Previous Seminars

Catholic Theology Research Seminar

Seminars are usually held on Tuesday at 17:30 in Dun Cow Cottage, Dun Cow Lane, off Palace Green, but you should check the seminar details for exceptions. Contact ccs.admin@durham.ac.uk for more information about this seminar series.

The Durham Catholic Theology Research Seminar is an occasional forum for scholarly discussion of pertinent issues in the Catholic traditions of theology and Church. It draws together people with specialist interests across the traditional theological disciplines (scriptural, historical, philosophical, systematic, liturgical, ethical and practical/pastoral) and social-scientific approaches.

• 15 June 2017 17:30: The Theological Relevance of the Secular - Prof. Christoph Hübenthal, Radboud University, The Netherlands
• 8 June 2017 17:30: The Winds of Change in the Catholic Church: A Sociologist’s View - Prof. Staf Hellemans, Tilburg University
• 2 June 2017 16:30: Against the Manichees: Immigration and the Human Good - Dr Anna Rowlands, Durham University
• 18 May 2017 17:30: The Life of Doctrine - Prof. Mike Higton, Durham University
• 8 May 2017 17:30: 'The Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation’ - Prof. Gerard Kelly, Catholic Institute of Sydney
• 14 March 2017 17:30: Difficult Thoughts about Divine Glory - Prof. Christopher Southgate, Exeter University
• 28 February 2017 17:30: What Difference Does Ordination Make? Solving a Catholic Problem through Receptive Learning from Methodist Tradition - Prof. Paul D. Murray, Durham University
• 9 February 2017 17:30: Acting and Imaging: Theatre and Theology in Dorothy L Sayers and Charles Williams - Dr Frances Clemson, Durham University
• 19 January 2017 17:30: POSTPONED UNTIL 15 JUNE 2017: The Theological Relevance of the Secular - Prof. Christoph Hübenthal, Radboud University, The Netherlands
• 1 December 2016 17:30: Postponed until 14 March 2017: Difficult Thoughts about Divine Glory - Prof. Christopher Southgate, Exeter University
• 8 November 2016 17:30: Twentieth-Century Catholic Debates on a Theology of History - Dr Andrew Meszaros, KU Leuven
• 3 November 2016 17:30: Eschatological Hope and the Earthly City: In What Sense Might Christians be "of" the World? - Dr David Elliott, University of Cambridge
• 13 October 2016 17:30: Pope Francis among the Wolves (With the Centre for Catholic Studies) - Marco Politi
• 15 June 2016 17:30: The Theological Relevance of the Secular - Prof. Christoph Hubenthal, Radboud University, The Netherlands
• 7 June 2016 17:15: ‘World as Sacrament: The Political Theology of the Church.’ - Prof Stephan van Erp , University of Leuven
• 19 May 2016 17:15: CANCELLED:'Mercy: Possibilities and Problems - Dr Philip McCosker, Cambridge University
• 3 May 2016 17:15: 'Trinity and Comedy’ - Dr. Marcus Pound , Durham University
• 15 March 2016 17:15: ‘Ambivalent Love: Christian Theologies, Queer Theologies’ - Prof Linn Tonstad , Yale Divinity School
• 9 February 2016 17:15: 'History and Church in Augustine's Understanding of the Self' - Fr. Prof Luigi Gioia , Sant’ Anselmo, Pontifical University
• 2 February 2016 17:15: 'Are apophaticism and nonsupersessionism potential allies? Towards an apophatic account of God’s election of Israel.’ - Dr. Susannah Ticciati, King’s College London
• 18 January 2016 17:15: ‘Disordered Bodies and the Body of Christ’ - Prof Gerard Loughlin , Durham University
• 1 December 2015 17:15: 'The Sacramentality of Mercy: Practising the Compassion of God' - Dr Ben Kautzer , Durham University
• 10 November 2015 17:15: ‘Predestination, Election and Reprobation in Balthasar’s Theology of Hope’ - Dr Eduardo Echeverria , Sacred Heart ajor Seminary, Detroit
• 13 October 2015 17:15: ‘Ecclesia et Pontifice: On Delivering on the Ecclesiological Implications of Evangelii Gaudium’ - Prof Paul D. Murray , Durham University
• 16 June 2015 17:15: Inculturation, Identity and Belonging in a Himalayan Church - Dr Jonathan Miles-Watson
• 2 June 2015 17:15: Finitude and sinfulness: distinctions and convergence - Dr Judith Wolfe, Oxford University
• 12 May 2015 17:15: The Coherence of Being a Catholic-Buddhist? - Prof. Gavin D'Costa, Bristol University
• 5 May 2015 17:15: Theology's Last Taboo: On Loneliness - Dr Siobhan Garrigan, Trinity College Dublin
• 23 April 2015 17:15: The Trinitarian dimension of the Mysteries of the Life of Christ in Th. Aquinas - Fr Etienne Veto
• 10 March 2015 17:15: A Person's a Person, No Matter how Divine? The Question of Univocity and Personhood in Richard of St. Victor's De Trinitate - Dr Justin Stratis, Trinity College Bristol
• 24 February 2015 17:15: Me and Us and God: When Ecclesiology Meets the Christian Life and Vice Versa - Prof. Nicholas Healy, St John’s University, NY
• 10 February 2015 17:15: CANCELLED - Henri Gagney CANCELLED
• 13 January 2015 17:15: Karl Rahner and the Identity of Dogmatic Theology - Fr Philip Endean SJ
• 2 December 2014 17:15: 'Authority and assent in Catholic Theology' - Prof Karen Kilby , (Bede Chair, Durham University)
• 11 November 2014 17:15: 'The Common Good as the Hermeneutical Key to Clement of Rome's First Epistle to the Corinthians - Prof Vincent DeMeo , (ITI, Austria)
• 21 October 2014 17:15: 'The coherence of being a Catholic-Buddhist? The question of dual-belonging theologically analysed.' - Prof Gavin D’Costa , (University of Bristol)
• 7 October 2014 17:15: 'Catholic traditions and our understanding of - Prof Mark Wynn , (University of Leeds)
• 24 June 2014 17:30: TBC - Dr Michael Canaris & Dr Joshua Furnal, Durham University
• 3 June 2014 17:30: TBC - Dr Franklin Harkin, Durham University
• 18 March 2014 17:30: The Writings of Querulous Women: Contraception, - Dr Alana Harris, Oxford University
• 4 March 2014 17:30: TBC - Prof. Myriam Wijlens, Universität Erfurt
• 11 February 2014 17:30: Original Sin, Human Origins, and Death - Rev Dr Nicholas Lombado OP, Catholic University of America
• 21 January 2014 17:30: The Two Issues of Thomas More's Book Against Martin Luther - Dr Ian Doyle, Durham University
• 10 December 2013 17:15: The Death of Christ and the Language of Sacrifice - Dr Peter Phillips
• 19 November 2013 17:30: Catholic Social Teaching and Amartya Sen: an alliance for better development policies? - Fr Augusto Zampini-Davies
• 31 October 2013 17:30: Retrieving the Ecumenical Legacy of G.C. Berkouwer: Remembering the Second Vatican Council - Dr Eduardo Echeverria
• 22 October 2013 18:15: 'International Human Rights and Catholic Tradition: - Dr Christiaan Alting von Geusau LL.M, the International Theological Institute
• 8 October 2013 17:30: God as First Truth, the Will's Good, and Faith's Cause: The Theology of Faith and Newman's University Sermons - Prof Mark McIntosh, Durham University
• 11 June 2013 17:15: Japanese Cripto-Catholicism - Prof. Seth Kunin, Durham University
• 28 May 2013 17:15: 'Your workbench is your altar' - Taking the Eucharist to Work - Patricia Kelly, Durham University
• 14 May 2013 17:15: Kierkegaard, Aquinas, and an Italian Adventure - Joshua Furnal, Durham University
• 23 April 2013 17:15: Christian Credibility in Maurice Blondel - Prof. John Sullivan, Liverpool Hope
• 13 March 2013 17:15: Safeguarding, Theology, and the Church's Magisterium - Paul Dearey, Hull University
• 26 February 2013 17:15: The Nature and Purpose of Legal Power in the Church - Fr. Luke, Ampleforth
• 15 January 2013 17:15: The Dark Night of the Church: St. John of the Cross in Dialogue with Voices from Ireland - Theodora Hawksley, University of Edinburgh
• 11 December 2012 17:15: Evil, Privation, Depression and Dread: What Evil Isn't - Dr. Mark Robson
• 27 November 2012 17:15: Evangelisation in a Secular and Religiously Pluralist Society - Ian Linden, Tony Blair Faith Foundation
• 20 November 2012 00:05: Aquinas and Emotion' - Rev. Nicholas Lombardo, OP., Catholic University of America
• 11 October 2012 18:00: Recognition and Recovery: Abuse in the Catholic Church - Baroness Sheila Hollins
• 10 March 2012 17:15: 'The Uses of Scripture in Catholic Prayer, Practice and Theology: A Study Day for Clergy, Laity, and Students' - Contemporary Catholic Theology Study Day
• 1 March 2012 18:30: 'Receptive Ecumenism and Canonical Structures: Possibilities for a Constructive Interaction' - Myriam Wijlens, University of Erfur
• 9 February 2012 17:15: 'The Relationship of Theology to Classics' - The Very Revd Dr Richard Finn OP, Blackfriars, Oxford
• 19 January 2012 17:15: 'Edmund Burke and Natural Law— “the immutable, pre-existent law”' - Dr Chris Insole, Durham University
• 1 December 2011 17:15: 'The Politics of Asylum: Catholic Perspectives' - Dr Anna Rowlands, The Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology
• 3 November 2011 17:15: 'Vatican II: Newman's Council?' - Rev. Dr Peter Philips, Durham University
• 23 June 2011 17:15: Talking about God: Aquinas on the Logic of the ‘'Subject Term'’ in Theological Statements - Dr Michael Gilmore, Durham University
• 9 June 2011 17:15: Faith, Development and the Historical Theologian - Prof. Lewis Ayres, Durham University
• 12 May 2011 17:15: The Importance of a Robust Theology of Christ’s Descent into Hell - Dr Lyra Pitstick, Hope College (Holland, Michigan)
• 2 March 2010 17:15: St Cuthbert's Lecture: Title TBC - Dr Geraldine Smyth
• 23 February 2010 17:15: John Henry Newman and the Crises of Capitalism - Dr Sheridan Gilley
• 9 February 2010 17:15: Jesus Reinvented: Aesthetic and Theological Issues in the Gospel Films - Fr Lloyd Baugh SJ
• 8 December 2009 17:15: TBA - Fr Henry Wansborough
• 3 November 2009 17:15: Purity and Danger: Catholics and Contraception - Dr Adrian Cunningham
• 15 October 2009 17:15: Reading the Gospel of Matthew Ecologically: Exploring a Test Case - Prof. Elaine Wainwright
• 14 May 2009 17:00: Sisters of Sinai - Janet Soskice, Jesus College
• 16 December 2008 17:15: Orthodoxy and the Summa - Prof. Andrew Louth
• 18 November 2008 17:15: The Body of Glory and the Body in Degradation in Catholic Thought - John Villis
• 10 June 2008 17:00: Everything you needed to know about Zizek but were too afraid to ask a theologian - Dr Marcus Pound
• 13 May 2008 17:00: Blaise Pascal and the Secular Challenge - Professor Ann Moss
• 22 April 2008 17:00: Spirituality and Advances in Modern Psychology - Professor Joseph Ciarrocchi
• 11 March 2008 17:00: 1944 and all that: The Structures and Provisions of Catholic Schooling - Michael Baydon
• 12 February 2008 17:00: Language, Thought and Ineffability: Anselm's Proslogion as Religious Experience Self-help Manual - Stuart Foyle
• 22 January 2008 17:00: A Response to the Congregation's 'Notification' regarding Jon Sobrino's work on Christology - The Reverend Canon Dr Joseph Cassidy
• 6 December 2007 17:00: Miracles and the Laws of Nature - Professor Dennis Edwards
• 22 November 2007 17:00: The Theological Teaching of John Paul II: Some New Directions - Professor Gerald O’Collins, S.J.
• 11 October 2007 17:00: Saints, Solace and the Suffering God - Anastasia Scrutton
• 10 May 2007 17:00: Antonio Rosmini on the Election of Bishops by Clergy and Laity - Luca Badini-Confalonieri, Doctoral Student, Department of Theology & Religion
• 15 March 2007 17:00: Can We Talk of a Catholic Practical Theology? - Rev. Chris Hughes, Lecturer in Pastoral Theology, Ushaw College, Durham
• 15 February 2007 17:00: Ritual, Institution, Identity: First Communion - Rev. Dr. Peter McGrail, Senior Lecturer in Catholic Studies, Liverpool Hope University

Ushaw Lectures Series

Seminars are usually held on Wednesday at 17:30 in Ushaw College, but you should check the seminar details for exceptions. Contact hannah.thomas2@durham.ac.uk for more information about this seminar series.

• 22 June 2017 18:00: Bearing Scars and Forging Hope: The Church’s Flawed Expertise in Humanity (Bishop Dunn Memorial Lecture) - Dr Ethna Regan, Dublin City University
• 23 May 2017 17:30: English Jesuit Drama 1599-1916: From Martyrs to Rum Punch - Joe Reed and Jan Graffius, Stonyhurst College
• 4 May 2017 17:30: Squabbling, Babbling, Feeling: What did Exile do to Early Modern Catholics from Britain and Ireland? - Prof. John McCafferty, University College Dublin
• 8 March 2017 17:30: Ireland’s Spiritual Empire - Dr Colin Barr, University of Aberdeen
• 22 February 2017 17:30: Maps, Meridians and Missions: Christopher Maire, SJ (1697–1767), a Durham Cartographer in Enlightenment Italy - Prof. Maurice Whitehead, Venerable English College, Rome
• 26 January 2017 17:30: Arts and Artefacts (Joint MLAC/Dept Theology & Religion Ushaw Lecture) - Dr Carol Richardson, Edinburgh College of Art
• 13 December 2016 17:15: O Come All Ye Faithful: A Musical Mystery Tour - Prof Bennett Zon, Durham University
• 22 November 2016 17:30: A Monk’s Books: Windows on Religious Life in Early 16th-Century England (Joint IMEMS/CCS Ushaw Lecture) - Prof. Anne Thayer, Lancaster Theological Seminary, PA
• 18 October 2016 17:30: Confluence of Dreams: WB Yeats, George Russell (AE) and the Easter Rising - Ambassador Daniel Mulhall
• 21 June 2016 17:30: Pugin's Medievalism: Stained Glass In Focus - Dr Claire Daunton
• 26 May 2016 17:30: The English Secular Priesthood: History, identity and renewal - Dr Judith Champ, Oscott College
• 26 April 2016 17:30: 'Catholic Martyrdom in Late Elizabethan England' - Professor Michael Questier, Queen Mary University of London
• 9 March 2016 17:30: 'Monarchy and Catholics in Britain, 1689-2012' - Prof Philip Williamson, Durham University
• 25 February 2016 17:30: ‘On Sen’ - Prof Stuart Corbridge, Dr Mark Hayes, Dr Augusto Zampini Davies, Dr Severine Deneulin.
• 26 January 2016 17:30: History and Fiction: How Novelists Shape the Past - Piers Paul Read , Author
• 15 December 2015 17:30: ‘Early Modern English Catholic Spiritual Writings’ - Prof. John Morrill , Cambridge University
• 21 October 2015 17:30: ‘The Church at the Front: the Church of England and the British Army in the First World War.’ - Prof. Michael Snape , Durham University
• 8 June 2015 17:30: 'Inevitable Rebels: Catholics, Conformity and Degrees of Rebellion in England, c.1530–1745 - Dr James Kelly, Durham University
• 19 May 2015 17:30: Renaissance Heroes or Catholic Saints?: The canonization of John Fisher and Thomas More, 1935 - Prof. Emeritus Bill Sheils , University of York
• 28 April 2015 17:30: TBC - Frank Cottrell Boyce
• 17 February 2015 17:30: Faith and Football: delivering sport psychology inside the Premier League - Dr Mark Nesti, Liverpool John Moore University
• 27 January 2015 17:30: Translating Christianity: the circulation of the sacred in the making of Roman Catholicism as a world religion 1500-1700ca - Dr Simon Ditchfield, York University
• 10 December 2014 17:30: 'Christmas Poetry and Literature' - Prof. Stephen Regan , Durham University
• 19 November 2014 17:30: 'At The Edge of Uncertainty: A journey to the wild new frontiers of science' - Dr Michael Brooks
• 15 October 2014 17:30: 'Opening the Seventh Seal: The history, theology and practice of silence' - Christopher Jamison OSB , (Author and BBC presenter)
• 18 June 2014 17:30: Vatican II, women's religious life - Dr Carmen Mangion , Birkbeck, University of London
• 28 May 2014 17:30: Catholics and State Prayers - Prof Stephen Taylor , Durham University
• 7 May 2014 17:30: A Tolerant Region? Irish Immigration and anti-Catholic Violence in the North-East of England, 1845-70 - Dr Jonathan Bush, Durham University
• 12 March 2014 17:30: The Cult of King Charles the Martyr: How to Hijack Catholic Devotion - Mgr Mark Langham
• 19 February 2014 17:30: Ushaw's Twin Sister: St Edmund's, Ware, the Douai of the South - Fr Nicholas Schofield, Archivist, Archdiocese of Westminster
• 29 January 2014 17:30: 'Science, Theology and the Simplicity of Chant - Prof Bennet Zon, Durham University
• 5 December 2013 18:00: Pope Francis and Change - Paul Vallely, co-sponsored by St Robert of Newminster Catholic School and Sixth Form College 
• 13 November 2013 18:00: A.W.N. Pugin: A Passion for Gothic - Michael Fishe
• 17 October 2013 18:00: Catherine McAuley (1778-1841) and the Mission of Mercy in Britain - Mary Sullivan
• 5 June 2013 18:00: Poverty, Persecution, and Possession: Aspects of the Jesuit Mission in North-East England, 1588–1688 - Thomas McCoog SJ, Fordham
• 22 May 2013 18:00: Sacred and Secular Silver at Ushaw - Tessa Murdoch, V&A Museum
• 1 May 2013 17:30: Devotion in a Polemical Age: Discovering Tolerance in Early Modern Britain - Prof. Alec Ryrie, Durham University
• 28 November 2012 17:30: Catholicism, Modernity and Science: Teaching at Ushaw on the eve of Vatican I - Dr. Michael Sharatt