Meet the researcher
Greg Marcar completed his PhD in theology and law at the University of Otago. He also holds an MA in philosophy and theology (University of St. Andrews) and an LLM degree (University of Law). Previously, Greg has been involved in several non-profit organisations, including the Red Cross, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, International Bridges to Justice, Liberty, and the Innocence Project New Zealand.
From 2019-2020, Greg will be a Non-resident Visiting Fellow at the International Centre for Law and Religious Studies (BYU Law).
Project description
This project aims to explore the ways in which theology can interface with concrete ethical issues. In particular, conceptions of love and identity within public practices and institutions are examined, together with how these conceptions map on to those of Christian faith. In previous doctoral research, this took the form of looking at how U.S. capital punishment is predicated upon particular beliefs about human nature which contrast with those implied by Christian moral theology.
Current and future offshoots of the project will look at other forms of punishment within the criminal justice system, as well as topics as diverse as human dignity, religious freedom, state security and the killing of non-human animals.
Publications
Marcar, G. P. (2022). “A great miracle in a little room”: Thomas Traherne and the intrinsic value of nonhuman animals. Journal of Animal Ethics, 12(2), 128-137. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/867477/summary#info_wrap
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. (2022, January). Being (w)holy selfish with Desmond Tutu [Series: Desmond Mpilo Tutu: In Memoriam]. Talk About: Law and Religion blog. International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS), Brigham Young University. Retrieved from https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2022/01/18/being-wholy-selfish
Other Research Output
Marcar, G. P. (2022). The quiet lake and the hidden spring: Locating the ground in Kierkegaard's Works of Love. Studies in Christian Ethics, 35(4), 748-764. doi: 10.1177/09539468211059321
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. (2021, February). Sisters and brothers, welcome home. Talk About: Law and Religion blog. International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS), Brigham Young University. Retrieved from https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2021/02/14/sisters-and-brothers-welcome-home
Other Research Output
Marcar, G. (2021). Welcome home sisters and brothers. Tui Motu, 258, 14-15.
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Marcar, G. P. (2021). Busyness, worry and the prototypical love of Christ: Another look at the character of Kierkegaard's ethics in Works of love. In T. Speidell, G. Marcar & A. Torrance (Eds.), Søren Kierkegaard: Theologian of the gospel. (pp. 83-108). Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.
Chapter in Book - Research
Torrance, A., & Marcar, G. (2021). Introduction. In T. Speidell, G. Marcar & A. Torrance (Eds.), Søren Kierkegaard: Theologian of the gospel. (pp. xiii-xix). Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock.
Chapter in Book - Research
Marcar, G. P. (2022). The quiet lake and the hidden spring: Locating the ground in Kierkegaard's Works of Love. Studies in Christian Ethics, 35(4), 748-764. doi: 10.1177/09539468211059321
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2022). “A great miracle in a little room”: Thomas Traherne and the intrinsic value of nonhuman animals. Journal of Animal Ethics, 12(2), 128-137. Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/867477/summary#info_wrap
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2021). Godly diversions and gifted teachers: Learning joyful stewardship from the birds and the lilies with Søren Kierkegaard. Theological Studies, 82(3), 400-417. doi: 10.1177/00405639211032700
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2021). Martial cakes and conscientious promises. British Journal of American Legal Studies, 10(2), 1-15. doi: 10.2478/bjals-2021-0004
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2020). Revisiting death's difference: The philosophical anthropology of the U.S. death penalty and the impossibility of capital due process. British Journal of American Legal Studies, 9(1), 181-208. doi: 10.2478/bjals-2020-0003
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2019). Climacus' miracle: Another look at "the Wonder" in Philosophical Fragments through a Spinozist lens. Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook, 24(1), 59-84. doi: 10.1515/kierke-2019-0003
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2019). Hope, self-denial and the love of God: Towards a Kierkegaardian perspective on self-condemnation-unto-death. Colloquium, 51(1), 40-59.
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2019). Søren Kierkegaard and the impossibility of (un)forgiveness: Another look at love, mercy, and reconciliation in Kierkegaard’s theological ethics. Journal of Religious Ethics, 47(4), 716-734. doi: 10.1111/jore.12288
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2019). Temporal goods, divine love and the poverty of Christ: or, how Kierkegaard's ethic in Works of Love is economically apathetic. Participatio, Suppl. 5, 102-126.
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2019). The divine relationship ethics of Kierkegaard's love-sleuth in Works of Love. Studies in Christian Ethics, 32(3), 341-351. doi: 10.1177/0953946818775553
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2019). The marvel, the moment, and the fullness of time: Kierkegaard’s mystical explorations with John Climacus and John the Silent. Kierkegaard in Process, 4(1), 1-13. Retrieved from https://kierkegaardinprocess.com
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2016). Another look at Aquinas's objections to capital punishment. New Blackfriars, 97(1069), 289-307. doi: 10.1111/nbfr.12140
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. P. (2015). Aquinas' Quinque Viae: Fools, evil, and the hiddenness of God. Heythrop Journal, 56(1), 67-75. doi: 10.1111/heyj.12137
Journal - Research Article
Marcar, G. (2021). Welcome home sisters and brothers. Tui Motu, 258, 14-15.
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Marcar, G. (2020). Maintaining our sense of solidarity. Otago Daily Times, (20 March). Retrieved from https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/maintaining-our-sense-solidarity
Journal - Professional & Other Non-Research Articles
Marcar, G. (2021, October). "A great miracle in a little room": Thomas Traheme's Meditations on the ant. Verbal presentation at the Mysticism & Lived Experience Network (M&LEN) Mystics and Animals Colloquium, [Online].
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Marcar, G. (2017, September). Hope, love and theological anthropology: Or, how "love hopes all things" in Sören Kierkegaard's Christian ethics. Verbal presentation at the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics (SSCE) Annual Conference: Christian Ethics and Hope, Cambridge, UK.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Marcar, G. (2016, December). "What must man be"? The religious anthropology of capital punishment. Verbal presentation at the Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy (ASCP) Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Marcar, G. (2022, January). Being (w)holy selfish with Desmond Tutu [Series: Desmond Mpilo Tutu: In Memoriam]. Talk About: Law and Religion blog. International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS), Brigham Young University. Retrieved from https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2022/01/18/being-wholy-selfish
Other Research Output
Marcar, G. (2021, February). Sisters and brothers, welcome home. Talk About: Law and Religion blog. International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS), Brigham Young University. Retrieved from https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2021/02/14/sisters-and-brothers-welcome-home
Other Research Output
Marcar, G. (2020, May). Believing in the death penalty? Talk About: Law and Religion blog. The International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University. Retrieved from https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2020/05/19/believing-in-the-death-penalty/#more-2468
Other Research Output