Dr Sam Newington

Dr Sam Newington
Dr Sam Newington
Dr Sam Newington

MA (King's College, University of London), PhD (St John's College, University of Durham).

Senior Lecturer

About

School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, KCG17 King's College, University of Aberdeen, Old Aberdeen, AB24 3FX.

Biography

This is my 13th fantastic year here in the Divinity department at the University of Aberdeen. I am delighted to announce too that I have recently been promoted to Senior Lecturer which took effect in August 2021.

 

I studied Classics at King's College (University London) where I read for my MA. In 2006, I graduated from Durham University, St John's College, with a PhD. My PhD research involved exploring creation myths from ancient Greece and the ancient Near East.

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

I have a number of administration roles:

 

Programme Co-ordinator for Christian and Religious Studies Programme (2011-2019)

Undergraduate Programme Co-ordinator (Student Experience) (February 2019-August 2022)

Admissions (Divinity) (August 2021-August 2022)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer (DHPA) (August 2021-date)

Interim Director of Teaching and Education (DHPA) (August 2022-September 2022)

Elected Member of Senatus Academicus (Senate: DHPA) (2023-2026) 

External Memberships

Outside of my role here at Aberdeen, I am a member of the CAS committee and Director of Greek and Latin Summer School. Further details concerning a forthcoming event, Ancient Voices, are located here: https://cas.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/ancient-voices/

 

As part of the Erasmus+ scheme, I had the wonderful opportunity to teach and deliver a research paper at the University of Bergen (15th May 2023-19th May 2023)

Latest Publications

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

AUSA Shortlist Nominations:

  • 2022 Best Lecturer
  • 2023 Mental Health Champion
Research

Research Overview

Although my teaching centres on Greek and Roman language, culture and history, my research area includes Near Eastern Studies. I am currently researching cross-cultural influences between the Near East and Greece.

I am able to supervise undergraduate and postgraduate students looking to research within the following areas:

  • Greek literature (in particular epic, lyric and drama)
  • Ancient Greek religion, in particular, mystery religion

Research Areas

Divinity

Supervising

Religious Studies

Supervising

Research Specialisms

  • Ancient History
  • Classical Studies
  • Theology and Religious Studies
  • Classical Greek Studies
  • Latin Language

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Current Research

Current publications include:

  • Currently working on a commissioned volume: Stuckenbruck, L.T. & Newington, S. (eds), Animals and Monsters in Ancient Greek Religion and Culture (London: Taylor and Francis Group, forthcoming).
  • Currently working on an academic journal article for publication on the following topic: Monstrous Metamorphosis in Creation Narratives.

 

Current research projects include the following:

  • A seminar series - Visualising the Divine (2022-2023)

 

 

Past Research

Recently, summer 2022, I steered a symposium on Theology, Ecology and Climate - past and present.

Knowledge Exchange

Throughout the year, I offer a range of outreach event in collaboration with CAS. More recently, providing online international workshops on ancient languages and providing talks on a range of ancient history and classical studies topics. Further details are also located on the CAS webpage: https://cas.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2020/10/29/euge-latin-for-absolute-beginners/

 

I am currently the Director for the CAS: Ancient Voices Summer Workshop, which is an annual event. Further details area located here: https://cas.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/

Collaborations

I have collaborated with Dr Sian Lewis (St Andrews University) on two workshops: Sacred Animals and Monsters in Greek and the Near Eastern Religions (22nd-23rd January 2014) and Animals, Monsters and Demons: a Comparative Approach (22nd-23rd January 2015). We are now working towards an edited volume publication drawn from both events.

 

 

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Divinity, Religious Studies.

I am currently a PhD supervisor for the following topic areas:

- Ancient Magic

- Goddesses in the Ancient Greek World

- Attitudes towards Death in Ancient Greece

- Comparative reception between ancient Greek and Norse Mythology

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

I am the course co-ordinator for a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules (unless otherwise stated below):

Level 1 and Level 2

  • DR1039/DR1078: New Testament Greek I
  • DR101Z/DR101Y/DR201Z/DR201Y: Atheism and Atheisms (contributor)
  • DR101E/DR101F/DR201E/DR201F: What it Means to be Dead
  • DR101C/DR101B/DR201C/DR201B: Religions of Ancient Greece and Beyond
  • DR151A/DR151B/DR250A/DR250B: Ancient Empires: Religion, Power and Politics
  • DR151W/DR251W: God, Sexualities and Identity (contributor)
  • DR1538/DR1578: New Testament Greek II
  • DR1596/DR2596: Mysticism (contributor)
  • DR153G/DR253G/ DR153H/DR253H: Wine, Revelry and Dangerous Women: Followers of Dionysus
  • DR152C/DR152D/DR252C/DR152C: Magic, Mystery, Spells and Potions
  • LT1009/LT1010: Latin 
  • LT1507/LT1508: Latin

 

Level 3 and Level 4 

  • DR301P / DR351P / DR355C: Special Subject
  • DR4046/DR4543: Senior Honours - Special Subject
  • DR351Y/DR351Z/DR451Z/DR451Y: Cosmos and Creation in the Ancient World
  • DR352X/DR352Y/DR452Y/DR452X: Animals and Monsters in the Ancient Greek World and Beyond
  • DR4544: Dissertation

 

Level 5 and Postgraduate:

  • Dissertation and Research supervision

 

PhD Supervision

Current lead supervisor for the following PhD topics:

 

  • Goddesses in Ancient Greek performance texts
  • Ancient Greek attitudes towards death
  • Ancient Greek Magic
  • Revisiting Norse Mythology

 

Publications

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Contributions to Conferences

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