Supervisor/s:
Prof. Nigel J. Biggar
Dr. Dafydd M. Daniel
College:
Keble
Research Area/s:
Christian Ethics
About:
The questions at the center of my research are ‘What is higher education for?,’ ‘What kind of knowledge is theology?,’ and ‘How does theology relate to other kinds and bodies of knowledge?’ My research focuses on the theologies of higher education of three influential 19th-century theologians-cum-university founders—Friedrich Schleiermacher (the University of Berlin), John Henry Newman (the Catholic University in Dublin), and Abraham Kuyper (the Free University Amsterdam). I explore what help these theologians might be able to offer us for addressing some of the crises and confusions afflicting higher education today. I compare their conceptions of theology as a field of study, of the relationship of theology to other academic disciplines, and of the proper ends (and means) of higher education, critically evaluating each of them in the light of Scripture, the ‘Grand Tradition’ of Christian theology, and subsequent developments in education, epistemology, and the philosophy of science.
Before moving to England, I served as the team leader for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries, coordinating the graduate, law, medical, and international student ministries at New York University. I have earned master’s degrees in Biblical studies from Westminster Theological Seminary and Duke Divinity School, and an MPhil in Christian Ethics at the University of Oxford. I currently serve as an Associate Chaplain for the Oxford Pastorate (on loan from InterVarsity/USA), ministering to and supporting my fellow postgrads at the University of Oxford.
Links:
https://oxfordpastorate.org/about/team
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-williams-20388211/
Select Publications:
‘Surprised By Jack: C.S. Lewis on Mere Christianity, the Bible, and Evolutionary Science’ at BioLogos.org
Select posts at Intervarsity’s Emerging Scholars Blog
Academic Interests:
Christian Spirituality, Philosophy of Religion, Christian Ethics, Biblical Studies, Christian Origins, Public Theology, Interdisciplinarity
