Aberdeen University has been committed to Ministry Studies since its creation by Bishop Elphinstone in 1495. For more than 500 years our University has been ‘open to all and dedicated to the pursuit of truth in the service of others.’ This commitment was renewed in 2014 with the creation of the Centre for Ministry Studies which was formed to develop a creative working relationships between the academy and the church. In addition to its practical training initiatives and academic courses, the Centre is engaged in uncompromising and transformational research into matters that concern the mission of God in the world today.
Click the tabs below for more information on what Aberdeen has to offer by way of research expertise and doctoral supervision, how to apply, and what students can expect when studying with us.
- Ministry Studies in Aberdeen
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Ministry Studies research at Aberdeen University is both practical and theological. It is practical in its commitment to wrestle with the real challenges and the opportunities that present themselves to the Christian church in a post-modern society as it seeks to participate in the mission of God. It is wholly theological as it draws upon the Scriptural witness and the history of tradition that bear testimony to the enduring nature of faith, hope and love. We are resolute in our commitment to robust research into themes and subjects that are related to Christian ministry.
- Staff
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Prof Tom Greggs
Interests include: Church-state relations, Ecclesiology, Homiletics, Inter-religious dialogue, Orders of ministry, Secularism
Dr Katie Hockey
Interests include: The formation and shaping of Early Christian identity/identities; 1 Peter and the Catholic Epistles; Christian self-conception; emotion studies and the New Testament; and Greco-Roman philosophical ethics and rhetoric.
Rev Dr Ken Jeffrey
Interests include: Christian Practices, Homiletics, Hospitality, Leadership, Mission, Pastoral Care, Revivals, Spiritual Formation
Dr Sam Newington
Interests include: Creation Narratives, Ancient Mystery Religions, Theories of Religion
Prof Paul Nimmo
Interests include: Christian Doctrines, Theology of Preaching, Theology of the Sacraments, Christian Discipleship, History of the Church in Scotland, History of Theology in Scotland
Dr Leon van Ommen
Interests include: Liturgy, Worship, Autism, Disability, Pastoral Care, Homiletics, Narrative, Suffering, Joy.
Rev Prof John Swinton
Interests include:
Disability theology – the ways in which the experience of human disability impacts upon theology and practice;
Dementia – what does it mean to know and to love God when you have forgotten who God is? Wat theologies and practices enable us to respond faithfully to such a question.
Mental health studies – how do Christians experience mental health challenges and what has theology and the practices of the church got to offer to mental health care.
Chaplaincy – what is the role of chaplaincy in contemporary society.
End of life care – what does it mean to die well?
Theodicy – how are Christians to make sense of the presence of evil and suffering in a world created by a God who is love
Rev Prof Phil Ziegler
Interests include: Theology of the Word and Homiletics, the Christian Life, Public Theology, confessions and doctrines of the Reformed Churches
- Publications
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Very select publications in this area from among our faculty include:
Tom Greggs, Dogmatic Ecclesiology: Volume 1—The Priestly Catholicity of the Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019).
Tom Greggs (ed.), New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology: Engaging God, Scripture and the World, editor (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010).
Katherine Hockey, ‘Resilience in 1 Peter: Faithfulness and Hope in the Face of Adversity’, in N. H. White & C. C. H. Cook (eds), Biblical and Theological Visions of Resilience: Pastoral and Clinical Insights (Routledge, Abingdon, 2020), pp. 98-110.
Paul T Nimmo, ‘Baptismal Theology and Practice in the Church of Scotland’, in Worship and Liturgy in Context: Studies and Case Studies in Theology and Practice, eds. Duncan B. Forrester and Doug Gay (London: SCM, 2009): 92–106
Paul T Nimmo (ed.), Learn: Understanding Our Faith (Edinburgh: St Andrew Press, 2017)
Paul T Nimmo, ‘The Eucharist in post-Reformation Scotland: A Theological Tale of Harmony and Diversity’, in Scottish Journal of Theology 71.4 (2018): 460–480
Paul T Nimmo, ‘The Theology of Preaching: A Reformed Perspective’, in Theology in Scotland 25.2 (2018): 7–22
Armand Léon van Ommen, Suffering in Worship: Anglican Liturgy in Relation to Stories of Suffering People (London: Routledge, 2017).