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Dr Philip Ziegler
 
Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology

BA, University of Toronto
MA (Theology), University of St Michael's College
STL, Regis College
M. Div, Th. D, Victoria University / University of Toronto

Biography

In earning a doctorate from the University of Toronto I studied systematic and historical theology, ecumenics and the philosophy of religion at several member colleges of the Toronto School of Theology. During 2000-01 I was a Junior Fellow of Massey College in the University of Toronto . After spending the next year as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University's Center for the Study of Religion, I joined the faculty of the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Canada as Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology and taught there for several years before coming to Aberdeen as Lecturer in Systematic Theology in January 2006.

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Research Interests

My chief research interests include developments in contemporary Christian dogmatics with particular interest in trends within 'post-liberal' theology; the doctrines of justification, election and revelation; the theological bases of Christian ethics and politics; the history of modern Protestant theology generally, and within it particularly the theologies of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth and Søren Kierkegaard.  The theological critique of religion remains an abiding interest of mine.

My last book project investigated the trajectory of the theological legacies of Barth and Bonhoeffer within the aggressively disestablished Protestant churches of the former East Germany. Focussing on the work of one of that country's leading theologians, Wolf Krötke, I examined his efforts to reformulate the doctrines of God, church and humanity in face of the challenge posed by  Gottesvergessenheit, or mass atheistic indifference to Christianity and its claims.

Following upon my postdoctoral research, I remain interested in North Atlantic developments in contemporary 'public theology' and have a growing interest within this in the theological understanding of public law.

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Current Research

At present I am preparing a book length study of the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer under the title, Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Theologian of the Word of God to appear in the Great Theologians series from Ashgate. My paper from the  X. International Bonhoeffer Congress in Prague in 2008 entitled, 'Secularity and Eschatology in Bonhoeffer's Late Works' is being published this autumn in the proceedings, and together with other recent articles on Bonhoeffer, indicates the direction of this larger study. I am also contracted to prepare a Readers Guide to Bonhoeffer's Ethics for T&T Clark/Continuum in the near future.

I am involved with a number of scholars from North America in spearheading a consultation at the upcoming American Academy of Religion in Montreal in November 2009 entitled 'Explorations in Theology and Apocalyptic' considering the significance of recent developments in undertanding biblical--and more particularly, Pauline--apocalyptic for contemporary systematic theology and theological ethics.  It is hoped that the sessions will be the beginning of an ongoing programme of collaborative research into these themes. You can read more about the details of this project as it develops here.  In a related vein, in September of this year I presented a paper entitled, 'Eschatological Dogmatics: To What End?' as part of the Durham-Tuebingen Colloquy; it will be included in the volume Eschatologie / Eschatology to be published next year by Mohr-Siebeck in their series, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament.

Following on from other recent work, I continue to investigate the question of the proper dogmatic location of the question of human law. To this end, I am reflecting upon the scope of the doctrine of the Lordship of Christ / Christ's Royal Office and their bearing upon theological ethics and politics, especially in relation to recourse to natural law in the traditions of Reformed theology. 

In the longer term, I am looking to build towards larger scale historical and systematic studies of the relation between the doctrines of election and justification and their significance for Protestant theological anthropology, ethics and political theology, particularly in the Reformed tradition.

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Teaching Responsibilities

I teach on and/or co-ordinate (*) the following courses:

• Christian Belief: Critics and Defenders* (DR 1529)
• Beginnings and Ends of Creation* (DR 3084/3584)
  
• Scottish Theology (DR 4041)
• Modern Christian Thought *(DR 4065/4565)
  
• God, Christ, Salvation (DR 4055/4555)
• The Bible and Theology (DR 5555)
• Systematic Theology Since the Enlightenment* (DR 5083/5583)
  
• Trinity and Christology (DR 5084/5584)

I am Programme Co-ordinator for the M.Th. in Systematic Theology, and also convene the Postgraduate and Faculty Seminar in Philosophy of Religion

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Administrative Responsibilities

I am currently serving as Acting Head of the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy.

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External Responsibilities

 I am currently General Secretary of the Karl Barth Society of North America.

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Selected Publications

Books

• Doing Theology When God is Forgotten: The Theological Achievement of Wolf Krötke (Peter Lang, 2006). 

Edited Works

• The Doctrine of Providence, edited by Philip G. Ziegler and Francesca Murphy (London: T&T Clark/Continuum), 2009. 

• Explorations in Christian Theology and Ethics: Essays in Conversation with Paul L. Lehmann, edited by Philip G. Ziegler and Michelle J. Bartel (Aldershot: Ashgate), 2009.

• George P. Schner, Essays Catholic and Critical. Edited by P.G. Ziegler and M. Husbands. (Aldershot: Ashgate Press, 2003)

Essays and Articles

• '"Not to abolish, but to fulfill"—The Person of the Preacher and the Claim of the Sermon,' Studies in Christian Ethics 22:3 (2009), 275-289.

• 'Secularity and Eschatology in Bonhoeffer's Late Work,' in Dietrich Bonhoeffers Theologie heute Ein Weg zwischen Fundamentalismus und Säkularismus?, edited by J. De Gruchy, S. Plant and C. Tietz (Guetersloh: Guetersloher Verlaghaus, 2009), pp. 124-138.
  

• 'The Uses of Providence in Public Theology,' in The Doctrine of Providence, edited by Philip G. Ziegler and Francesca Murphy (London: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2009), 307-325.

• 'Creation, Redemption and Law—Toward a Protestant Perspective on the Question of Human Law' in Explorations in Christian Theology and Ethics: Essays in Conversation with Paul L. Lehmann, eds. P. Ziegler and M. Bartel (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 63-78.
  

• '‘Voices in the Night’—Human Solidarity and Eschatological Hope,' in Who Am I? Bonhoeffer's Theology Through His Poetry, ed. B. Wannenwetsch (London: T&T Clark/Continuum, 2009), p. 115-146.

• 'Taken Out of Context–Freedom and Concreteness in the Theology of Wolf Krötke,' Communio Viatorum, I/2008, pp. 74-92.

•  'Stumbling Upon Peter? The Question of the Church in Ecumenical Dialogue,' in Ecumenism Today, ed. F.A. Murphy, C. Asprey and E.E. Puosi (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), pp. 17-28.

• 'Dietrich Bonhoeffer—An Ethics of God's Apocalypse?' Modern Theology 23:4 (October 2007), pp. 579-594.

• 'Barth's Criticisms of Kierkegaard—A Striking Out at Phantoms?' International Journal of Systematic Theology 9:4 (October 2007), pp. 434-451.

• 'A Christian Context for Conscience? Reading Kierkegaard's Works of Love Beyond Hegel's Critique of Conscience', European Journal of Theology 15:1 (2007), pp. 25-36.

• ''To Honour God's "Good Violence"—Some Notes and Queries Relating to Hans Boersma's Violence, Hospitality and the Cross,' Canadian Evangelical Review 30-31 (Fall 2005-Spring 2006), pp. 106-113.

• 'Christian Theology and Democratic Politics in Conversation with Jeffrey Stout,' Theology Today 63:2 (July 2006), pp. 227-234.

• 'Justification and Justice-The Promising Problematique of Protestant Ethics in the Work of Paul L. Lehmann,' Berliner Theologische Zeitschift , 2004/1, pp. 140-153.  Also published in , Justification: What’s at Stake in the Current Debates, eds. M. Husbands and D. Treier (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), pp. 118-133.
  

• 'God and Some Recent Public Theologies,' International Journal of Systematic Theology, 4:2 (2002), pp. 137-155.

• 'Doing Conscience Over: The Reformulation of the Doctrine of Conscience in Karl Barth and Paul Lehmann,' Toronto Journal of Theology 14:2 (1998), pp. 213-238.

Translations

• Wolf Krötke, Sin and Nothingness in the Theology of Karl Barth. Edited and translated by P.G. Ziegler and C.-M. Bammel. Studies in Reformed Theology and History , New Series 10, 2005.  The full text of this work is freely available online here.
  

• Eberhard Jüngel, 'Theses On the Relation of the Essence, Existence and Attributes of God,' Toronto Journal of Theology. 17:1 (Summer 2001), pp. 55-74.

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