Search for tag: "church"

Why are Christians interested in the End of the World once again? Michael Burdett argues that the rise in interest in eschatology is linked to our current concern with the future – forced on us…

Dr Michael Burdett introduces constructive theology and argues that ‘systematics’ – that one can make a coherent statement about the whole of Christian faith – is back in…

Professor Alison Milbank discusses her Distance Learning MA module and what students taking the module will be studying.

Dr Tim Hutchings describes his research into the new phenomenon of on-line churches and, with Thomas O’Loughlin, discusses what this phenomenon means for the traditional understanding of…

In 1917, at the height of the First World War, F.B. MacNutt edited a collection of 17 essays entitled The Church in the Furnace. These essays were written by Anglican army chaplains who reflected on…

‘Woodbine Willie’ – the Anglican World War I padre who gave cigarettes to the troops and wrote poetry - is well known. But the man himself, G.A. Studdert-Kennedy is not nearly so…

Dr Stuart Bell argues that the early twentieth-century Anglican writer, G.A. Studdert-Kennedy (better known as ‘Woodbine Willie’), is the first modern British theologian in that he…

Ali shares a week in her life at the University of Nottingham. Check out Ali's channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVeAFCl1LROdRvjzf_V09jg

Prof. Thomas O’Loughlin discusses with Dr Sara Parks the origins of the Christian notion of a ‘gospel’ and how it moved from being a political notion in the Roman Empire, to being a…

Professor Frances Knight introduces the two distance learning MA programmes run by the department: the MA in Church History; and the MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology. All details in this…

What makes a good liturgy? Many approaches are taken to this question – and it is a question everyone asks, at least implicitly, after every act of participation. In this video Professor Thomas…

2017 marks the five-hundred anniversary of the beginning of the European Reformation. As part of a series of events to commemorate this event which has done so much to share modern Europe and…

Despite the passing of 500 years, the ideas of the Reformation are still exerting their influence on theology today. So argues Dr Simeon Zahl in this video where he notes that while these ideas are…

How has the memory of the Reformation been an important element is the creation of English identity? In this video, Prof. Frances Knight argues that for an older generation – perhaps brought up…

How ever remember the past is related to how we see what is happening in our present. In this video Dr David Gehring – of Nottingham’s Department of History – looks at how our…

The reformers were faced with many challenges, but one that is often forgotten was the need to justify their actions historically. How did it come about that the church needed reform? To what image…

Dr Simeon Zahl explores what are the distinctive characteristics of Protestant theology. In years gone by this would have been expressed as the proposition ‘it is acceptance of the doctrine of…

The First World War was the single most important event is shaping modern European society. In this video Dr Stuart Bell discusses how the experience of the war had a long lasting affect on Christian…

The First World War was the single most important event is shaping modern European society. In this video Dr Stuart Bell discusses the experience of one man from Derbyshire in the Great War and how…

Kevin McGinnell and Tom O’Loughlin discuss the challenge of creating an incarnational liturgy fifty years after the close of the Second Vatican Council.

Dealing with the body of someone who has died – generically referred to as ‘disposal’ – is a crucial intersection of social custom, religious practices, human ritual,…

Prof. Frances Knight, an expert on the religious history of the late nineteenth century, examines the religious dimension of the cultural movements we associate with the term ‘Fin de…

Walter Walsh (1857-1931) published a book called The Secret History of the Oxford Movement in 1897. The book is examined in this video by Prof. Frances Knight, an expert on the religious history of…

There are many definitions of theology and in this video Dr Simeon Zahl shared his view of what he does as a theologian and why he thinks it important. He sees himself as engaging in a formal manner…

Footwashing has been part of the ritual inheritance of Christians since at least the time John composed his gospel, but it has also been a much misunderstood and avoided ritual. Here Thomas…

Until very recently the standard model for assessing the place of religion in the Enlightenment was one of simple opposition: Religion represented the superstition and darkness that the rational…

Professor Jeremy Gregory examines the case that the history of religion is as close as we can get to ‘total history’: looking at all aspects of individuals in societies in the past in…

Professor William Kay, one of the world’s leading Pentecostal theologians, introduces a striking, and often controversial, feature of Pentecostalism: its emphasis on healing and the way it…

Dr Claire Taylor of the Department of History, one of the scholars belonging to that department’s Heresy Network, introduces the value attached to the study of heresy to hear voices from the…

Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656) is now known, almost exclusively, for his dating the creation to 4004 BC. But far from being an obscurantist, he was a model scholar of his time – and in…

For over forty years the question of why the Reformation did not gain significant traction in Ireland in the sixteenth century has fascinated historians. In this video Prof. Alan Ford introduces the…

All religions use time as a central element in the way they celebrate. They have a sacred year – a sequence of festivals arranged in an annual cycle. Most also have a sacred month or a sacred…

Dr Francisca Rumsey reflects in the significance of the Second Vatican Council (1963-5) in conversation with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines what is meant by the word ‘codex’ and how this was the characteristic book-form in early Christianity.Other entries in the A-Z of Theology playlist…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin how the Catholic Church understands the historic phrase extra ecclesiam nulla salus. McDonald argues that it must not be understood…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin how the Catholic Church sees the challenges facing ecumenism today: there has been real progress on many of the historic issues…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin what the Catholic Church sees as the nature of ‘the church’ and how the notion of ‘the church’ relates to…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin the self-perception of the Catholic Church, in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism,…

Augustine was born in Roman North Africa in 354 and died as Bishop of Hippo, also in North Africa, in 430. He was one of the most prolific Christian writers of all time and all western Christian…

Archbishop Kevin McDonald discusses with Prof. Tom O’Loughlin the significance of the Roman Catholic statement on that church’s view of other religions, and especially how the Catholic…

Mr Neil Smyth (the Senior Librarian for the Faculty of Arts) discusses with Professor Tom O’Loughlin (Department of Theology and Religious Studies) how the library can help those who are…

Professor Tom O’Loughlin points out a complexity in the use of the word ‘eucharist.’ It is usually thought of as just a technical name for a ritual – the ritual practiced…

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines the various meanings of the word ‘disciple’ in early Christian discourse. #a2zoftheology Other videos you may wish to watch include; Why Study...the…

Monsignor Kevin McGinnell discusses with Professor Tom O’Loughlin two questions. First, what does it means to celebrate liturgy today; and second, how does the study of liturgy relate to other…

Monsignor Kevin McGinnell discusses with Professor Tom O’Loughlin one of the most remarkable, but least remarked upon, developments among Christian churches working together in recent decades:…

Professor Tom O'Loughlin examines the various meanings of the word, 'apocrypha' in Christian discourse - and how it can never be used in a neutral sense.

Prof. Tom O’Loughlin examines the various meanings of the word ‘apostle’ in Christian discourse. #a2zoftheology

Professor Alan Ford discusses the origins of sectarianism in Ireland by linking it to the Reformation's self-understanding of being in an apocalyptic struggle with the Antichrist - understood as…

Dr Christina Lee, Associate Professor of Viking Studies in the School of English, looks at what we know about the role of women in the Anglo-Saxon church. Other similar videos you may wish to watch…

Monsignor Kevin McGinnell discusses with Professor Tom O’Loughlin the statement produced by a meeting of liturgists from across a wide spectrum of English-speaking churches knows as the Reims…

Professor William Kay, one of the world’s leading Pentecostal theologians, discusses the origins of Pentecostalism at the end of the nineteenth century with Dr Frances Knight. He describes how…

Prof. Richard Bell introduces the life and thought of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860). The video gives an account of his epistemology – and how he was influenced by Kant – as a basis for…

Professor William Kay, one of the world’s leading Pentecostal theologians, introduces what is distinctive about Pentecostalism in comparison with other forms of Christianity. He points out that…

Prof. Richard Bell introduces the life and thought of Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860). The video gives an account of his epistemology – and how he was influenced by Kant – as a basis for…

Dr Frances Knight introduces William Temple (1881-1944), Archbishop of Canterbury (1942-44) who has been described as the spiritual father of the Welfare State. A quintessential member of the…

Professor William Kay, one of the world’s leading Pentecostal theologians, gives his vision of the importance of theology. It is concerned with ‘thinking logically about God’ and…

Professor Tom O’Loughlin explains that the familiar chapters and verses – found in every printed bible – are to be viewed solely as a means of finding passages and particular…

Dr Claire Taylor of the Dept of History, one of the scholars belonging to that department’s Heresy Network, introduces the notion of heresy, heretics and dissent as a phenomenon that historians…

Dr David Monkton looks at the place of the Eucharist in Methodism from the time the Wesley’s in the eighteenth century until. He does this by taking us through one of the eucharistic hymns of…

Dr David Monkton looks at how there has been a renewal of Eucharistic understanding in contemporary Methodism. This has come about from a variety of sources such as a rediscovery of Methodism’s…

Christians use a vast library of Jewish writings from the time before Jesus in their worship, reflection, and study – and they call this library ‘the Old Testament.’ In this video…

Christians use a vast library of Jewish writings from the time before Jesus in their worship, reflection, and study – and they call this library ‘the Old Testament.’ In this video…

Dr John McDade looks at what is meant by the terms ‘Catholicism’ and ‘the Catholic Church’ – and argues that one should see Christianity as ‘Reconfigured…

Many people, whether they are Christians or not, think they know what the gospels contain, the kind of documents they are, and their purpose. This seminar argues that these are more complex questions…

Dr Rob Lutton introduces an important aspect of contemporary historical studies: the study of religion as a force that shapes lives. Religion, like it or loathe it, has not disappeared from the human…

Dr. Rob Lutton introduces the value to the historian of studying groups and individuals who were given the label of ‘heretics’ in the later middle ages. These groups point to diversity in…

Dr David Monkton gives an insight into the key elements of Methodist spirituality which he sees as a direct legacy of John Wesley (1703-1791) and concludes that there is no holiness that it not…

Professor Roland Deines looks at four ancient coins – all of them nearly 2000 years old – and shows how they provide a window into the world of Galilee and Judea in the time of Jesus. In…

Dr Rob Lutton of the Department of History in The University of Nottingham describes the origins of an important social and religious movement in fifteenth-century England: Lollardy. This movement,…