Contact Details

Telephone

work +44 (0)1224 273120

Email

paul.nimmo@abdn.ac.uk

Address

The University of Aberdeen Divinity - King's College
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
AB24 3UB
Scotland

Web Links

Paul Nimmo on Friedrich Schleiermacher

Paul Nimmo on the Church of Scotland Learn initiative

Aberdeen Centre for Protestant Theology

Barth Studies at the University of Aberdeen

Biography

Paul Nimmo holds the King's Chair of Systematic Theology (1620) at the University of Aberdeen. He joined the University in 2013, having previously held the position of Meldrum Senior Lecturer in Reformed Theology at the University of Edinburgh, where he had worked since 2008. His own studies were undertaken at the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, while his first academic position was as a post-doctoral Research Assistant and Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. 

Paul received a John Templeton Award for Theological Promise in 2009 for his first book Being in Action: The Theological Shape of Barth's Ethical Vision (T&T Clark, 2007), and is also the author of Barth: A Guide for the Perplexed (T&T Clark, 2016). He is the co-Editor of The Cambridge Companion to Reformed Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2016 - with David Fergusson [Edinburgh]) and the Editor of the Church of Scotland congregational resource Learn: Understanding our Faith (St Andrew Press, 2017). His current book projects include the monograph Karl Barth and the Eucharist: Thinking with and after Barth on the Lord's Supper (for T&T Clark), a monograph on the Reformed doctrines of the Lord's Supper, and the edited volume The Oxford Handbook of Karl Barth (for Oxford University Press - with Paul Dafydd Jones [UVA]). 

Paul is co-Director (with Tom Greggs and Phil Ziegler) of the Aberdeen Centre for Protestant Theology, founded in 2017. He is also Senior Editor of the International Journal of Systematic Theology, for which he was Managing Editor from 2006 to 2014, and is Series Co-Editor of Explorations in Reformed Theology (with Paul Dafydd Jones). He has been a Fellow of the Center for Barth Studies in Princeton since 2009, and became co-Chair (with Cynthia Rigby [Austin]) of the AAR Reformed Theology and History Group Steering Committee in 2017, having been a Member of the Committee since 2012. He has also been a Member of the AAR Friedrich Schleiermacher Group Committee since 2016. He was the elected Treasurer of the Society of the Study of Theology from 2013 to 2016, and delivered the Kerr Lectures in Glasgow in 2008. 

Research Interests

My research interests lie primarily in the field of systematic theology, exploring the meaning, coherence, and implications of Christian doctrine. My particular areas of focus are in the theology of Karl Barth, in the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher, in the history and theology of the Reformed tradition (particularly as it has developed in Scotland), and in the central loci of dogmatic enquiry, including the doctrine of God, Christology, pneumatology, creation, soteriology, ecclesiology, and sacramentology.

I would be very happy to hear from anyone thinking about on-campus postgraduate research at the University of Aberdeen in any of the following fields of study:

• the theology of Karl Barth

I have a long-standing interest in the theology of Karl Barth. The monograph which I am currently writing is entitled Karl Barth and the Eucharist, a book which seeks to think with and after Barth on the theology of the Lord's Supper. This research builds explicitly on work I carried out in my first monograph - Being in Action: The Theological Shape of Barth's Ethical Vision. I have published a textbook entitled Karl Barth: A Guide for the Perplexed, and am currently co-editing the Oxford Handbook of Karl Barth with Professor Paul Dafydd Jones. I have also written a series of research articles and teaching essays on such doctrines as election, pneumatology, vocation, hamartiology, sacramentology, justification, and ecclesiology in the theology of Karl Barth.

• the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher

I also have a long-standing interest in the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher. I have written a number of research articles which explore his views of soteriology, justification, and the sacraments, and have published an extended article on his construal of the relationship between Scripture and the work of Jesus Christ. I hope in the future to turn my attention to a further extended article on his doctrine of God and its relation to the wider Reformed tradition.

• the history and theology of the Reformed tradition

I have a profound passion for the systematic theology of the Reformed tradition in all its historical and doctrinal diversity and as a lived and ecumenical form of Christian faith. As well as co-editing the Cambridge Companion to Reformed Theology with David Fergusson, I have engaged in research articles not only with the work of Barth and Schleiermacher but also with the work of figures such as Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, Heinrich Bullinger, John McLeod Campbell, Herman Bavinck, and T. F. Torrance. I have a particular interest in the way in which this tradition has been received, appropriated, and furthered in Scotland - by way of the history (and the present) of its churches and colleges, as well as how it might be constructively developed in future.

• the central loci of Christian doctrine
  

My research has always gravitated towards the core tenets of lived Christian faith - beliefs about God, Jesus Christ, the Spirit, creation, salvation, the church, and the sacraments - and towards exploring their theological meaning, their dogmatic connectedness, and their current relevance. My work extends beyond tradition-specific enquiry to a broader consideration of the biblical roots, the historical elucidations, and the constructive implications of these doctrines.

Collaborations

Cambridge Companion to Reformed Theology

co-Editor with Professor David Fergusson, University of Edinburgh

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016

Learn: Understanding our Faith 

Editor

Edinburgh: St Andrew Press, 2017

Oxford Handbook of Karl Barth

co-Editor with Professor Paul Dafydd Jones, University of Virginia

for Oxford University Press (forthcoming 2018)

Teaching Responsibilities

In the course of my work in Cambridge, in Edinburgh, and now in Aberdeen, I have taught a wide variety of topics in Christian theology, Christian ethics, and church history. In 2008, I was a Guest Lecturer at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, while in 2011, at Edinburgh, I won a University-wide Teaching Award that was organised and presented by the Students' Association. 

In Aberdeen, I have taught and/or teach on the following undergraduate courses:

• SX1017 : Global Issues, Global Religions
• DR1038 : The Rise of Christianity
• DR1547 : Introduction to Christian Theology
• DR2057 : Major Christian Thinkers
• KL252C : Sacramental Theology
• DR406A : Theology of Karl Barth
• DR4085 : These Three are One – the Christian Doctrine of God

I have also taught and/or teach on the following postgraduate Masters courses:

• DR501U : Theology of Karl Barth
• DR501V : The Christian Doctrine of God
• DR503N : Readings in Systematic Theology

When not on research leave, I direct the Research Seminar in Systematic Theology at Aberdeen, and also run a regular Development Seminar for students in the subject area of Divinity – this offers a variety of guest speaker events, doctoral strategy seminars, and professional development workshops. I also lead an intermediate-level German Reading Group for students in Divinity.

External Responsibilities

Senior Editor

International Journal of Systematic Theology

Co-Director

Aberdeen Centre for Protestant Theology

External Examiner

University of Durham

- Examiner (undergraduate) in Systematic Theology and Ecclesiastical History

Series Co-Editor

T&T Clark Explorations in Reformed Theology

Co-Chair

AAR Reformed Theology & History Group

Member

Steering Committee, AAR Friedrich Schleiermacher Unit

Editorial Board, IVP Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture series

Editorial Board, Revista Teológica

Advisory Board, Studies in Dialectical Theology series

Fellow, Karl Barth Translators' Seminar

Member, Princeton–Kampen Theological Colloquium

Former Responsibilities

Managing Editor, International Journal of Systematic Theology (2006–2014)

Treasurer, Society for the Study of Theology (2013–2016)

Steering Committee, AAR Reformed Theology & History Unit (2012-2017)

Steering Committee, Society for the Study of Theology (2009–2012)

Member, AHRC Network Team – 'Doctrine after Christendom' (2013–2014)

External Examiner, Edinburgh Theological Seminary (2012–2016)

External Examiner, University of the Highlands and Islands (2012–2015)

Admin Responsibilities

Current Responsibilities

• Head of Divinity and Religious Studies (2016– )

• Academic Line Manager in Divinity (2016– )

• Member, Senatus Academicus (2016– )

• Member, Honorary Degrees Committee (2017– )

• Member, Gifford Lectures Committee (2014– )

Former Responsibilities

• Director, Internal Teaching Review for Divinity, History, and Philosophy (2015)

• Postgraduate Co-ordinator, Divinity and Religious Studies (2014–2015)

Invited Lectureships

University of Glasgow                    

The Kerr Lectures in 2008

Title:   'A Theology of Obedience'

Form:  a series of eight public lectures in Glasgow

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Guest Lecturer in Reformed Theology in 2008 

Title:   'Grundthemen der Theologie Karl Barths'

Form:  a block of ten seminars in German

Church Connections

At the heart of my work is a passion for encouraging the relationship between the study of systematic theology and the life of Christian communities. I hope to be able to contribute to the strengthening of the connection between church and academy.

I am an ordained elder in the Church of Scotland, and participate in diverse ways in the life of the church – both locally and nationally. My work includes not only regular preaching in local churches but also the diverse forms of service mentioned below.

Denomination         

Church of Scotland

Positions                  

2014 –              Associate, Centre for Ministry Studies, University of Aberdeen

2014–2018        Theological Adviser, Learn initiative of the Church of Scotland

2008–2015        Member, Joint Commission on Doctrine [CoS / RC]

2011–2013        Member, ACTS / Church of Scotland ‘Why Believe?’ Group

2009–2012        Member, Church of Scotland Working Group on Human Sexuality

Conferences

December 2015   Sharing Future Church Conference, Edinburgh

May 2013           The First Academy, Church, State Conference, Edinburgh

March 2013        The Year of Faith Conference, Glasgow             

Placements              

2006–2007        St. Columba’s Church (Pont Street), London

spring 2005       Morningside Parish Church, Edinburgh

Internships              

summer 2005     Parish of the North Isles, Shetland

summer 2004     Parish of Manish-Scarista, Isle of Harris

summer 2003     Parish of Bracadale and Duirinish, Isle of Skye

Selected Publications

List of Publications at December 2017

List of Presentations at December 2017