Personal Chair
- About
-
- Email Address
- b.brock@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 272391
- Office Address
School of Divinity, History, Philosophy, and Art History
King's College, University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen AB24 3UB
United Kingdom- School/Department
- School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History
Biography
Brian Brock holds a personal Chair in Moral and Practical Theology. He joined the University of Aberdeen in 2004, following postdoctoral studies at the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nurnberg and a doctorate in Christian ethics at King’s College London. He is originally from Texas.
Brian is the author of Wondrously Wounded: Theology, Disability, and the Body of Christ; Christian Ethics in a Technological Age; and Singing the Ethos of God: On the Place of Christian Ethics in Scripture, along with many other books, edited volumes, and articles: please see the ‘Research’ tab for more details.
Brian spends much of his time teaching master’s and doctoral students. He has successfully supervised more than thirty PhD students to completion, and his many current students form a vibrant community of committed and collaborative international graduate students.
Links:
- Theology in the Raw: podcast with Preston Sprinkle
- “Disability, Diversity, and the Body of Christ”: Love Rinse Repeat podcast
- “Disability”: Gospel Beautiful podcast
- Brian Brock and Martin Wendte talk disability in Germany
- Technology, Theology and the Church: an interview by Jason Thacker
- Church, Society, and Disability: an interview with Brian Brock and Brian Sloan
- Syndicate symposium on Wondrously Wounded: Theology, Disability, and the Body of Christ
- "Who is My Neighbor: Considering Disability and Prenatal Screening," a lecture at Concordia University Irvine
- A summary of Wondrously Wounded, Nazarene Theological College, Manchester, and the University of Manchester
- Brian&Paul Live, on disability
- "Sabbath and Ethics" T.B. Maston Lecture, Baylor University
- “Simplicity and Sustainability: The ethics of Waste,” Taylor University chapel address
- Webinar on theology and sport with Lincoln Harvey and Andrew Parker
- Christ and Creation
- UK Disability History Month Blogs 2013: The History of Disability in Christian Thought
Qualifications
- DPhil Christian Ethics2003 - King's College London
- MA Christian Ethics1999 - King's College London
- Diploma Theology1997 - University of Oxford
- MA Biomedical and Clinical Ethics1996 - Loma Linda University
- BA Biology1993 - Colorado Christian University
- Postdoctoral studies Theology2004 - Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nurnberg
External Memberships
Society for the Study of Christian Ethics
Managing Editor, Journal of Disability and Religion (with John Swinton and Jana M. Bennett)
Series Co-editor, T&T Clark Enquiries in Theological Ethics (with Susan F. Parsons)
Theological Commission of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney, Scottish Episcopal Church
Prizes and Awards
Best Postgraduate Research Supervisor, Aberdeen University Students’ Association (AUSA), 2022
Alumnus of the Year Award, Loma Linda University, 2018
- Research
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Research Overview
The Aberdeen Approach to Theological Ethics and Practical Theology
Theological Ethics and Practical Theology in Aberdeen have developed a unique perspective which brings together practical theology and combines it creatively with moral theology in a way that is academically rigorous and practically transformative. Our task is to think through faith not as “belief” but as lived. Thus the primary reference of our theologizing is the lived life in all its contemporary forms. We understand our discipline to begin and end with inquiries focused on practices.
My own central interests are in moral and practical theology, by which I mean that I find theology most interesting when it is done in relation to the concrete questions of daily life. Why moral and practical theology? Since these disciplines are rarely understood the same way by two practitioners, let me explain my approach. (Aberdeen is a rare exception to the problem of practitioners having incommensurate approaches!) The "and" is important as I understand the terms to modify and situate one another. In an English-speaking context, practical theology has acquired an orientation toward the hermeneutics of contemporary culture. This orientation rightly warns moral theology against drifting to a level of abstraction that makes it appear irrelevant for the moral decisions of daily life. At the same time, moral theology serves practical theology by insisting that interpretation is not endless, but is properly circumscribed by doctrinal and confessional frameworks. My engagements with Christian doctrine and cultural hermeneutics are tied together by a third interest in the role scripture plays in God's work of generating a people with a distinctive ethos. I am constantly asking how the reading of scripture is influenced by, and influences, our reading of culture.
In sum, I am engaged in clarifying how the tradition of Christian faith and moral thinking reshapes Christian understandings of practical and moral questions. I am asking questions that lie on roughly three levels.
1) Fundamental questions in moral and practical theology.
- the sources of the Christian ethos; how it is generated and develops
- the doctrinal location of practical theology and Christian ethics
- architectonic issues in the organization of the content of Christian ethics
I see such questions as aspects of the theological work of inquiry into how the work of the Holy Spirit renews human society and all of creation.
2) Questions about the relation of the Bible and Christian ethics.
- how the hermeneutics of the Bible, culture and the self are intertwined
- how the Bible might function as a context of discovering the self-in-Christ, creation, and in Christian community
- what resources are available in the exegetical tradition for meeting these sorts of inquiries
- how do theological exegesis and moral/practical theology interrelate
3) Concrete studies which seek to discover the meaning of faith in practical life.
- I am convinced that Christian ethics and practical theology too rarely venture beyond methodological considerations. If the meaning of the Christian confession is discovered in the course of trying to live it in practical contexts, then the study of practical questions is not an ancillary project of applying Christian knowledge, but the critical furnace in which it is continually reborn. Christians need to learn to theologically name cultural events we commonly think of in secular terms. For these reasons I am interested in further study on a wide range of issues, the following being a few examples. Students interested in other practical issues should not hesitate to contact me.
- interactions between cultures and traditions: emigration and population displacement, globalisation, outsourcing, imperialism/crusade
- environmental questions: energy policy, waste management policies and practices, agricultural practices
- violence at the margins: proliferation of weapons, terrorism, insurgency, prison policy, linguistic violence
- medicine, humanity and inhumanity: mental and physical disability, practices in which the "human" is established and denied, National Health policy
- mass communication: media, publicity, advertisement, propaganda, entertainment culture
Books
Disability: Living into the Diversity of the Body of Christ (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021).
Wondrously Wounded: Theology, Disability, and the Body of Christ (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2019). (For a summary video see 1. For video responses, see 2. For Syndicate Symposium, see 3. For reviews, see 4, 5, 6, 7)
The Therapy of the Christian Body: A Theological Exposition of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Volume 2, with Bernd Wannenwetsch, forward by Douglas Campbell (Eugene: Cascade, 2018). (For a review, see 1.)
The Malady of the Christian Body: A Theological Exposition of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Volume 1, with Bernd Wannenwetsch, forward by Stanley Hauerwas. (Eugene: Cascade, 2016). (For reviews see 1, 2.)
Beginnings: Interrogating Hauerwas, with Stanley Hauerwas, ed. Kevin Hargaden (London: Continuum, 2016). (For reviews see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.)
Captive to Christ, Open to the World: On Doing Christian Ethics in Public, ed. Kenneth Oakes (Eugene: Cascade, 2014). (For reviews see 1, 2.)
Christian Ethics in a Technological Age (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010) Overview of the book. (For reviews click the following links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.)
Singing the Ethos of God: On the Place of Christian Ethics in Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) (For reviews click the following links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. See especially the special issue of the European Journal of Theology devoted to the book, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Select Edited Book
Hans G. Ulrich, Transfigured Not Conformed: Christian Ethics in a Hermeneutic Key (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022).
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
Much of my time is spent teaching master’s and doctoral students, and I welcome enquiries from students interested in studying Christian ethics in Aberdeen, and who are excited about being part of a vibrant community of committed and collaborative international graduate students.
What some of my recent doctoral students are up to: Andy Odle, Andy Draycott, Ronald Boyd-MacMillan, Andrew Keuer, Benjamin Wall, Daniel Patterson, Andrew Draper, Scott Prather, Emily Hill, Andrew Errington, Godelieve Orye, Michael Laffin, Jacob Marques Rollison, Allen Calhoun, Michael Morelli, Ross Halbach, Kevin Hargaden, Amy J. Erickson
A number of my students have gone on to have their doctoral work published: Andrew Draper (see this review and interview), Scott Prather, Tyler Atkinson, Michael Laffin, Benjamin Wall, Amy J. Erickson (see this interview), Andrew Errington, Steven Schafer, Kevin Hargaden, Jacob Marques Rollison, Timothy Shaun Price, Daniel Patterson, Ross Halbach, Allen Calhoun, Michael Morelli, Emily Beth Hill, Steve Hickey
The Aberdeen University Students’ Association (AUSA) named me Best Postgraduate Research Supervisor for 2022.
- Publications
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Seeing through the Data Shadow: Living the Communion of the Saints in a Surveillance Society
Surveillance & Society, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 533-545Contributions to Journals: ArticlesBeginnings: Interrogating Hauerwas
T&T Clark, London. 348 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksCulture as Flight from God: Jacques Ellul on the Fall
Fall Narratives: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. Hadromi-Allouche, Z., Larkin, ?. (eds.). Routledge, pp. 37-47, 10 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315581880
Die Werke Gottes und der Müll des Menschen
„Sagen, was Sache Ist“: Versuche explorativer Ethik. den Hertog, G., Heuser, S., Hofheinz, M., Wannenwetsch, B. (eds.). Evangelishe Verlagsanstalt, pp. 309-330, 22 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)Disability and Reconciliation: The Old Woman's Model
Joining Lives: A Primer on the Ministry of Reconciliation. Odle, A. (ed.). Cascade Books, pp. 78-88, 11 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersEmbodying Compassion: Disability Sport and the Mercy of God
Journal of Disability & Religion, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 171-188Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe Communio Sanctorum as Scripture’s Home: Sola, Singing and the Literal Sense
Sola Scriptura: Biblical and Theological Perspectives on Scripture, Authority and Hermeneutics. Burger, H., Juijgen, A., Peels, E. (eds.). Brill, pp. 315-334, 20 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004356436_019
‘To see what he would name them…’: Naming and Domination in a Fallen World
Fallen Animals: Art, Religion, Literature. Hadromi-Allouche, Z. (ed.). Lexington Books, pp. 1-22, 22 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)On Becoming Creatures: Being Called to Presence in a Distracted World
International Journal of Systematic Theology, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 432–452Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDiscipelschap: Waarom het Volgen van Jezus Betekent dat ik Mijzelf Moet Vergeten
Discipelschap: Een theologische peiling. de Leede, B., Paul, H. (eds.). Uitgerverij Boekencentrum, pp. 29-52, 33 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersLiving in the Wake of God’s Acts: Luther’s Mary as Key to Barth’s Command
The Freedom of a Christian Ethicist: The Future of a Reformation Legacy. Brock, B., Mawson, M. (eds.). Bloomsbury T&T Clark, pp. 65-92, 28 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)The Freedom of a Christian Ethicist: The Future of a Reformation Legacy
T&T Clark, London. 224 pagesBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9780567665980
On the Transformation of Hans Reinders
Knowing, Being Known, and the Mystery of God: Essays in Honor of Professor Hans Reinders: Teacher, Friend, and Disciple. Gaventa, B., de Jongh, E. (eds.). VU University Press, pp. 193-207, 15 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Malady of the Christian Body: A Theological Exposition of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Volume 1
Cascade Books. 253 pagesBooks and Reports: Books기독교 윤리학: (브라이언 브록)
현대신학 지형도: 조직신학 각 주제에 대한 현대적 개관. Kapic, K. M., McCormack, B. L. (eds.). 새물결플러스, pp. 293-317, 24 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersGlobalization, Eden and the Myth of Original Markets
Studies in Christian Ethics, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 402-418Contributions to Journals: ArticlesParenting as Political Resistance: Disability and 'Dealing With' Late-Modern Medicine
Review and Expositor, vol. 112, no. 3, pp. 432-448Contributions to Journals: ArticlesWhat does disability have to do with Christian ethics?: Why its absence matters
St Mark's Review, vol. 232, pp. 23-37Contributions to Journals: ArticlesWhat is ‘the public’?: Theological variations on Babel and Pentecost
The Authority of the Gospel: Explorations in Moral and Political Theology in Honor of Oliver O'Donovan. Song, R., Waters, B. (eds.). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., pp. 160-178, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersChristianity, Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts: Reflections on Morality, Vocation, and Well-Being
Journal of Religion and Society, vol. 17, pp. 1-22Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGovernment, University and the Category of Religion
Religion as a Category of Governance and Sovereignty. Stack, T., Goldberg, N. R., Fitzgerald, T. (eds.). Brill, pp. 228-247, 20 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004290594_011
Quality of Life and the Statistical Outlier: On Caring in an Industrialized Age
Journal of Disability & Religion, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 318-339Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDiscipleship as Living with God, or Wayfinding and Scripture
The Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 22-34Contributions to Journals: ArticlesForeword to Theology and California: Theological Refractions on California's Culture
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Forewords and Postscripts- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Captive to Christ, Open to the World: On Doing Christian Ethics in Public
Cascade Books, Eugene, Ore.. 160 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksJesus, der Gärtner: Christliche Fürsorge und das einfühlsame Hertz
Mission heute: Gestalt und Begründung. Haubeck, W., Heinrichs, W. (eds.). Bundes-Verlag, pp. 160-178, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersThe Psalms and Luther’s Praise Inversion: Cultural Criticism as Doxology Detection
Singing the Songs of the Lord in Foreign Lands: Psalms in Contemporary Lutheran Interpretation. Mtata, K., Niebuhr, K., Rose, M. (eds.). 1 edition. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, pp. 191-212, 22 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersLooking at "Us", Attending to "Them", Seeking the Divine: Revisiting Disability in the Christian Tradition
Journal of Religion, Disability and Health, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 327-337Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15228967.2013.809888
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Disability in the Christian Tradition: A Reader
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids. 528 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksDiscipline, sport and the religion of winners: Paul on running to win the prize, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Studies in Christian Ethics, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 4-19Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0953946811428261
Creation: Mission as Gardening
Living Witness: Explorations in Missional Ethics. Draycott, A., Rowe, J. (eds.). Inter-Varsity Press, pp. 57-78, 21 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersWas ist ursprünglich an der Ursünde?: Anti-Doxologie und der Leib der Sünde
Erbsuende: Neue Zugaenge zu einem zwielichtigen Begriff. Eva, H. (ed.). Neukirchener VerlagsgesellschaftChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersPraise: The Prophetic Public Presence of the Mentally Disabled
Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics. Hauerwas, S., Wells, S. (eds.). 2nd ed edition. Blackwell, pp. 139-152, 14 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444396683.ch11
Theologizing inclusion: 1 Corinthians 12 and the politics of the body of Christ
Journal of religion, disability & health, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 351-376Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15228967.2011.620389
Supererogation and the Riskiness of human vulnerability
The Paradox of Disability: Responses to Jean Vanier and L'Arche Communities from Theology and the Sciences. Reinders, H. S. (ed.). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., pp. 127-139, 13 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersChristian ethics in a technological age
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 408 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksOn generating categories in theological ethics: Barth, Genesis and the Ständelehre
Tyndale Bulletin, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 45-67Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMenschliche Freiheit in der Medizinethik
Gezwungene Freiheit?: Personale Freiheit in pluralistichen Gesellschaften. Mühling, M. (ed.). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 222-243, 22 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersAugustine’s Incitement to Lament, from the Enarrationes in Psalmos
Evoking Lament: A Theological Discussion. Harasta, E., Brock, B. (eds.). T&T Clark, pp. 183-202, 20 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersEvoking Lament: A Theological Discussion
T&T Clark, London, United Kingdom. 234 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksIntroduction.: Evoking Lament: A Theological Discussion
Evoking Lament: A Theological Discussion. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., pp. 1-11, 11 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
'Success and Failure': Public Disasters, Works of Love, and the Inwardness of Faithfulness
Who Am I?: Bonhoeffer's Theology Through His Poetry. Wannenwetsch, B. (ed.). T&T Clark, pp. 47-69, 23 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersAttunement to Saints Past and Present: Clarifications and Convergences
European Journal of Theology, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 155-163Contributions to Journals: ArticlesAutism, Care, and Christian Hope
Journal of religion, disability & health, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 7-28Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15228960802581404
Why the Estates? Hans Ulrich's Recovery of an Unpopular Notion
Studies in Christian Ethics, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 179-202Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0953946807079849
Genetics, Conversation and Conversion: A Discourse at the Interface of Molecular Biology and Christian Ethics
Theology, Disability and the New Genetics: Why Science Needs the Church. Swinton, J., Brock, B. (eds.). Continuum, pp. 146-160, 15 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersTheology, Disability and the New Genetics: Why science needs the church
T&T Clark, London, United Kingdom. 264 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksSinging the Ethos of God: On the place of Christian ethics in Scripture
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. 432 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksThe Physician as Political Actor: Late Abotion and the Strictures of Liberal Moral Discourse
Studies in Christian Ethics, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 153-168Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0953946806066147
Justice as technological and economic advance in late capitalism: The case of genetically modified crops
In: Societas Ethica, Jahresbericht/Annual 2003: Economics, Justice and Welfare, Wirtschaft, Gerechtigkeit and Gemeinwohl, Basel, pp. 163-171, 8 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters