Peter Scott

Prof

  • Room S1.43 [south wing, 1st floor], Samuel Alexander Building (no. 67 on campus map)

    M13 9PL Manchester

    United Kingdom

Personal profile

Biography

I came to the University of Manchester in 2005 from the University of Gloucestershire, where I had been teaching since 1989. Before that, I completed a PhD at the University of Bristol: An Epistemology for Liberation: Marxist Questions to Liberation Theology (1990).

In both teaching and research I am committed to relating theological insights to the dilemmas and issues of modern life. My work thereby cuts across disciplinary boundaries and draws on political theory and philosophy as well as Christian theological traditions. I am the author of Theology, Ideology and Liberation (Cambridge University Press, 1994), A Political Theology of Nature (Cambridge University Press, 2003), Anti-human Theology: Nature, Technology and the Postnatural (SCM, 2010), A Theology of Postnatural Right (LIT Verlag, 2019), and numerous articles, and am co-editor of the Blackwell Companion to Political Theology (2004), second edition (2019).

I am the Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute, a centre for advanced research in religion and society at the University of Manchester. I am principal investigator of the research project, Religion, Theology and Climate Change (2022-2025), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Furthermore, I am a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry (Princeton, USA) and part of its enquiry in Astrobiology. I'm also the Chair of the European Forum for the Study of Religion and the Environment (2018-2024) and Co-Investigator for the ESRC-funded project 'Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty and Politics in the 21st Century City' (2019-2022).

For quick access to my publications, please click here for a list of research articles and click here for a list of books. 

If you are interested in doctoral or masters supervision, please click on my Research and Projects tab above, and then use the contact information above to get in touch with me. I look forward to hearing from you.

Office Hours

By arrangement

Either in person (Sam Al, room S1.43) or by Zoom: please e mail for an appointment.

 

Research interests

My research focuses on what it means to speak of the goodness of God in the ways of the world. It has two theological themes and two political perspectives:

*The two themes are the doctrines of God and humanity

*The two perspectives are the ecological-natural-technological and the global-democratic.

I am interested in research enquiries that link one or both of these loci to one or both of these perspectives. For example, I have published extensively in the theology of nature, seeking to develop the doctrine of God in ecological directions. I am currently developing a trinitarian anthropology that focuses on human action: how is human action to be understood by reference to the non-human and the global horizon? It follows that some developments in bioethics and science studies are of interest to me as are debates over technology and democracy. Most especially, the issues of political representation and political authority are moving to the centre of my research: what happens to "democracy" when the centrality of the human and the nation-state are challenged? How do theological resources on representation lead or reshape such considerations?   I wish to supervise doctoral students interested in engaging in such interdisciplinary theological work, or who wish to work in any of the research interests given below. Please contact me to begin a conversation.   Research interests: Political and liberation theologies, theology of nature/doctrine of creation, theology of right,  theologies and philosophies of technology, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Marxism.

Other research

Peter Manley Scott is Samuel Ferguson Professor of Applied Theology & Director of the Lincoln Theological Institute at the University of Manchester, UK.

He is author of Theology, Ideology and Liberation (CUP, 1994; paperback edition 2009), A Political Theology of Nature (CUP, 2003), Anti-human Theology: Nature, Technology and the Postnatural (SCM, 2010), and A Theology of Postnatural Right (LIT Verlag, 2019).

He is co-editor of The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology (Blackwell, 2004; paperback edition 2006; second edition, 2019), Future Perfect (Continuum, 2006), Re-moralising Britain? (Continuum, 2008), Nature Space & the Sacred (Ashgate 2009) and Ecotheology 11:2 special issue on theology and technology (Equinox, 2006), the International Journal of Public Theology 2:1 special issue on urban theology (Brill, 2008), Systematic Theology and Climate Change (Routledge, 2014), and At Home in the Future (LIT Verlag, 2016).

His research is to be found at the intersection between theology and studies of nature, technology and society, politics and salvation, and he is widely published on these topics. His current research is towards a monograph, The Resurrection of Society: a theological materialism.

Visit the Lincoln Theological Institute homepage for more information on the work of the Institute of which Prof. Scott is the Director.

Other teaching information

I teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels:

UNDERGRADUATE:

Year 1 RELT 10911 Theological Studies in Philosophy and Ethics

Year 3 RELT 30672 Radical Theologies

MA:

RELT 71001 Theology on the Ground

 

Supervision information

Details of theses prior to 2011. 

2010

 

Unity among Evangelical Churches in Ethiopia: A Practical Theological Investigation

 

Author: Samson Hailegiorgis

Supervisor: Scott, P (Supervisor)

 

UoM administered thesis: PhD

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

Editorial Board, Crucible: Journal of Christian Social Ethics

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

External positions

Interim Chair, Board of Trustees, Chaplaincy to Higher Education in Manchester

1 Mar 202030 Nov 2020

Chair of Governors, Trinity Church of England High School

15 Oct 2019 → …

Anglican priest, The Apostles and St Cuthbert's, Miles Platting, The Church of England Diocese of Manchester

30 Jun 2014 → …

Areas of expertise

  • BT Doctrinal Theology
  • BR Christianity

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Policy@Manchester
  • Manchester Environmental Research Institute
  • Creative Manchester

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