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Staff profile

Overview

Professor Simon Oliver

Van Mildert Professor of Divinity and Head of Department

Affiliations
AffiliationTelephone
Van Mildert Professor of Divinity and Head of Department in the Department of Theology and Religion+44 (0) 191 33 43942
Van Mildert Professor of Divinity and Head of Department in the Centre for Catholic Studies

Biography

I first studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. After a year working at a mission school in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and a further year working in the property sector in Leeds, I moved to the University of Cambridge to study Theology. I was ordained to the diaconate in 1998 and to the priesthood in 1999. In 2000-2001 I was acting Dean of Jesus College, Cambridge and Director of Studies in Theology. From 2001 to 2004 I was Chaplain of Hertford College, Oxford. During this time in Oxford, I was briefly honorary Chaplain to Helen House and Douglas House, hospices for children and young adults with life-limiting illness. This led to a particular interest in theological anthropology and the theology of disability, topics which I now include in undergraduate modules. I was Senior Lecturer at the University of Wales, Lampeter from 2004 and moved to the University of Nottingham in 2009, becoming Head of Department in 2013. I came to Durham as Van Mildert Professor of Divinity in September 2015. I am a native of Nottingham and a lover of cricket, rugby, football, cooking, film, books, and France.

Research

My work is focussed on Christian theology and metaphysics, particularly the doctrine of creation. My first book, Philosophy, God and Motion (Routledge, 2005 & 2013), is an examination of the concept of motion in natural philosophy and theology. For ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato (c. 429-347 BC) and medieval theologians such as Thomas Aquinas (c.1225-1274), motion is a category that refers to any kind of change - a body moving, a tree growing, or a child learning. For ancient philosophers such as Plato in his dialogue Timaeus, the universe is saturated in motion and contemplating its orderly movements is central to the task of cosmology. So how is a universe saturated in motion related to God whom the orthodox Christian tradition understands as eternal and beyond change? For Aristotle (384-322 BC), God is the 'first unmoved mover'. Neoplatonic philosophers such as Plotinus (204/5-270) and theologians such as Thomas Aquinas further developed the analogical relation between the motions of the cosmos and God's eternal actuality.

The concerns of this project, particularly the pre-Newtonian view that motion is not simply a state but is always towards a purpose or goal, led me to examine more closely the crucial concept of final causation in philosophy and theology. This is the view that goals, ends, or purposes are causal. For example, the heart beats in order to pump blood around the body or the whale migrates in order to breed. The study of final causes or purposiveness in nature is known as teleology, from the Greek ‘telos’ meaning ‘goal’ or ‘end’. The view that nature is ordered to certain purposes is central to much ancient Greek natural philosophy, particularly the work of Plato and Aristotle. It is also crucial in patristic and medieval Christian theology. For Aquinas, for example, every agent acts for an end. Identifying the purpose of an action is a basic requirement for explanation. It answers the question 'why?' In modern philosophy and science it is often thought that final causes or purposiveness might be ascribed to human actions because we are intentional and deliberative - we can decide between different goals and find our way towards those goals when we act. But there is much greater scepticism and controversy concerning teleology in wider nature. For some thinkers, the idea that there is purposive order in the universe requires an ordering intelligence such as a divine designer. This is the basis of the so-called design argument for God's existence, including its latest controversial version known as intelligent design. Despite our basic intuition that things happen in nature for a purpose, a good number of philosophers and scientists regard teleology as, at best, inadequate or unnecessary in the proper explanation of nature. They have a completely different account of causal explanation that makes no reference to purposes or God, but only to the flow of apparently causal events. If we are to accept, however, that teleology is restricted to human conscious intention, this leaves us with a niggling question: how does such teleology arise from a fundamentally non-teleological nature?

Whilst teleology remains deeply controversial, scientific description (if not explanation) frequently utilises purposive concepts, particularly in the life sciences. For example, it is hard to describe the workings of the immune or digestive systems without referring to purposes and goals. Are these merely heuristic and metaphorical, or do they perform a properly explanatory role? Whilst the idea that creation finds its origin and purpose in God is central to the Christian theology of creation and many forms of ethics centred on virtue and natural law, I reject the association of teleology with modern design arguments for God's existence. So my long term project, entitled Creation's Ends: Teleology, Ethics and the Natural, addresses the question of teleology in relation to its place in the history of ideas, the nature of metaphysical and scientific explanation, and the crucial place of teleology in the theology of creation and providence.

More recently my work on the doctrine of creation led me to a deeper interest in the concept of life, understood not simply as a biological category but also as a metaphysical and theological concept. From 2021 to 2024, I ran a collaborative project entitled 'Philosophical Theology and the Phenomenology of Life' as part of the Widening Horizons in Philosophical Theology project based at the University of St. Andrews. I am particularly interested in understandings of life in the work of philosohers such as Henri Bergson (1859-1941), Hans Jonas (1903-1993) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) and how these relate to theological claims that God is life itself. Initial findings will be published in a collection of essays entitled The Nature of Life: Theology, Phenomenology, Metaphyics and my next book for a broader readership, That You May have Life: Christ and the Human Mystery.

In the general field of the doctrine of creation, I have written a book entitled Creation: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury, 2017) which I hope will be of interest to a wide readership. I am also editing The Oxford Handbook of Creation.

As well as my research in the doctrine of creation, I have published on the relation between theology and philosophy, Augustine of Hippo (354-430), the wider thought of Thomas Aquinas (c.1225-1274), the fifteenth century German Cardinal and philosopher Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), and the twentieth century Catholic theologians Henri de Lubac (1896-1991) and Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988). In 2009 I co-edited The Radical Orthodoxy Reader with John Milbank and you can listen to a younger me give a brief introduction to Radical Orthodoxy here.

Aside from my work in the Department of Theology and Religion, I am an Anglican priest and residentiary Canon of Durham Cathedral. This joint role of University Professor and Cathedral Canon, which has its origins in the foundation of the University by the Bishop of Durham and the Cathedral Chapter in 1832, connects the work of academic theology with the daily life of the Church. I am the founder and co-director of the Durham Cathedral Institute. From 2009 to 2020, I sat on the Anglican Communion's faith and order commission (the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order) and currently chair the Research Degrees Panel of the Church of England's Ministry Division.

Prospective Research Students

I currently have a full cohort of doctoral students until 2028, but I am keen to hear from prospective students who are considering research in the area of Christian doctrine and philosophy, particualrly the doctrine of creation and related themes, theological anthropology, the thought of Thomas Aquinas, the historical relationship between theology and science, and modern systematic theology.

Publications

Authored book

Chapter in book

  • Creation and Apophatic Theology
    Oliver, S. (2026). Creation and Apophatic Theology. In J. R. Betz & R. Van Nieuwenhove (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Apophatic Theology (pp. 496-509). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/9780191887017.003.0037
  • A Narrative and Apocalyptic Philosophy of Prayer
    Oliver, S., & Wolfe, J. (2024). A Narrative and Apocalyptic Philosophy of Prayer. In E. Stump & J. Wolfe (Eds.), Biblical Narratives and Human Flourishing (pp. 165-178). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003422587-14
  • Life's Wonder
    Oliver, S. (2022). Life’s Wonder. In P. Tyson (Ed.), Astonishment and Science : Engagements with William Desmond. Cascade Books.
  • Creation and Providence
    Oliver, S. (2022). Creation and Providence. In M. Allen (Ed.), The New Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine (pp. 19-36). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108885959.004
  • Consciousness, Intention, and Final Causation
    Oliver, S. (2022). Consciousness, Intention, and Final Causation. In P. Harrison & J. Milbank (Eds.), After Science and Religion (pp. 219-231). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009047968.013
  • Creation and Prayer
    Oliver, S. (2022). Creation and Prayer. In A. Cocksworth & J. C. McDowell (Eds.), T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Prayer (pp. 155-176). Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. https://doi.org/10.5040/9780567664396.ch-9
  • Every Good and Perfect Gift Is from Above: Creation Ex Nihilo before Nature and Culture
    Oliver, S. (2018). Every Good and Perfect Gift Is from Above: Creation Ex Nihilo before Nature and Culture. In A. B. Torrance & T. H. McCall (Eds.), Knowing creation : perspectives from theology, philosophy, and science. (pp. 27-46). Zondervan.
  • Henri de Lubac and Radical Orthodoxy
    Oliver, S. (2017). Henri de Lubac and Radical Orthodoxy. In J. Hillebert (Ed.), T&T Clark companion to Henri de Lubac. (pp. 393-418). T&T Clark.
  • Analogy, Creation and Descent in Cusa and Aquinas
    Oliver, S. (2017). Analogy, Creation and Descent in Cusa and Aquinas. In I. Moulin (Ed.), Participation et vision de Dieu chez Nicolas de Cues. (pp. 125-142). Librarie Philosophique J. Vrin.
  • Reading Philosophy
    Oliver, S. (2015). Reading Philosophy. In M. Higton & J. Fodor (Eds.), The Routledge companion to the practice of Christian theology. (pp. 72-87). Routledge.
  • Representing Evil in “Schindler’s List” and “Life is Beautiful”
    Oliver, S. (2012). Representing Evil in “Schindler’s List” and “Life is Beautiful”. In J. Sellars (Ed.), Light shining in a dark place : discovering theology through film. (pp. 3-17). Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock Publishers).
  • The Parallel Journey of Faith and Reason: Another Look via Aquinas’s De Veritate
    Oliver, S. (2012). The Parallel Journey of Faith and Reason: Another Look via Aquinas’s De Veritate. In S. Oliver, K. Kilby, & T. O’Loughlin (Eds.), Faithful reading : new essays in theology in honour of Fergus Kerr, OP. (pp. 113-130). T & T Clark.
  • Actuality in Theology and Philosophy
    Oliver, S. (2011). Actuality in Theology and Philosophy. In C. C. Brittain & F. A. Murphy (Eds.), Theology, university, humanities : Initium Sapientiae Timor Domini. (pp. 91-111). Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock Publishers).
  • Trinity, Motion and Creation Ex Nihilo
    Oliver, S. (2010). Trinity, Motion and Creation Ex Nihilo. In D. B. Burrell, C. Cogliati, J. M. Soskice, & W. R. Stoeger (Eds.), Creation and the God of Abraham. (pp. 133-151). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511778063.011

Edited book

Journal Article

Supervision students

Adam Fletcher

Learning for Salvation’s Sake: Durham Cathedral Priory and the Scholastic Revolution, c.1083-c.1200

Andy Hood

PhD student

Reverend Danny Hindman

PhD student

Isaac Frisby

PhD student

Kristen Padilla

PhD student

Paul Charles

DThM student

Reverend Fr Peter Wygnanski

PhD student