I found out this week that funding is available for me to proceed with part time PhD research in January 2008. It's going to be a long slog but I will be supervised for a PhD in political theology at Heythrop College, University of London while continuing much of my work here in Birmingham. Heythrop is a Jesuit college with a long tradition of distinguished study into the Abrahamic faiths. I'm very excited at the possibilities offered by such a institution with such a rich tradition that I have much to learn from and the excellence of my superviser Anthony O'Mahony.
I'm going to have to come up with some shorthand ways of describing what I will be looking into so here's a first pop...Basically, I'm looking into Christian and Muslim notions of territory especially where Muslim communities are in the majority and the church is small and declining. How do both traditions view their local area? What are their respective responsibilities to the geopolitical space? Does the church duck out and leave these patches, or engage? If it does engage, how should it without trying to replicate a version of Christendom? Does Islam have a notion of a vocation for the wider community and what might that look like? In essence, "who owns the city?"
So, have a great Christmas and a peaceful New Year...I'll hold off reading Augustine's City of God until January!
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