We welcome Professor Grant Macaskill to our University as our new Lightfoot Professor of Divinity. He will join our leading Department of Theology and Religion in September.
Currently at Aberdeen University, Professor Macaskill is one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars.
The Lightfoot Professorship is named after Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham and one of the foremost Biblical scholars of the nineteenth century.
Established in the 1940s, the chair has seen many distinguished New Testament scholars. Professor Macaskill succeeds Professor John Barclay, FBA.
Professor Macaskill has held the Kirby Laing Chair of New Testament Exegesis at Aberdeen University since 2015.
Before this, he was a Senior Lecturer in New Testament at the University of St Andrews, where he completed both his doctoral and postdoctoral research.
Grant is one of the world’s finest New Testament scholars and we are thrilled to welcome him to Durham. His academic expertise and experience in university leadership will undoubtedly enrich our community and further enhance the reputation of the Lightfoot Professorship.
Professor Macaskill’s research combines key studies in New Testament theology and the cultural setting of the New Testament. His work also investigates the significance of the Bible and theology for thinking about autism and neurodiversity.
One of his significant research areas involves shifting the focus of New Testament studies to emphasise the cultural complexity of Roman Syria. This highlights the contributions of Asian and African intellectual cultures alongside Roman and Hellenistic influences.
I am excited to be joining the academic community in Durham and can’t imagine a better home for the work that I hope to develop in the coming years. In addition to the scholarship within the Department of Theology and Religion, the distinctive interests in Classics and Ancient History at Durham align closely with my project. This is particularly true for the study of Greek-Syriac bilingual cultures. I also look forward to working with colleagues in Medical and Transformational Humanities, particularly in relation to the emergent research in Critical Neurodiversity Studies.
From September 2025, Professor Macaskill will undertake a three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship to study Biblical pseudepigrapha - ancient Jewish and Christian writings not included in the Bible.
His research will delve into their broader philosophical contexts and their role in shaping religious scriptures.
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