Dr Paul Hedges 

Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies 

Humanities and Social Sciences 

 

Paul.Hedges@winchester.ac.uk 

+44 (0)1962 827451 

+44 (0)1962 827437 

University of Winchester
Sparkford Road
Winchester
Hampshire S022 4NR

Biography

I studied at Lampeter in Wales, where I completed all my undergraduate and postgraduate studies. I joined the University of Winchester in 2005, having previously worked for Queen's University, Canada, at their ISC Campus in the UK. Before that, I spent three years working in China, mainly teaching English but also running courses on Study Skills, Western Philosophy and British History amongst other things. I also taught English language to overseas students in the UK, having completed a CELTA before going to China. I am currently Programme Leader Theology and Religious Studies and Faculty Internationalisation Liaison Officer.

Expertise

I publish, research and/or teach in the following areas:

  • Theologies of religion (incl. Comparative Theology, Interreligious Theology)
  • Interfaith Dialogue (incl. ethics/Human Rights)
  • Christianity in India and China (incl. inculturation, history of mission/encounter)
  • Chinese religion
  • Modern and contemporary Christian theologies (incl. Radical Orthodoxy, Liberation, Liberal, Intercultural, Global)
  • Sacred space, religious architecture, and pilgrimage
  • Death and religion
  • Theory in the study of religion and theology (incl. definitions of religion, postmodernism/modernism)

Publications

Books

2010: Controversies in Interreligious Dialogue and the Theology of Religions, Controversies in Contextual Theology Series, SCM Press.

2009: Co-editor with Alan Race: Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: A Reader, SCM Reader Series, SCM Press.

2008: Co-editor with Alan Race: Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: An Introduction, Core Textbook Series, SCM Press.

2001: Preparation and Fulfilment: A History and Study of Fulfilment Theology in Modern British Thought in the Indian Context, Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity, Peter Lang.

(Publication under negotiation) Co-editors Prof. Leonard Swidler & Dr Alan Race: Draft Title: Trialogue in Modernity and Post-Modernity: Papers from the Interfaith Dialogue in Modernity and Post-Modernity Conference, Winchester, 2008.

Chapters

(2011) ‘Radical Orthodoxy and the Closed Western Theological Mind: The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy in Intercultural and Interreligious Perspective’, in Isherwood, L., et al., (ed.), The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy Wipf and Stock.

2010: ‘An Experiment in Interreligious Theology: Guanyin in the Light of Queer Theology’, in Winkler, U., et al. (ed.), Currents of Encounter: Papers from the 2009 ESITIS Conference, Rodopi.

2010: ‘Chinese Religion’, in Hecht, R.D. and Biondo, V.F. (eds), Religion and Everyday Life and Culture, Vol. I: ‘Religion in the Practice of Daily Life in World History’, Praeger, pp. 45-82.

2010: ‘Can We Still Teach 'Religions'?: Towards an Understanding of Religion as Culture and Orientation in Contemporary Pedagogy and Metatheory’, in Durka, G, Gearon, L, DeSouza, M, Engebretson, K (eds), International Handbook for Inter-Religious Education, Springer Academic Publishers.

2009: (with Alan Race) ‘Eastern Faith Traditions Respond to Christianity’, in Hedges, P., and Race, R., Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: A Reader, Core Reader Series, SCM Press.

2009: ‘Islam’, in Hedges, P., and Race, R., Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: A Reader, Core Reader Series, SCM Press.

2009: (with K.P. Aleaz) ‘Hinduism’, in Hedges, P., and Race, R., Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: A Reader, Core Reader Series, SCM Press.

2009: ‘New Religious Movements’, in Hedges, P., and Race, R., Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: A Reader, Core Reader Series, SCM Press.

2009: ‘Particularities’, in Hedges, P., and Race, R., Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: A Reader, Core Reader Series, SCM Press.

2008 ‘A Reflection on Typologies: Negotiating a Fast Moving Discussion’, in Hedges, P., and Race, A., Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: An Introduction, Core Textbook Series, SCM Press, pp. 17-33.

2008 ‘Particularities: Tradition-specific post-modern perspectives’, in Hedges, P., and Race, A., Christian Approaches to Other Faiths: An Introduction, Core Textbook Series, SCM Press, pp. 112-35.

Journal Articles:

2010: ‘Is John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy a Form of Liberal Theology? A Rhetorical Counter’, The Heythrop Journal, pp 795-818.

2009: ‘Understanding Religion as Culture in Academic Discourse’, Conference of the International Journal of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 1(5), Gottenheim, Germany, 2008.

2008: ‘Concerns about the Global Ethic: A Sympathetic Critique and Suggestions for a New Direction’, Studies in Interreligious Dialogue, 18: 1 (Fall), pp. 1-16.

2008: ‘Are Interfaith Dialogue and a Global Ethic Compatible? A Call for an Ethic to the Globe,’ Journal for Faith, Spirituality and Social Change, 1: 2 (May), pp. 109-32.

2008: ‘Post-Colonialism, Orientalism, and Understanding: Religious Studies and the Christian Missionary Imperative’, Journal of Religious History, 32: 1 (March), pp. 55-75 (awarded Bruce Mansfield Prize for the best paper in JRH during 2008-09).

2006 ‘Defining Religion: A Religious Orientation Typology’, Part 2, Interreligious Insight, 4: 4 (Oct), pp. 34-42.

2006: ‘Defining Religion: A Religious Orientation Typology’, Part 1, Interreligious Insight, 4: 3 (July), pp. 9-15.

2004: ‘A Post-modern Reading of John Hick’s Pluralistic Hypothesis’, Interreligious Insight, 2: 2. (April), pp. 44-55.

2002: ‘The Inter-Relationship of Religions: A Critical Examination of the Concept of Particularity’, World Faiths Encounter, July, pp. 3-13.

2000: ‘Architecture, Inculturation and Christian Mission: The buildings of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, and Their Meaning for the Church Today’, International Review of Mission, LXIV (April), pp. 297-312.

Articles in Progress/ Planned:

‘Remembering and the Creation of Sacred Place (in the Christian Tradition) in Contemporary Britain’, Journal of Implicit Religion

Review article: Timothy Fitzgerald, Discourse on Civility and Barbarity, Journal of Religious History

‘Was Jesus a Pluralist?: Assessing Pluralism’s Biblical Credentials’, Interreligious Insight

‘Is Religion a Platypus?’, Australian Religious Studies Review

‘Comparative Theology or Interreligious Theology: The Practice of Christian theology as Safe or Subversive in Relation to Religious Others’, Studies in Interreligious Dialogue

‘Between Essentialism and Denial: A Response to the Cultured Despisers of the Category ‘Religion’, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion

Commissioned and submitted for journal project of selected conference papers: ‘Guanyin and Identity: The Image of a Subversive Religious Icon’, Journal of the Visual Arts.

Research Interests

By training I am both a theologian and a scholar of religious studies, which I see as complementary discourses around the nature and study of religion. My research mainly concerns interreligious themes and issues, relating to modern and contemporary Christian theologies, interfaith dialogue, definitions of religion, the history of religious encounter and other themes in which I teach, research and publish.

Funding Awards and Professional Membership

Funding awards:

Internal:

2007/08: Research & Knowledge Transfer Promising Researcher Funding (£9000)

Membership:

  • Ecclesiological Society
  • British Association for the Study of Religion (EASR/ IAHR)
  • Modern Churchpeople’s Union
  • World Congress of Faiths
  • New Zealand Association for the Study of Religion (IAHR)
  • American Academy of Religion
  • The European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies
  • The Australian Association for the Study of Religion

Editorial Duties:

  • Editorial board Journal of Religious History
  • Peer review panel Studies in Interreligious Dialogue
  • Co-editor Australian Religion Studies Review