Introductory Post

I am currently studying for a DPhil in theology and 19th-century literature at Trinity College, Oxford, from which I received an MSt (Distinction) in Theology, focusing on the intersection of modern theology and literature. I previously received a first-class BA in Theology from Oriel College, Oxford. I currently hold a Clarendon Scholarship.

My research deals with the twin theological phenomena of self-creation and world-creation, using 19th century Paris as a paradigmatic example. How can we understand the "public figure" - the self-creating self we find, for example, among the decadents and dandies of the Parisian fin de siecle - in the context of a new urban environment in which performance (in such public spaces as the cafe and the boulevard) is not only possible but paramount? My work seeks to uncover the way in which theological ideas about the self, God, order, and meaning, are reflected artistically and physically in the "literary" Paris, and to examine what have previously been considered literary or sociological phenomena from a theological perspective. 

I am also interested in related theological approaches to the act of artistic creation, in fin de siecle "decadent" French literature as a whole, and in Romantic understandings of subjective knowledge and "being in truth," all of which inform my academic work.
My research deals with the twin theological phenomena of self-creation and world-creation, using 19th century Paris as a paradigmatic example. How can we understand the "public figure" - the self-creating self we find, for example, among the decadents and dandies of the Parisian fin de siecle - in the context of a new urban environment in which performance (in such public spaces as the cafe and the boulevard) is not only possible but paramount? My work seeks to uncover the way in which theological ideas about the self, God, order, and meaning, are reflected artistically and physically in the "literary" Paris, and to examine what have previously been considered literary or sociological phenomena from a theological perspective. 

I am also interested in related theological approaches to the act of artistic creation, in fin de siecle "decadent" French literature as a whole, and in Romantic understandings of subjective knowledge and "being in truth," all of which inform my academic work. My previous research topics have included: the novels of Joris-Karl Huysmans, Kierkgaard and irony, the "dandy" as a theological constructs, narrative collapse and kairotic time in the novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Victor Hugo, Nietzsche's theories of tragedy, and the plays of Nikos Kazantzakis
Influences and inspirations include: Kierkegaard, Schleiermacher, Tillich, Zizioulas, Nicholas Cabasilas, George Steiner, Dostoevsky, GM Hopkins, any and all theological-novelists, Walter Benjamin, G. Pattison.
Posts will (hopefully) go live on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.