Dr Ben Fulford
Deputy Head, Humanities, Cultures and Environment
Dr. Ben Fulford is Deputy Head of Humanities, Cultures and Environment in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Chester, where he is also Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology. He provides oversight of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Theology and Religious Studies as part of the leadership team of the School, leading an interdisciplinary team to deliver high quality, engaging teaching and supervision in a supportive and friendly learning community, informed by excellent research and scholarship.
Dr. Fulford is a scholar of ancient and modern Christian theology. He teaches modules in theology, philosophy of religion and ethics and supervises doctoral students working in historical, modern and practical theology.
Dr Fulford teaches undergraduate modules on Christian theology, ethics, the concept of God, and responses to evil and has taught a range of subjects in historical and systematic theology. He has supervised doctoral students working on topics such as 'The significance of Gefühl for the development of Karl Barth's Theological Anthropology 1909–1938', 'Working with God: the practice of connecting Christian faith with everyday life'; and the usefulness of George Lindbeck's 'Postliberal' approach to doctrine for resolving contemporary Christian controversies.
Dr. Fulford's research has focused on the theological interpretation of the Bible, early Christian theology and biblical interpretation, and post-liberal theology and ethics. He is a leading scholar of the fourth-century bishop, Gregory of Nazianzus and the twentieth century American theologian, Hans Frei. Together with Dr Hannah Ewence, he co-leads a project researching and developing modes of public engagement with the relationship between sacred spaces and British imperial history, which includes a partnership with Chester Cathedral. He also has research interests in theological anthropology, theology and sexuality, political theology, trinitarian theology and Christology. Dr Fulford is a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England and a past Assistant Secretary of the Society for the Study of Theology with oversight of its Theology and Race initiative.
Books
Forthcoming God’s Patience and our Work: Hans Frei, Generous Orthodoxy and the Ethics of Hope. SCM Press.
2013. Divine Eloquence and Human Transformation: Rethinking Scripture and History through Gregory of Nazianzus and Hans Frei. Fortress Press.
Book chapters
2020. Hans Frei: beyond liberal and conservative. In Peterson, P. S. (ed.) Generous Orthodoxies: Essays on the History and Future of Ecumenical Theology. Wipf and Stock.
2020. Barth and Hans W. Frei. In Hunsinger, G. & Johnson, K. L. (eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Karl Barth (vol. 2). Wiley Blackwell, 645-656.
2016. Thinking about marriage with Scripture. In J. Bradbury & S. Cornwall (eds.), Thinking again about marriage: key theological questions. SCM Press, 44-61.
2012. Gregory of Nazianzus and Biblical Interpretation. In C. Beeley (ed.), Re-Reading Gregory of Nazianzus: Essays on History, Theology, and Culture. Catholic University of America Press, 31-48.
2010. Feeding and Forming the People of God: the Lord, his Supper and the Church in Calvin and 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. In T. Greggs (ed.), New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology: Engaging with God, Scripture and the World. Routledge, 93-107.
Articles
2018. Light and Darkness - IV. Christianity. In C. Helmer, S.L. McKenzie, T. Romer, J. Schroter, B.D. Walfish, E. Ziolkowski (eds.), The Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception vol. 16. Lectionary - Lots. Cols. 584-587. Berlin: De Gruyter.
2017. Moderating Religious Identity and the Eclipse of Religious Wisdoms: Lessons from Hans Frei. The Review of Faith and International Affairs 15:2, 24-33.
2011. Divine Names and the Embodied Intellect: Imagination and Sanctification in Gregory of Nazianzus’ account of Theological Language. Studia Patristica 50, 217-231.
2009. ‘One Commixture of Light’: Rethinking some Modern Uses and Critiques of Gregory of Nazianzus on the Unity and Equality of the Divine Persons. International Journal of Systematic Theology 11:2, 172-189.
- MA (Cantab)
- DipThRS (Cantab)
- MPhil (Cantab)
- PhD (Cantab)
- FHEA