Dr. David Bennett

david bennet
Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Tutor / Associate Research Fellow Wycliffe Hall
Wycliffe Hall
david.bennett@theology.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests: 

  • Theology of Love, Desire and Asceticism
  • Analytic and Philosophical Theology
  • Constructive Trinitarian Systematics
  • Augustinian Ethics
  • Political Theology and Theory
  • Ethics of the Body, Sexuality, and Gender
  • Anglican Moral and Pastoral Theology
  • Contemporary Queer Theory and LGBTQI+ Studies

 

Biography:

I research at the intersection of patristics, systematic theology, and ethics with a particular interest questions of revelation, desire, theological anthropology and love. With a background in Writing, Cultural and French Studies, I came to Oxford University to read theology from 2013, now holding a Certificate in Pastoral and Theological Studies and PGDip in Theology and Religion. In 2018, I completed an MLitt in Divinity (Analytic and Exegetical Theology) at the University of St Andrews receiving the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence. My masters research was a reconstructive critique of Sarah Coakley’s new asceticism. Continuing this research at Oxford, my doctoral thesis, Queering the Queer: An exploration of how gay celibate asceticism can renew and inform the role of desire in contemporary Anglican theology, posited a reconstructive critique of queer theology and contemporary Anglican theology through a distinctly Hookerian, Augustinian ethics of desire. The book is under contract with T&T Clark/Bloomsbury, tentatively entitled, ‘An Augustinian Ethics of Same-Sex Desire and Gay Celibacy: Queering the Queer in Contemporary Theology’. I am the co-founder and Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Augustinian Resemblances Project alongside Associate Research Fellow at Wycliffe Hall. I have worked to found and establish the project, the Public Legitimacy of the Church of England with Prof. Joshua Hordern through a knowledge exchange TORCH fellowship with Bishop Graham Tomlin at the Centre for Cultural Witness, Lambeth Palace. As the author of a bestselling book, I was appointed as a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s College of Evangelists and work as a speaker and writer serving and seeking to connect the academy, Church, and world.

Research Centres and Projects:

  • Augustinian Resemblances
  • The Public Legitimacy of the Church of England Project

 

External Engagement:

  • Interview on Theology of Sexuality and Desire for The DeepEnd with Lecrae, November 2024 (over a million views).
  • Mighty Pursuit Podcast, “Three Gay Men Discuss Faith”, November 2024 (over million views).
  • Preacher, Oriel College Chapel, October 29th, 2023.
  • Advisor for the Church of England’s Prayers of Love and Faith, Pastoral Guidance Group by invitation of the Bishop of London, Dame Sarah Mullally, 2023.
  • Sermon on Augustine and Home, Westminster School at Westminster Abbey, 19th May, 2023.
  • BBC One panellist Sunday Morning Live on the Church of England and sexuality, 5 September, 2022.
  • BBC One, ‘Young, Gay and Christian’ documentary, 2019.
  • Participant and Presenter for Shared Conversations, General Synod, Church of England, 2017.
  • Extensive speaking and consulting for churches, Christian communities, especially in USA, UK, and Europe.

 

Links: 

 

Publications:

Published

  • Bennett, David. ‘Retrieving Augustine’s ‘way in’: knowing Trinitarian ontology through the beauty of God in the deformed Christ’ in eds. Fielder, Eduard. & Haecker, Ryan. Trinitarian Ontologies: Towards a Trinitarian Transformation of Philosophy: Studies on Triadic Ontology and Trinitarian Philosophy (Baden Baden, Germany: Verlag Karl Alber, November 2025).
  • Bennett, David. ‘From Eunuchs to LGBTQ Christians: Navigating Theodicy, Inclusion, and Holiness’ in Keen, Karen. R. Pierce, Ron. W. Christlike Acceptance across Deep Difference: Constructive Conversations on Sexuality and Gender (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2025).
  • Bennett, David. ‘Returning to Spiritual Sense: Cruciform Power and Queer Identities in Analytic Theology’. Religions. 2023; 14(12):1445. 
  • Bennett, David. & Moyse, Ashley. ‘Learning Personhood Again: The Importance of the Trinity in Understanding Personal Humanity’, Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, 34.4, 2021, 50-61.

Forthcoming

  • Bennett, David. & Moyse, Ashley. ‘Human Becoming unto Death and Resurrection: A Christological Resistance to Idolatries of Health, Wealth, and Prosperity’ in Oxford Handbook of Theological Anthropology (University of Oxford Press: Oxford, late 2025).
  • ‘Gender as Love: A Theological Account of Human Identity, Embodied Desire, and Our Social Worlds by Fillipe Do Vale’ (Baker Academic, 2023). International Journal of Systematic Theology. 2025
  • ‘The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality within the Biblical Story by Richard B Hays and Christopher Hays’ (YUP, 2024). Studies in Christian Ethics, 2025.
  • Bennett, David. “‘Come Down So That You May Ascend”: Augustine’s Christological Ascent as Incarnational Subversion of Classical Views of Eudaimonia’, Studia Patristica, Oxford Patristics Society, 2025
  • Bennett, David. ‘Retrieving Augustine’s ‘way in’: knowing Trinitarian ontology through the beauty of God in the deformed Christ’ in eds. Fielder E. Haecker, R. Trinitarian Ontologies: Towards a Trinitarian Transformation of Philosophy - Studies on Triadic Ontology and Trinitarian Philosophy (Baden Baden: Verlag Karl Alber, 2025).
  • ‘A Christological Theodicy of Cruciform Friendship for Today’ a review of Why the Cross? Divine Friendship and the Power of Justice by Litiga Riliskyte (Cambridge University Press: November, 2022), Heythrop Journal (Forthcoming Book Review, November 2025).
  • Bennett, David. ‘Sexuality and Gender’ in Encyclopaedia of Christian Theology, T&T Clark, Ed. McKirkland, Christa, Publication in November, 2025.