic Theology 11, no. 3 (June 2009), 293-308.
- “Religionless Christianity in a Complexly Religious and Secular World: Thinking through and beyond Bonhoeffer” in Ralf K. Wüstenberg & Stephen J. Plant (eds), Religion, Religionlessness and Contemporary Western Culture. International Bonhoeffer Interpretations Vol.1 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2008): 111-125.
- Theology against Religion: Constructive Dialogues with Bonhoeffer and Barth (T&T Clark, 2011).
Professor Philip Ziegler
- Christ, Church and World: New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics, edited by Philip G. Ziegler and Michael Mawson (London: T&T Clark/Bloomsbury).
- ‘Dietrich Bonhoeffer—Theologian of the Word of God’, in Bonhoeffer, Christ and Culture, edited by K. Johnson & T. Larsen (Downers Grove, IN: IVP Academic, 2013), pp. 17-38.
- 'God, Christ, and Church in the DDR—Wolf Krötke as an Interpreter of Bonhoeffer’s Theology', in Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Influence and Impact of Bonhoeffer’s Life and Thought, edited by Matthew Kirkpatrick (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014).
- The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, edited by Philip G. Ziegler and Michael Mawson (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
- 'Witness to Christ's Dominion: the political service of the Church', Theology 116:5 (2013), pp. 323-331. doi: 10.1177/0040571X13493582
- Links
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Some helpful links for further information and resources on Bonhoeffer’s theology and Bonhoeffer studies: