Theology Postgraduate Research
Postgraduate research students are a very significant part of the Department's life. We have more PhD students than any other department in the Division of Humanities.
Study On Or Off Campus
We provide office space for our postgraduate students close to the Department, which helps to facilitate a lively sense of community among our Dunedin-based postgraduate students.
Many of our postgraduates study via Distance Learning. They visit the campus in Dunedin during the course of their study and also maintain contact with their supervisors via email and phone.
Further information about Distance Learning
Funding and Scholarships
The Department offers some financial support towards research costs, and is able to help students access other avenues of funding.
- Scholarships are available from the University of Otago to support your study
- Travel grants are awarded by the Division of Humanities for postgraduate students to attend international and national conferences in order to give a paper
- Other postgraduate grants from the Division are available to cover some costs. There is a one year grant for Masters students and a three year grant for PhD students
Research Seminars
Postgraduate students are expected to attend and contribute to our research seminars, which take place each Friday from 3.00-4.15pm. The seminars alternate in focus between Biblical Studies and Christian Thought and History.
Recent Postgraduate Research
As an indication of the achievement and calibre of our postgraduate students, below are some of the theses completed in the past five years.
Recent PhD Theses
- Andrew Torrance, "The freedom to become a Christian. Søren Kierkegaard and Karl Barth on the transformative relationship with God"
- Kirsten Dawson, "Divine violence in the book of Job"
- Angeline Song, "Encountering Moses and Miriam of Exodus 2: An empathic reading with a postcolonial optic"
- Selwyn Yeoman, "Is anyone in charge here? A Christological Evaluation of the Idea of Human Dominion over Creation"
- Andrew Nicol, "The God of Israel in Robert W. Jenson's Theology"
- Sarah Harris, "The Davidic Shepherd King in the Lukan Narrative"
- Matthew Easter, "Let Us Go to Him: The Story of Faith and the Faithfulness of Jesus in Hebrews"
- Philip Church, "Wilderness Tabernacle and Eschatological Temple: A study in temple symbolism in Hebrews in the light of attitudes to the temple in the literature of Middle Judaism"
- Andrew Callander, "Exploring a Christian conception of economic life from within Karl Barth's doctrine of creation"
- Miriam Bier, "Perhaps there is Hope: Reading Lamentations as a Polyphony of Pain, Penitence, and Protest"
- Gillian Townsley, "The Straight Mind in Corinth: Queer Readings Across 1 Cor 11:2-16
- Lucy Peppiatt, "Spirit Christology and Mission"
- Donald Fergus, "Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Spatially Structured Ecclesiology: Reconfiguring the Confession of Christ's Presence"
- Elizabeth Callender, "A Theology of Spatiality: The Divine Perfection of Omnipresence in the Theology of Karl Barth"
- John Tucker, “A Braided River: New Zealand Baptists and Public Issues 1882-2000”
- Alan Thomson, "Culture in a Post-Secular Context: Theological Possibilities in Milbank, Barth and Bediako"
- Don Moffat, “Ezra’s Social Drama: The Mixed Marriage Controversy in Ezra 9 and 10 as Social Conflict”
- Andre Muller, "Donald M. MacKinnon: The True Service of the Particular, 1913-1959"
- Andrew Shepherd, “Establishing Theological Foundations for an Ethic of Hospitality”
- Colin Marshall, “The Significance of Apollos to the New Testament Church”
- John Lewis, “The Influence on Medieval Church Architecture of Love for God: a Theological Approach”
- Chris Caradus, "Beyond a Sonderweg for Israel: An Exploration of Persistence of Exile Themes in Relation to Romans 11:26"
- Deborah Bower, "Isaiah, the Gospel of Luke, and Peter in Conversation with Cornelius: A Narrative-Critical Analysis of Acts 10:1-11:18"
- Stuart Lange, “A Rising Tide: the Growth of Evangelicalism and Evangelical Identity Among Presbyterians, Anglicans and University Students in New Zealand, 1930-1965”
- Kevin Waldie, “The Compassionate Jesus: A Lukan Investigation with Special Reference to Luke 6, 12-49 and Luke 7, 1-8, 3”
- Dale Williamson, “An Uncomfortable Engagement: The Charismatic Movement in the New Zealand Anglican Church 1965-85”
Recent Masters Theses
- Eleanor Sanderson, "A Public Theology of Relationships: Reflections from the Mothers' Union in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia"
- Phillip Larking, "A Theology for Resettlement. What pastoral outcomes can be determined, for the Kachin Christian Church in Porirua, through a critical use of migration theology?"
- Christopher Saunders, "The response of grassroots Christians to the introduction of Sunday trading to New Zealand in 1989: by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?"
- Jon Screech, “On the Uses and Disadvantage of Suspicion for Christian Life with Continual Reference to Kierkegaard and Nietzsche”
- David Balchin, "To Understand the Righteousness of God in Romans is to Understand How the Gospel is the Power of God for the Salvation of Those Who Believe"
- Rob Fletcher, “Jesus and the Buddha on Desire”
- Mary-Jane Konings, “Kerygma, Leitourgia, Koinonia: Indications of Orthodox Theology in Contemporary and Emerging Worship”
- James Tualagi Ah-Yek, “The Metaphor of Shepherding in John 10:1-18 and 1 Peter 5:1-7 and its Significance for Samoan Ministry”