Dr Paul Hedges

Paul Hedges is Associate Professor in Interreligious Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU, Singapore. Previously he was Reader in Interreligious Studies at the University of Winchester, UK, and had worked for other British, Canadian, and Chinese universities before that. He has worked with a range of stakeholder groups outside academia, including the Anglican Communion Network for Interfaith Concerns (NIFCON), the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, the Babaji Yogi Sangam, the Dialogue Society, the World Congress of Faiths, and the BBC. He is on the Editorial Board of both the Journal of Religious History and Studies in Interreligious Dialogue.  He publishes widely in interreligious studies, religious studies, and theology. Current research projects include interreligious relations in Singapore and the East and South-East Asian region, as well as interreligious and intercultural hermeneutics.

Interreligious Studies:

•   Interreligious Relations in Plural Societies.
•   Histories (C19th-today) of Interreligious Encounters.
•   Theories of Interreligious Encounters and Dialogue.
•   Interreligious Ethics.

Modern and Contemporary Christian Thought:

•  Theologies of Religions in Global Context.
•  Intercultural and Comparative Theologies.

Theory in the Study of Religion and Theology:

•  Definitions of Religion and Debates around Postcolonialism.

Other Areas:

• Sacred Space, Religious Architecture, and Pilgrimage.
• Death Studies and Religion.
• Religions in East, South, and Southeast Asia.

Panel of Experts, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Virginia Theological Seminary, USA: Deanery Visiting Scholar Bursary, 2014.

Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK.

Associate Scholar, Centre of Religions for Peace and Reconciliation, University of Winchester, UK. (Patron: Abp John Sentamu; partner organizations: Religions for Peace International, New York, USA, and St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, London, UK).

Membership of Academic Socities includes: Executive Committee Member, Australian Association for the Study of Religion, 2010 – 2013; member, American academy of Religion; member, European Society for Intercultural Theology and Interreligious Studies.

Journal Editing: Editorial Board, Studies in Interreligious Dialogue, 2014 – 2019; Editorial Board, Journal of Religious History, 2008 – present; Co-editor, Australian Religion Studies Review (from 2013: Journal for the Academic Study of Religion), 2010-2013.

External examiner/ assessor for various degree programmes, revalidation events, research degree examination, etc.

Research funding and awards include: ‘Promising Researcher Grant’ (c. 8,500GBP), 2007-2008; World Congress of Faiths conference grant with matching funding (c. 2,600 GBP), 2012-2013; British Society for the Philosophy of Religion Public Lecture Grant, 2011-2012; Bruce Mansfield Prize for best paper in Journal of Religious History (Wiley-Blackwell) 2008-2009 for ‘Post-Colonialism, Orientalism, and Understanding:Religious Studies and the ChristianMissionary Imperative’.

Working Papers

• WP294 | In Defence of Freedom of Speech and against the Publication of Certain Cartoons

  30 October, 2015

Commentaries

• Plural Traditions in Plural Societies: Inclusivity in Inter-Religious Dialogue

  02 January, 2019

• CO18094 | Religion and Conflict: The Myth of Inevitable Collision

  06 June, 2018

• CO18045 | Countering the Far-Right

  16 March, 2018

• Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses (CTTA) - Volume 9, Issue 10

  23 October, 2017

• CO17167 | Challenging Islamophobia: Attitudes to Islamic Immigration

  13 September, 2017

• CO17104 | What Is (Wrong With) Radicalisation? A Response to Manchester Bombing

  25 May, 2017

• CO17101 | Religious Offence, Public Order, and the Law

  22 May, 2017

• CO17053 | Responding to Religiously-Inspired Terror: Mayor Saddiq Khan on the London Attacks

  24 March, 2017

• CO16222 | Setting the Scene: Interreligious Dialogue in Plural Societies

  02 September, 2016

• CO16219 | Fashion, Feminism or Freedom: Dissecting France’s Ban on Burkini

  29 August, 2016

• CO16195 | Not a Religious War: Reacting to Killing of French Catholic Priest

  28 July, 2016

• CO16117 | Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia: Religio-Political Fault Lines in Secular Democracies

  18 May, 2016

• CO16070 | The Need for Global Solidarity with Muslims

  01 April, 2016

• CO16047 | Trump, Madonna and Faith: The Role of Religious Leaders in Common Space

  29 February, 2016

• CO16034 | Rape and Murder among Refugees: A Crisis Point for Europe’s Immigration Policy?

  15 February, 2016

• CO15232 | Religion and Society: Of Hindu Extremists, Cows, and Muslims

  30 October, 2015

• CO15224 | The Islamisation of Europe: Myth or Reality?

  22 October, 2015

• C015171 | Discussing Religious Freedom: Need for Religious Literacy

  17 August, 2015

• CO15154 | Yoga and Violence: International Yoga Day and Indian Religious Politics

  20 July, 2015

• CO15129 | The British Election: Some Possible International Consequences

  02 June, 2015

• CO15060 | When is a Caliph not a Caliph?

  19 March, 2015

• CO15012 | Islamism, Radical Islam, Jihadism: The Problem of Language and Islamophobia

  15 January, 2015

Authored Books

• 2016 Towards Better Disagreement: A Journey into Religion and Atheism, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• 2010, Controversies in Interreligious Dialogue and the Theology of Religions, Controversies in Contextual Theology series, London: SCM Press, 287pp.
• 2001, Preparation and Fulfilment: A History and Study of Fulfilment Theology in Modern British Thought in the Indian Context, Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity series, Bern: Peter Lang, 426pp.

Edited Books

• 2016 Co-editor with Elizabeth Harris and Shanthi Hettiarachchi: Twenty-First Century Theologies of Religions: Retrospection and New Frontiers, Leiden: E. J. Brill.
• 2015, Contemporary Muslim-Christian Encounters: Developments, Diversity and Dialogues, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
• 2014, September, General Editor: Controversies in Contemporary Religion (3 volumes), Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger
• 2009, Co-editor with Alan Race: Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, SCM Reader Series, London: SCM Press, 302pp.
• 2008, Co-editor with Alan Race: Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, Core Textbook Series, London: SCM Press, 332pp.

Edited Chapters

• 2016 ‘The Theology of Religions Typology Defended: what it can and cannot do’, in Elizabeth Harris, Paul Hedges, and Shanthi Hettiarachchi (eds), Twenty-First Century Theologies of Religions: Retrospection and New Frontiers, Currents of Encounter series, Leiden: E. J. Brill/ Rodopi.
• 2016 ‘What did Kierkegaard Intend? On the Ethics of Belief and the Failure of Fear and Trembling’s Abraham’, in Frederiek Depoortere (ed.), Facing Abraham: Seven Readings of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, Annua Nuntia Lovaniensia, Leuven: Peeters.
• 2016 ‘The Ethics of Comparative Religious Reading: Approaching the Sacred Space of another Tradition’, in Ulrich Winkler, Lidia Rodriguez, and Oddbjørn Leirvik (eds), Contested Spaces, Common Ground, Currents of Encounter series, Leiden: E. J. Brill/ Rodopi, pp. 121-39.
• 2016 (Selection and commentary) ‘Rowland Williams and Missions to the Hindu’, in Marion Eggert, Hans-Martin Krämer, Björn Bentlage, and Stefan Reichmuth (eds), Religious Dynamics Under the Impact of Imperialism and Colonialism: A Sourcebook, Leiden: E. J. Brill.
• 2016 ‘Comparative Methodology and the Religious Studies Toolkit’, in Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Andreas Nehring (eds), Interreligious Comparisons in Religious Studies and Theology: Comparison Revisited, London and New York: Bloomsbury.
• 2015, ‘The Contemporary Contexts of Christian-Muslim Dialogue’, in Paul Hedges (ed.), Contemporary Muslim-Christian Encounters: Developments, Diversity and Dialogues, London: Bloomsbury Academic.
• 2014, (With Angela Coco) ‘Belonging, Behaving, Believing, Becoming: Religion and Identity’, in Paul Hedges (ed.), Controversies in Contemporary Religion, vol. I, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, pp. 163-190.
• 2014, (With Christina Welch) ‘Charisma, Scriptures, Revelation, and Reason: Sources of Religious Authority’, in Paul Hedges (ed.), Controversies in Contemporary Religion, vol. I, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, pp. 57-80.
• 2014, (With Anna King) ‘Is the Study of Religion Religious? How to Study Religion, and Who Studies Religion?’, in Paul Hedges (ed.), Controversies in Contemporary Religion, vol. I, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, pp. 31-56.
• 2014, (With Anna King) ‘What is Religion? Or What is it We’re Talking About?’, in Paul Hedges (ed.), Controversies in Contemporary Religion, vol. I, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, pp. 1-30.
• 2014, ‘Why are There Many Gods? Religious Diversity and its Challenges’, in Paul Hedges (ed.), Controversies in Contemporary Religion, vol. I, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, pp. 191-218.
• 2014, ‘Hospitality, Power and the Theology of Religions: Prophethood in the Abrahamic Context’, in Douglas Pratt, Angela Berlis, and Andreas Krebs (eds), Interreligious Engagement and Theological Reflection: Ecumenical Explorations, Oecumenical Interreligious Studies series Vol. I, Bern: Peter Lang, pp. 155-74.
• 2013, ‘Interreligious Studies’, in Anne Runehov and Lluis Oviedo (eds), Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 1176-80.
• 2013, ‘Theological Approaches to the Study of Religion’, in Christopher Partridge (ed.), Introduction to World Religions, Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, pp. 40-2.
• 2012, ‘Radical Orthodoxy and the Closed Western Theological Mind: The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy in Intercultural and Interreligious Perspective’, in Lisa Isherwood and Marko Zlomislic (eds), The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy, Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, pp. 119-43.
• 2011, ‘An Experiment in Interreligious Theology: Guanyin in the Light of Queer Theology’, in David Cheetham, Oddbjørn Leirvik, Ulrich Winkler, and Judith Gruber (eds), Interreligious Hermeneutics in Pluralistic Europe, Currents of Encounter series, Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 203-29.
• 2010, ‘China’, in R.D. Hecht and V.F. Biondo (eds), Religion and Everyday Life and Culture, Vol. I: ‘Religion in the Practice of Daily Life in World History’, Westport, CN: Praeger, pp. 44-82.
• 2010, ‘Can We Still Teach “Religions”?: Towards an Understanding of Religion as Culture and Orientation in Contemporary Pedagogy and Metatheory’, in G. Durka, L. Gearon, M. DeSouza, K. Engebretson (eds), International Handbook for Inter-Religious Education, Vol. I, New York: Springer Academic Publishers, pp. 291-312.
• 2009, (Selection and introduction) ‘Particularities’, in Paul Hedges and Alan Race (eds), Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, Core Reader Series, London: SCM Press, pp. 61-70.
• 2009, (Selection and introduction) ‘New Religious Movements’, in Paul Hedges and Alan Race (eds), Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, Core Reader series, London: SCM Press, pp. 232-9.
• 2009, (Selection and introduction with K.P. Aleaz) ‘Hinduism’, in Paul Hedges and Alan Race (eds), Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, Core Reader series, London: SCM Press, pp. 149-66.
• 2009, (Selection and introduction) ‘Islam’, in Paul Hedges and Alan Race (eds), Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, Core Reader series, London: SCM Press, pp. 133-46.
• 2009, (Selection and introduction with Alan Race) ‘Eastern Faith Traditions Respond to Christianity’, in Paul Hedges and Alan Race (eds), Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, Core Reader series, London: SCM Press, pp. 273-93.
• 2008, ‘Particularities: Tradition-specific post-modern perspectives’, in Paul Hedges and Alan Race (eds), Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, Core Textbook series, London: SCM Press, pp. 112-35.
• 2008, ‘A Reflection on Typologies: Negotiating a Fast Moving Discussion’, in Paul Hedges and Alan Race (eds), Christian Approaches to Other Faiths, Core Textbook series, London: SCM Press, pp. 17-33.

Journal Articles

• 2016 ‘The Body(Sattva) on the Cross: A Comparative Theological Investigation of The Theology of the Cross in the Light of Chinese Mahayana Suffering Bodhisattvas’, Journal of Buddhist-Christian Studies.
• 2016 ‘Comparative Theology and Hermeneutics: A Gadamerian Approach to Interreligious Interpretation’, Religions 7.1.
• 2015 (With Anna Halafoff) ‘Globalisation and Multifaith Societies’, Studies in Interreligious Dialogue, ‘Multifaith Societies’ Special Edition.
• 2015 ‘Burning for a Cause: Four Factors in Successful Political (and Religious) Self-Immolation Examined in Relation to Alleged Falun Gong “Fanatics” in Tiananmen Square’ Politics and Religion
• 2014, ‘Discourse on Discourses: Why we still need the Terminology of “Religion” and “Religions”’, Journal of Religious History, 38:1, pp. 132-48.
• 2014, ‘Daoist-Christian Dialogue: An Overview’, Interreligious Insight, 12:1, pp. 28-38.
• 2014, ‘Interreligious Engagement and Identity Theory: Assessing the Theology of Religions Typology as a Model for Dialogue and Encounter’, Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 27.2, 198-21.
• 2014, ‘Remembering and the Creation of (Sacred) Place: Glastonbury, (Anglican) Christian Theology, and Identity (in Post-modernity)’, The Journal of Implicit Religion, 17.3.
• 2014, ‘The Rhetoric and Reception of John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy: Privileging Prejudice in Theology?’, Open Theology, 1, pp. 22-44.
• 2012, ‘Guanyin and Identity: The Image of a Subversive Religious Icon’, Religion and Culture, 13:1, pp. 91-106.
• 2012, ‘The Old and the New Comparative Theologies: Discourses on Religion, the Theology of Religions, Orientalism and the Boundaries of Traditions’, Religions, 3:4, pp. 1120-37.
• 2010, ‘Is John Milbank’s Radical Orthodoxy a Form of Liberal Theology? A Rhetorical Counter’, The Heythrop Journal, 51:5, pp. 795-818.
• 2008, ‘Post-Colonialism, Orientalism, and Understanding: Religious Studies and the Christian Missionary Imperative’, The Journal of Religious History, 32: 1 (March), pp. 55-75
• 2008, ‘Are Interfaith Dialogue and a Global Ethic Compatible? A Call for an Ethic to the Globe,’ The Journal for Faith, Spirituality and Social Change, 1: 2 (May), pp. 109-32.
• 2008, ‘Concerns about the Global Ethic: A Sympathetic Critique and Suggestions for a New Direction’, Studies in Interreligious Dialogue, 18: 1 (Fall), pp. 1-16.
• 2006, ‘Defining Religion: A Religious Orientation Typology’, Part 2, Interreligious Insight, 4: 4 (Oct), pp. 34-42.
• 2004, ‘A Post-modern Reading of John Hick’s Pluralistic Hypothesis’, Interreligious Insight, 2: 2. (April), pp. 44-55.
• 2002, ‘The Inter-Relationship of Religions: A Critical Examination of the Concept of Particularity’, World Faiths Encounter, July, pp. 3-13.
• 2000, ‘Architecture, Inculturation and Christian Mission: The Buildings of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, and Their Meaning for the Church Today’, International Review of Mission, 89:353 (April), pp. 180-9.

• AS6028 Studying Religion in Plural Societies
• AS6035 Dialogue: Inter-religious Encounters & Peacebuilding