Visit our Completed postgraduate research page for an archive of completed theses
Current PhD students
Tema Alailima-Eteuati
PhD topic: Re-establishing History: An Indigenous View on the Arrival of Methodism in Samoa
Supervisor: Dr Brett Knowles and Professor Michael Reilly
Ruth Baker
PhD topic: “Give Us This Day What We Want”: The Reshaping of Christian Belief for the Twenty-First Century
Supervisor: Associate Professor Tim Cooper
Jessica Bent
PhD topic: The Theological Understanding and Use of Familial Language in New Zealand Baptist Churches
Supervisor: Professor Paul Trebilco, Dr Lynne Taylor
Deborah Broome
PhD topic: Living together in the city: Sociality in Augustine’s City of God: Lessons for the Church today
Supervisor: Associate Professor Christopher Holmes
Graham Cameron
PhD topic: An historical contextual theology of Pai Mārire, the first indigenous Christian faith
Supervisors: Professor Murray Rae, Dr Hirini Kaa
Jordan Chapman
PhD topic: The Settings and Purposes of 1 Peter and Revelation
Supervisor: Professor Paul Trebilco
William Chong
PhD topic: “Spaces Matter: Learning from the Text Delimitations of Early NT MSS containing Ephesians and 1 Peter”
Supervisors: Professor Paul Trebilco and Dr Katie Marcar
Edmond Chua
PhD topic: Paradigmatic Contours and Biblical Basis of Mutual Complementarity in the Theology of Jung Young Lee with a View to Appropriating Insights for the Doc
Supervisors: Professor Murray Rae, Dr Michael Poon
Scott Currie
PhD topic: Paul’s “Body” as “Individual” and “Community”: an assessment of the ecclesiologies of Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer against a Pauline backdrop
Supervisor: Professor Murray Rae
Taryn Dryfhout
PhD topic: Locating Whāngai Within a Theology of Community
Supervisor: Professor Murray Rae, Dr Greg Liston
Sara Evans
PhD topic: Theological Anthrolopology and Liturgical Formation
Supervisors: Professor Murray Rae, Dr Graham Redding
Robert Fakafu
PhD topic: The Forau model: The Diaspora experiences of a relocated people in the face of climate change with special reference to the Polynesian people of Tikopia, Solomon Islands
Supervisors: Professor David Tombs, Dr Andrew Shepherd
Malcolm Falloon
PhD topic: Missionary/Maori encounters in pre-colonial New Zealand
Supervisors: Associate Professor Tim Cooper, Dr Hugh Morrison
Graeme Flett
PhD topic: The visual world of congregation leadership in New Zealand
Supervisors: Dr Lynne Baab, Associate Professor Chris Holmes
Linda Flett
PhD topic: A history of the Elim churches in New Zealand 1922-2012
Supervisors: Associate Professor Tim Cooper, Professor Peter Lineham
Alister Gill
PhD topic: The Ethics and Theology of Stanley Hauerwas and a Missional Politic: How Can the Church of New Zealand Engage with Social Inequality
Supervisors: Professor David Tombs, Dr Stephen Garner
Malcolm Gordon
PhD topic: Power and Protest: Exploring the link between the practice of lament and the position of powerlessness in 19th century Scotland and New Zealand
Supervisor: Professor Murray Rae
Jenny Hsu
PhD topic: An Alternative Approach to the Nestorian Controversy: A Comparison of Cyril’s and Nestorius’ Interpretation of Scripture and Its Implications for their Understanding of the Person and Work of Christ.
Supervisors: Associate Professor Christopher Holmes, Professor Murray Rae
Jordan Jones
PhD topic: A Performative Political Theology of Eucharist Ethics
Supervisor: Dr Derek Woodard-Lehman
Hyeong Kim
PhD topic: The adaptation of the 3Bs frame in the Asian Situation after World War two; Believing, Belonging and Behaving
Supervisor: Dr Lynne Taylor, Reverend Dr Kevin Ward
Clare Knowles
PhD topic: Intratextuality as translation strategy and literary device
Supervisors: Dr James Harding, Reverend Dr Tim Meadowcroft
Immanuel Koks
PhD topic: How People with Disabilities Participate in Trinitarian Hope
Supervisors: Professor Murray Rae, Professor John Swinton
Ryan Lang
PhD topic: Prophetic Adoration: Suffering, Lament, and the Beauty of God
Supervisors: Professor Murray Rae, Professor David Tombs
Latuivai Latu
PhD topic:Honouring TauTau As Suli: A Postcolonial Reading of Identity Politics in Samoan Jurisprudence and Relational Hermeneutics
Supervisors: Professor David Tombs, Reverend Dr John Roxborogh
Elliot Luo
PhD topic: The Dualistic Eschatology in the Epistles of John and Its Impact on the Johannine Community
Supervisor: Professor Paul Trebilco
Reupena Maulolo
PhD topic: “E tu manu, ae lē tu logologo: A comparative study of the role of pre-and post-Christianity spiritual and relational values in the Congregational Christian Church Samoa’s (CCCS) lives of Samoan Youth.”
Supervisor: Dr Kevin Ward, Professor Murray Rae
Ross McComish
PhD topic: Strange bedfellows: a microhistory of the Cambridge bible society controversy, 1811-1813
Supervisor: Associate Professor Tim Cooper
Robert Montgomery
PhD topic: Clinal and partitional patterns of grammar, vocabulary and imagery in the interpretation of the Bible in Tongan, Maori and English
Supervisor: Professor Murray Rae
Mathew Newton
PhD topic: Improvising Abraham: Paul’s use of the Abraham narrative in Galatians 3:1–14.
Supervisors: Professor Paul Trebilco, Associate Professor Chris Holmes
Ben Ong
PhD topic: Hospitality around Food as Key to Unity in 1 Corinthians
Supervisors: Professor Paul Trebilco, Dr Don Moffat
Andrew Picard
PhD topic: For the healing of the nations: a critical study of Colin Gunton’s Trinitarian ecclesiology for the healing of liquid modernity
Supervisors: Professor Murray Rae, Dr Martin Sutherland
Jason Pickard
PhD topic: The Priesthood of Christ: John Owen and Thomas F. Torrance in Dialogue
Supervisors: Associate Professor Chris Holmes, Associate Professor Tim Cooper
Brent Rempel
PhD topic: ‘God is’: The Immanent Trinity and Salvation in dialogue with John Webster, Thomas Aquinas, and Karl Barth
Supervisor: Associate Professor Christopher Holmes
Laura Schilperoort
PhD topic: Christian Couples and their Practice of Egalitarianism and Women's Empowerment
Supervisors: Professor David Tombs, Dr Bryndl Hohmann-Marriott, Dr Nicola Hoggard-Creegan
Jonathan Seiuli
PhD topic: Submission to the Governing Authorities: Re-examining Authority from God in Romans 13: 1–7
Supervisors: Professor Paul Trebilco, Professor David Tombs
Chanki Shin
PhD topic: A Study of Paul’s Anomalous Fatherhood in 1 Corinthians 4.14–21 in Light of the Sociopolitical Context of Greco-Roman and Jewish Fatherhood During the Second Temple Period
Supervisors: Professor Paul Trebilco, Dr Katie Marcar
Emma Stokes
PhD topic: ‘(Re)considering the Samaritans as a character in the Lukan travel narrative'
Supervisors: Professor Paul Trebilco, Dr Sarah Harris
Herry Susanto
PhD topic: Pauline Cosmological Redemption as the Basis for Eco-Theology
Supervisors: Professor Paul Trebilco, Professor David Tombs
Maja Whitaker
PhD topic: Personal identity and bodily integrity in the resurrection
Supervisors: Professor Murray Rae, Associate Professor Chris Holmes
Current MTheol students
Gary Baldwin
MTheol topic: Creation Care as a New Direction for the “Oikoumene” following a Century of Attempted Ecclesial Unity
Supervisor: Professor David Tombs
Bruce Billington
MTheol topic: The restoration of the created order in J. Louis Martyn’s commentary on Galatians
Supervisor: Dr Andre Muller
James Hay
MTheol topic: An Examination of the Occurrences of Πορνεία in the Church at Corinth
Supervisor: Professor Paul Trebilco
Nicholas List
MTheol topic: Exploring Collocation, Colligation, and Semantic Prosody in Koinē Greek
Supervisor: Dr Simon Overall, Dr Katie Marcar
Te Hira Paenga
*MTheol topic: Towards a Model of Theology for Traditional Māori Performing Arts (Kapahaka)*
Supervisor: Dr Karyn Paringatai
Bruce Patrick
MTheol topic: Octavius and Kate Hadfield Their Significance and Contribution
Supervisor: Associate Professor Tim Cooper
