Department of Theology and Religion

Grade 7: - £34,304 per annum (pro rata)
Fixed Term - Part Time
Contract Duration: 12 months
Contracted Hours per Week: 14
Closing Date: 23-Feb-2022, 7:59:00 AM

Closing date for applications is midnight 22 February 2022 (UK time)

Durham University

Durham University is one of the world's top universities with strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, the greatest Romanesque building in Western Europe. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience.

Less than 3 hours north of London, and an hour and a half south of Edinburgh, County Durham is a region steeped in history and natural beauty. The Durham Dales, including the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, are home to breath-taking scenery and attractions. Durham offers an excellent choice of city, suburban and rural residential locations. The University provides a range of benefits including pension and childcare benefits and the University’s Relocation Manager can assist with potential schooling requirements.

Durham University seeks to promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment for work and study that assists all members of our University community to reach their full potential. Diversity brings strength and we welcome applications from across the international, national, and regional communities that we work with and serve.

The Department

Founded in 1832, Durham’s Department of Theology and Religion was recently ranked fourth in the world in the QS World University Subject rankings. We also came top in the country in the last two UK assessments of research (2008 and 2014). We are home to more than 30 academic staff, and a community of over 100 doctoral students.

Teaching and research within the Department is focused on three key areas: Biblical studies, Christian Theology, and the Study of Religion.

Biblical studies cover the New Testament, the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism, and includes both close engagement with the biblical texts and broader considerations of their historical, cultural, and theological contexts and interpretation. We are one of the few universities to offer the full range of biblical and ancient languages (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, and Middle Egyptian).

Christian theology covers ethical, philosophical, and systematic theology, as well as historical theology and church history. We work within a range of Christian traditions – Catholic, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Studies are particular strengths – but we aren’t confined to any of them: our approach is to let each tradition be itself, but also to bring them all into dialogue.

The study of religion looks at the anthropological, and sociological aspects of religion in the analysis of mainstream traditions and alternative religious movements, and on the practical study of contemporary religion. Specialist staff interests include Mormonism; death, dying and disposal; shamanism; religion and emotion; religion/faith and globalization; contemporary and post-evangelicalism; religion and generational change; pilgrimage; sacred space; myth analysis; and South Asian Christianity’s.

The department enjoys many cross-departmental and interdisciplinary links around the University, including with the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, as well as a strong, collaborative relationship with the theological institutions based in and around Durham (e.g. Cranmer Hall).

With its home in Abbey House, right next to Durham Cathedral, a UNESCO world Heritage site, it is a beautiful and immensely exciting place to study and to research in Theology and Religion.

The department is also home to a number of research centres, including the Centre for Catholic Studies (https://www.dur.ac.uk/theology.religion/ccs/). The CCS, established in October 2007, is a unique body: a major research and teaching centre explicitly focussed on the study of Catholic Theology and Catholic Studies more widely (including the empirical study of Catholicism, the history of Catholicism, and the cultural impact of Catholicism). One of the core research project areas for the CCS relates to the History of Catholicism, which is engaged with a number of partners across a range of projects, including the biennial Early Modern British and Irish Catholicism conference.

The Role

Applications are invited for a 0.4FTE Postdoctoral Research Associate for the Phenomenology of Theological Practice: Modelling Enquiry and Poesis Project, funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The research project aims to generate new understanding of the craft and practice of philosophical theology, through a phenomenological enquiry enriched by both renouncement of monastic practices and engagement with the arts.

Focusing on the practice of academic writing, the project will explore “enquiry” and “poesis” (or “finding” and “making”), conceived as intertwined elements of theological practice. This conception is underpinned by a theological anthropology that recognises human being as at once truth-seeking and poetic. Our investigation of writing practice is structured by questions in six areas: desire, resistance, agency, relationship, temporality, and forms of life. In each of these areas’ theology has something distinctive to contribute, and we seek to develop a specifically theological model of academic practice that is informed by broadly continental traditions of philosophy.

The project’s Principal Investigator is Professor Clare Carlisle, King’s College London, and the Co-Investigator Professor Karen Kilby, Bede Professor of Catholic Theology, Durham University.

The successful applicant will be expected to produce a three-part literature review for the project. Supervision will be provided by Prof Karen Kilby. This role provides career development opportunities for an early career researcher.

Responsibilities

• To understand and convey material of a specialist or highly technical nature to the team or group of people through presentations and discussions that leads to the presentation of research papers in conferences and publications.
• To prepare and deliver presentations on research outputs/activities to audiences which may include research sponsors, academic and non-academic audiences.
• To publish high quality outputs, including papers for submission to peer reviewed journals and papers for presentation at conferences and workshops under the direction of the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder.
• To assist with the development of research objectives and proposals.
• To conduct individual and collaborative research projects under the direction of the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder.
• To work with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and other colleagues in the research group, as appropriate, to identify areas for research, develop new research methods and extend the research portfolio.
• To deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines by discussing with the Principal Investigator or Grant-holder and offering creative or innovative solutions.
• To liaise with research colleagues and make internal and external contacts to develop knowledge and understanding to form relationships for future research collaboration.
• To plan and manage own research activity, research resources in collaboration with others and contribute to the planning of research projects.
• To deliver training in research techniques/approaches to peers, visitors, and students as appropriate.
• To be involved in student supervision, as appropriate, and assist with the assessment of the knowledge of students.
• To contribute to fostering a collegial and respectful working environment which is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect.
• To engage in wider citizenship to support the department and wider discipline.
• To engage in continuing professional development by participation in the undergraduate or postgraduate teaching programmes or by membership of departmental committees, etc. and by attending relevant training and development courses.   
• To produce literature reviews in three adjacent areas. The first will be a survey of guides to dissertation writing in the humanities, to collate and map advice currently available to postgraduate students in philosophical theology. The second review will be a survey of texts on the ‘practice of theology’ with attention to the way ‘practice’ is conceived, and to specific reflections (if any) on writing. The third area for review will depend on the Research Assistant’s own specialism: an historical theologian may focus on the practice of theological writing in medieval monastic and mendicant orders; a researcher in modern theology may provide an overview of recent debates on the theology/spirituality relationship as these have a bearing on theological writing. The focus and scope of this third piece will ultimately be determined in consultation with the PI and Co-I, though applicants are encouraged to indicate a preferred area for review in their applications.

This post is fixed term for 12 months. e.g. the funding is for this fixed term period and the project is time limited.

The post-holder is employed to work on research/a research project which will be led by another colleague. Whilst this means that the post-holder will not be carrying out independent research in his/her own right, the expectation is that they will contribute to the advancement of the project, through the development of their own research ideas/adaptation and development of research protocols. 

Successful applicants will, ideally, be in post by 1 April 2022.

How to Apply

For informal enquiries please contact Professor Karen Kilby - karen.kilby@durham.ac.uk. All enquiries will be treated in the strictest confidence.

We prefer to receive applications online via the Durham University Vacancies Site. https://www.dur.ac.uk/jobs/. As part of the application process, you should provide details of 3 (preferably academic/research) referees and the details of your current line manager so that we may seek an employment reference.

Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in the University.

What to Submit

All applicants are asked to submit:

• A CV and covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above; and which indicates a proposed area for the third element in the literature review
• An article or chapter length writing sample 

Next Steps

The assessment for the post will include a 30-minute online interview. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview and assessment.

The Requirements

Essential Criteria:

1. Qualifications
   • A good first degree in Theology, Philosophy or a cognate discipline in the Humanities.
   • A PhD (or be close to submission) in Theology or Philosophy.
2. Experience
   • Experience in conducting high quality academic research.
   • Demonstrable ability to write material of a quality commensurate with publication in highly ranked journals.
   • Demonstrable ability to present research papers at international conferences and communicate complex information to specialists and within the wider academic community.
   • Experience in research in systematic or philosophical theology, or in theology and the arts.
3. Skills
   • Demonstrable ability to work cooperatively as part of a team, including participating in research meetings.
   • Ability to work independently on own initiative and to strict deadlines.
   • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Desirable:

1. Experience
   • Strong publication record in peer-reviewed journals, commensurate with stage of career.
   • A track record of presenting research at conferences, symposia, or meetings, commensurate with stage of career.
   • Demonstrable ability to develop research proposals and designs in collaboration with other academics.
   • Experience of overseeing students with respect to the development of their practical/research skills e.g. acting as a demonstrator; supervising student projects/practical’s.
   • Experience in drafting literature reviews.
2. Skills
   • Demonstrable ability to plan and manage independent research. 

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.