Durham Conference September 2024 (update: registration open now, list of papers published)

Ecclesiology and Ethnography Conference 2024

This is the annual conference for the network bringing together scholars working on ethnographic approaches to theology and the study of religion. It is is a wide ranging conference, and part of the joy is discovering a diversity of specialisms and learning. Past papers have included ethnography, anthropology, systematic theology, ecclesiology, practical theology and social science approaches. Attendees range from senior scholars to local ministers and this is an excellent place to present as a post graduate or early career researcher, or as a pastor/scholar in ministry. Learning is generously shared and critiques are supportive. We encourage single and multi-authored papers.

If you are interested in proposing a paper, please click here to find more information and a proposal form. We are also delighted to announce that registration for the Ecclesiology and Ethnography conference 2024 in Durham is now open!

Call for Papers Conference Registration

The Conference is run in association with The Department of Theology and Religion and St John’s College, Durham University and is based in St John’s College, in the centre of historic Durham. Our meals and accommodation will also be within the college. A limited number of en-suite rooms are available, allocated on a first come, first served basis. St John’s College is about a fifteen minute walk from Durham Rail Station. From Newcastle airport you can ride the Metro to Newcastle Central Station, where you can find frequent trains to Durham. Otherwise, you can book a car with Airport Express to take you from the airport directly to St John’s College.

The Durham Conference is particularly friendly which is helped by the conversations in the college bar, and folk music night on the Wednesday. Bring your instruments and join in!

List of Papers and Paper Presenters – EE Durham 2024

• Andreas Bernberg // University College Stockholm // Theopolitical space-making 
• Berit Weigand Berg // PThU (Protestant Theological University) // What does it take to develop a church?
• Andreas Bjørntvedt // VID Specialized University, Stavanger (Centre of mission and global studies) // Fluctuations of faith & the quest for community
• Victoria Bojonca // TCM International Institute. Graduate of University of Bucharest // Role of faith in organizational change: a case study of TCM’s development. From church planting to leadership formation.
• Alex Booer // Luther King Centre for Theology and Ministry, Manchester, UK // ‘The Fifth Voice’ – Including the Excluded in the ‘Four Voices of Theology’
• James Butler // University of Roehampton, School of Arts, Humanities and Social Science // Revaluating intentionality in discipleship: a reconfiguring of agency in the discipleship conversation through careful attention to how faith changes in the ‘edgy spaces’ of church and society.
• Helen Cameron // Regent’s Park College, Oxford // Project Violet: What has made it participatory research and theological all the way through? 
• Helen Cameron // Regent’s Park College, Oxford // First-person Theological Action Research: An olive branch to anxious doctoral supervisors
• Eileen Campell-Reed // Independent // “Holy Cow! This Stuff is Real”: 15 Years of Learning from Ministers
• Abigail Cawte // Durham University // The performance of women instrumentalists in charismatic church worship bands
• Stefanie Conradt // Centre for Baptist Studies, Regent’s Park College, Oxford // The Reflecting Together Project: Loneliness and isolation experienced by older people in South Tyneside: Christian responses from the pastoral to the prophetic
• Luke Cozens // The Salvation Army, North East Division, United Kingdom and Ireland Territory // Mission Isn’t Everything: A Critique of Mission-Totalising Ecclesiologies
• Henna Cundill // University of Aberdeen, Divinity // Power, Theology and Action Research
• Kjersten Darling // Luther Seminary // Shifting models of spiritual formation on Evangelical campuses
• Dieter de Bruin // University of Pretoria // The Ethnography of Ascent
• Ruth Dowson // Leeds Beckett University (Carnegie School of Sport (Events, Tourism & Hospitality Management) // Applying the eventization of faith concept: engaging churches in strategic planning for UK City of Culture Bradford 2025.
• Paula Duncan // University of Aberdeen, Divinity // “I can’t do this”: Revising my Methodology for Safer Research
• Andrew Dunlop // University of Roehampton / Ridley Hall Cambridge // “But are they ‘church’?” Unearthing the normativities in an understanding of the ecclesiality of new worshipping communities with a mixed ecology setting: findings from a Theological Action Research project.
• Christine Dutton // Queens Foundation for Theological Education // Beachcombing on the Shoreline : Discovering the treasure of widening participation in a growing online Christian Community 
• Melody Escobar // Baylor University // “For they gave me respite from labor and rested me”: Exploring the shared benefits of respite care
• Harry Gibbins // University of Aberdeen // To Interview or Not to Interview: Doing Qualitative Research with Autistic Participants
• David Gifford // Cardiff University // To Cross a Bridgeless Divide: Anglican Lived Experience in parishes with a majority demographic of Ultra Orthodox Judaism. 
• Thomas Gudbergsen // MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society // Creation, theologically understood, as inspiration for pastoral care – A theological and practical showcase
• Nina Haglund // Åbo Akademi/Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology // The Face of the Church – Employees within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland as reflectors of ecclesiological space creation.
• Andrew Hurrell // The Nazarene Theological College // Included. An ethnographic study of St James and Emmanuel 10 years into their LGBTQA+ inclusive journey
• Nina Kurlberg // // Safety, Control and Absolute Power: A Survivor’s Perspective on Justice within Organisational Responses to Church-Based Abuse
• Chanil Lee // Durham University (Theology and Religion) // The alternative to the prosperity gospel preaching
• Amy Levad // University of St. Thomas, Theology // Stories of Uprising: A Project with Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, 2020
• Mike MacKenzie // Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto // Intelligibility in ethnographic fieldwork: Using Queer Theory to revisit the feasibility of “genuine surprise” and “found” theologies
• Jolyon P. Mitchell // Durham University // TBD
• Sabrina Müller // University of Bonn, Practical Theology // Religious Experience and Its Transformational Power
• Gael Pardoen // Roehampton University // Living Catholicism in Queer Spaces… Catching up with reality
• Aaron Pelot // St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews // Attitudes toward common prayer: Inculturating prayer book liturgy in Japan
• Ruth Perrin // St John’s College, Durham University // Friendship, Faith and Flourishing ; An Exploration of Millennial Faith in Northeast England
• Elizabeth Pritchard // Religion Department, Bowdoin College // Sacramental Justice as Queer Sacramentality
• Jennifer Riley // University of Aberdeen // Dementia’s liminality: theological, ecclesiological and research implications
• Stephen Roberts // Cardiff Baptist College and Cardiff University // Sounding the depths: Reflections on playlist as pilgrimage through collaborative autoethnographic musicking
• Maik-Andres Schwarz // University of Bonn, Protestant Theological Faculty, Department of Practical Theology and Religious Education // The Smart Spiritual Companion. Investigating the Role of Religious Apps
• Iain Shaw // University of Birmingham – Department of Theology and Religion // Ministers’ Lived Experience of the Reasons for Suffering and Evil
• Susanna Snyder // Sarum College // Struggling to Hope – Designing an Intuitive Inquiry Research Project about (Theological) Hope on the Ground
• Andy Symmons // Durham University – Department of Theology and Religion // The Journey of Deconstruction – Understanding Christian Deconstruction through the Content of Deconstruction Podcasting
• Lynne Taylor // University of Otago // My God! I want to be like you! Empirical analysis of identity and authenticity in recently baptised adults
• Ian Terry // Winchester University RTP // Characteristics of a common good building Church of England church: a case study in a UK southern coastal town.
• Knut Tveitereid // MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society // The natural frequency of the congregation: How resonance validates ethnography in ecclesiology
• Rebecca Tyndall // University of Durham, dept of Theology and Religion // Listening for the I and the Thou: theologically informed Voice Centred Relational Method data analysis
• Marten van der Meulen // Protestant Theological University // Studying the Kingdom of God and the renewal of the church 
• Héctor Varela Rios // Villanova University Department of Theology and Religious Studies // Teología en lo vivido: immersion and performance in Latine theology using a church gaming event
• Duurt Vonck // Theological University Kampen/Utrecht // How to perform empirical-ecclesiological research on change with liminality as a hermeneutic key and pastoral method.
• Jarle Waldemar // MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society // Pastoral Care in the Pentecostal Movement: An Empirical Study of Pastoral Care Practices
• Clare Watkins // Univerity of Roehampton, School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences // The fetishization of education / formation in today’s churches: a theological action research reflection on why we really should “call no-one teacher”. (Matt 23:8)
• Andy Wier // Church Army’s Research Unit // Methodological Winging It? Reflections on rigour, relevance, and pragmatism in commissioned research for church institutions

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Conference Organising Group

Prof. Pete Ward, Durham University, NLA University College, Bergen and MF Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo;  Rev Dr Christian Scharen, Interim Pastor in New York City, USA; Dr Knut Tveitereid, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo; Dr Gretchen Schoon-Tanis, Minister in Hamburg, Germany; Dr Jasper Bosman, Theological University Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Conference Advisory Group

Prof. Paul Fiddes, Oxford University, Prof. John Swinton, University of Aberdeen, Dr Tone Kaufman, MF Norwegian School of Theology