I joined York St John in 2021 after completing a DPhil (PhD) in Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford. My doctoral thesis, 'The Theological Power of Film: Embodiment, Time, and the Work of Andrei Tarkovsky', engaged in the interdisciplinary study of philosophy, theology, and film. I also hold a Masters degree (MSt) and a BA in Theology and Religion (both from the University of Oxford), which were awarded in 2017 and 2015 respectively.
During my doctoral studies, and for several months afterwards, I taught various modules to undergraduate and mature students studying at Oxford for degrees in Theology and Religion and in Philosophy and Theology. Now, at York St John, I teach a range of modules on the Philosophy, Religion and Ethics Programme. My research is situated at the intersections of philosophy of religion, theology, and cinematic art, and I am a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal for the Oxford Graduate Theological Society.
My primary teaching areas are the philosophy of religion, theology and film, systematic theology, and ethics. I have also lectured or taught seminars on:
- Liberation theology
- Ecotheology
- Feminist theology
- Theology
- Religion and the arts
- Black and womanist theology
At York St John, I convene the following modules:
- Philosophy and Religion
- From Descartes to Marx: Philosophers and Religion
- Film, Ethics and Theology
- Forgiveness and Reconciliation
- Values and Virtues
My research sits in the interdisciplinary fields of theology, philosophy of religion, and cinematic art. My doctoral thesis, entitled ‘The Theological Power of Film: Embodiment, Time, and the Work of Andrei Tarkovsky’, adopted a phenomenological method to explore theology and film, drawing especially on the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and on the discourse of film-phenomenology. The philosophy of Gilles Deleuze (especially through his two volumes 'Cinema I' and 'Cinema II') played a vital role in this project’s analysis of cinematic time, and by extension so did Henri Bergson’s philosophical understanding of time as duration (durée), since Deleuze was so influenced by Bergson. Away from this thesis, I have also published articles on Andrei Tarkovsky's work with major academic journals in theology and the philosophy of religion, as well as film reviews aimed at a public audience with the online journal 'Thinking Faith'.
Currently, I am working on a book chapter for the forthcoming edited volume 'Finitude's Wounded Praise: Responses to Jean-Louis Chrétien' (eds. Philip Gonzales and Joseph McMeans, Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock), in which I explore Chrétien's phenomenological treatment of beauty in the context of his eschatology. I have recently completed a chapter for another edited volume, 'Life Above the Clouds: Philosophy in the Films of Terrence Malick' (ed. Steven DeLay, New York, NY: SUNY Press). My chapter in this volume explores Malick's oeuvre in light of Deleuze's concept of the time-image ('Cinema II').
