George Newlands

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Reverend Professor George Newlands MA BD MA(Cantab) PhD DLitt FRSA
Reverend Professor George Newlands MA BD MA(Cantab) PhD DLitt FRSA

George McLeod Newlands is Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow

Contents

[edit] Background

George Newlands is considered by some to be Scotland's leading liberal Christian theologian. One measure of how he is regarded is that he is Chair of the Theology, Divinity & Religious Studies panel of the Research Assessment Exercise for 2008.

[edit] Career

Professor Newlands has held the Chair of Divinity at the University of Glasgow since 1986. He was previously a University Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and Dean of Trinity Hall (following in the footsteps of Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie and Oxford's Regius Professor of Divinity Keith Ward).

Sometime Dean of Glasgow's Faculty of Divinity and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, he is currently Principal of Trinity College, Glasgow, the Church of Scotland college within the School of Divinity.

Newlands was educated at Edinburgh University (MA, BD, PhD, D.Litt.), Heidelberg (from where he reputedly travelled to attend the final seminar of Karl Barth in Basel) and Cambridge (MA).

[edit] Publications

Newlands' first book was Hilary of Poitiers: a Study in Theological Method in 1978. His Theology of the Love of God, followed in 1980. In the wake of 'death of God' theology and the 'myth of God incarnate' controversy during the 1970s, Newlands here attempted a 'constructive theology'. Barth had constructed a theology around the theme of faith, and Moltmann a theology of hope, so Newlands took the third of the Pauline triad to construct a theology around love (which, after all, is also of central concern in Christian theology). Further contructive theology followed with an ecclesiology in The Church of God (1984). A book on ethics followed in 1985- Making Christian Decisions.

Newlands published God in Christian Perspective in 1994. Continuing his 'constructive theology' project, he deals with the doctrine of God and- always a central concern of Newlands- Christology. This wide-ranging book engages not just with the continental tradition, but with Reformed, Anglican and wider Christian streams of thought, and more recent concerns such as feminism and liberation theology.

Generosity and the Christian Future, the 1995 Henson lectures at the University of Oxford, was published in 1997. Here Newlands returns to his concern about faith, theology, ethics and public issues, such as human rights and pluralism. He begins the book by imagining a tenth Vatican Council in the year 2517 CE, presided over by a Pope who is an American Baptist woman - a typical example of Newlands' humour, familiar to his students, which seeks to illuminate important issues.

Recently Newlands has been interested in 20th Century Scottish theology. He edited Scottish Christianity in the Modern World in 2001, and produced a theological biography of John and Donald Baillie in 2002. He has been exploring 'intercultural theology', and his most recent book reflects once more Christology and an important contemporary theme: Christ and Human Rights. He has also recently had a book of collected essays published.

[edit] Teaching

Professor Newlands teaches patristic & systematic theology; dogmatics; and Christian ethics.

[edit] Research

His research interests are in modern theology, Christology, history of Christian thought, theology and human rights.

[edit] Ecclesiastical work

Professor Newlands is probably unique in being both an ordained Minister of the Church of Scotland and a priest in the Church of England.

He is a past Convenor of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland's Panel on Doctrine and has served on the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England. Between 1989-1993 he was a Committee Member of the Society for the Study of Theology.

In May 2006, Newlands was involved in the creation of Affirmation Scotland a group within the Church of Scotland seeking "to affirm and celebrate Christ's call for inclusion, generosity and hospitality, and to see the full affirmation of all Christians, progressive and traditional, straight, gay and lesbian, within the Church of Scotland. It is for all - gay or straight, male or female, clergy or laity, who have a passion for justice".

Newlands is also associated with OneKirk. A network "committed to working for an inclusive, affirming and progressive church. We hope to encourage, challenge, and provide opportunities for discussing how our Christian faith and today’s social culture can speak to one another productively".

The Transformative Imagination (2004)
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The Transformative Imagination (2004)

[edit] Important Publications

  • Christ and Human Rights, Ashgate, London, 2006
  • Traces of Liberality, Collected Essays, Peter Lang, Bern/Frankfurt, 2006
  • The Transformative Imagination: Rethinking Intercultural Theology, Ashgate, London, 2004
  • John and Donald Baillie - Transatlantic Theology , Peter Lang, New York, 2002
  • Fifty Key Christian Thinkers, Routledge, London, 2002
  • Scottish Christianity in the Modern World (ed), T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 2001
  • Generosity and the Christian Future, SPCK, London, 1997
  • God in Christian Perspective, T& T Clark, Edinburgh, 1994
  • Making Christian Decisions, Mowbray, Oxford, 1985
  • The Church of God, Marshall, Morgan & Scott, London, 1984
  • Theology of the Love of God, Collins, London, 1980
  • Hilary of Poitiers - a study in Theological Method, Peter Lang, Bern, 1978
  • (Ed) Explorations in Theology(8), SCM, London, 1980

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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