We are delighted to have an ever-growing international group of research associates, who are all conducting work in areas relevant to the work of the CSBV. One of our core principles is generous collaboration, and all of our associates are operating in this way: contributing to the work of the Centre through (among other things) editing books, reviewing papers, and co-authoring research output.
Dr Ashley Hibbard
Ashley is the Centre’s Director of Operations and lead editor of the Journal for the Study of Bible and Violence. Ashley is currently adjunct faculty at Emmanuel Bible College in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. She has a BRE from Great Lakes Bible College (2010), an MDiv from Heritage Theological Seminary (2014), and a PhD in Theology from Trinity College/University of Aberdeen (2020). Her PhD dissertation was entitled, “Deep Calls to Deep: an investigation into a chain of intertextualities between some Genesis narratives and Deuteronomic laws.”
Kristin Caynor
Kristin is a PhD student at Trinity College Bristol/University of Aberdeen, and a global theological educator working with national and indigenous organisations and seminaries around the world through Live Global. Her dissertation explores how hermeneutical practices themselves can foster relationships with others of difference, awareness of cultural diversity, reconciliation, and the inclusion of diverse cultural resources which may not yet have been considered in mainstream discourse. She is also a researcher for The Ephesians 2 Gospel Project, a global conversation around Eph. 2:11–22 exploring issues of collective identity conflict and shame-fuelled violence from social scientific, theological, historical, cultural, and biblical perspectives.
Tony Deik
Tony is a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, Palestine, currently a residential researcher at Tyndale House, Cambridge, where he is working on his PhD research in the New Testament. He is also a lecturer in biblical studies at Bethlehem Bible College (online), and a member of the leadership team of the International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation (INFEMIT). Currently, Tony’s research interest revolves around the biblical text, its ancient meaning, and its modern relevance, especially in subaltern contexts. He has contributed to several edited volumes including The Religious Other: A Biblical Understanding of Islam, the Qur’an and Muhammad (Carlisle: Langham, 2020), and Between Religion and Politics: A Christian Perspective on Political Questions from the Middle East (Beirut: Dar Manhal al Hayat, 2022 [Arabic]).
Dr Valerie Hobbs
Valerie is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Sheffield. Her book, An Introduction to Religious Language, was published by Bloomsbury in 2021. Valerie has been a guest on our podcast series Guns and God.
Dr Brandon Hurlbert
Brandon Hurlbert (Ph.D., Durham University) is a lecturer in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Durham University. His doctoral dissertation explored the possibilities of reading the book of Judges as Christian Scripture. He is a research associate at the Centre for the Study of the Bible and Violence and a co-host on the Two Cities Podcast. His other research interests include the Bible and Film and the reception history of the Bible.
Revd Peter King
Peter King trained at Bristol Baptist College and was ordained in 1988, serving for eight years at Eynsham Baptist Church, Oxfordshire. He now works for the Anglican Diocese of Chichester in adult theological education. Peter’s work for the CSBV includes producing Bible study resources such as these, and running our preacher’s blog: Sunday Sermon Monday Mourning.
Dr Trevor Laurence
Trevor obtained his PhD from the University of Exeter in 2020. His dissertation title was “Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of Christian Prayer.” He is Executive Director of the Cateclesia Institute. Trevor is co-editor with Helen of a forthcoming publication, Hermeneutics of Biblical Violence (Sheffield Phoenix). Trevor recently published Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of Christian Prayer in 2022. Trevor and Helen also co-moderate the IBR’s research group on Biblical Violence. Trevor lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Will Moore
Will Moore is currently training for priesthood in the Church of England at Westcott House in Cambridge and is studying for a PhD in Theology with the Cambridge Theological Federation and Anglia Ruskin University, focussing on constructive trauma theologies and masculinities. Prior to this, he studied for degrees (BA and MTh) in theology and biblical studies at Cardiff University. He is the author of Boys Will Be Boys, and Other Myths: Unravelling Biblical Masculinities (SCM Press, 2022). Will has been a friend of the Centre since it began, being shortlisted for the student paper prize at the inaugural conference in 2019 and contributing to the Centre’s publications and blog since. A part of his work at the Centre is curating our blog series Hostility, Healing, Hymnody, which focuses on the intersection between (Christian) music and violence.
Dr Maria Power
Maria is a Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford where she is the director of the Human Dignity project at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice. Her research aims to use the teachings of the bible to overcome structural and cultural violence in Britain and Ireland. Maria’s latest book, Catholic Social Teaching and Theologies of Peace in Northern Ireland: Cardinal Cahal Daly and the Pursuit of the Peaceable Kingdom was published by Routledge in 2020. Maria is working with us in a number of ways, including co-editing a book with Helen, entitled Violence and Peace in Sacred Texts (forthcoming, Palgrave). She is also a host of our podcast Guns and God.
Dr Michael Spalione
Michael obtained his PhD from Trinity College/ University of Aberdeen in 2020. His dissertation title was “Church, Kingdom, and Political Theology: A Constructive Hermeneutical Proposal in Dialogue with Stanley Hauerwas and Oliver O’Donovan.” Michael is co-editor with Helen on the conference proceedings, the first of which was published by Sheffield Phoenix Press in 2019. He is also a host of our podcast Guns and God. Michael lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
Charlotte Thomas
Having earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees in theology at Cardiff University, Charlotte is a PhD candidate at Exeter University, researching the use of combative biblical imagery in global Neo-Muscular Christian men’s groups. Her research interests also include biblical violence, feminist hermeneutics, the theology of veganism, Ecotheology, and the intersection of masculinity, theology and nationalism. Lottie has presented all all three academic conferences of the CSBV, and won the student prize in 2021.
Ceri Webb
Ceri is a Church of England ordinand studying at Trinity College Bristol, where she has just completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Theology, Ministry and Mission. She has an MA in Integrative Theology with Social Justice from the London School of Theology. She is currently working towards a research degree looking at how the story of King David is retold (and manipulated) in evangelical romance novels. Her research interests include feminist, liberation and trauma theologies.