Staff profile

My primary research interest is in the impact of digital culture upon Christian faith and practice. Since joining the team at the Centre for Digital Theology (formerly CODEC) in 2018 I have published on a range of topics within this area from ethics, to missiology, post-secularity, liturgy, and ecclesial practices. This interest in digital theology began during a postdoc at the Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Edinburgh, when I was also the academic lead for a project on religion and social media in Russia run by the Centre on Religion and Global Affairs and Saatchi.

I hold a PhD in British Literature and Culture from the University of Bergen. My doctoral work, published by Bloomsbury (2019), is an exploration of British intellectual elites’ responses to the perceived civilisational crisis during the 1930s and 40s. I used extensive archival material to narrate the story of ‘the Moot’ and its endeavour to create a Christian socio-political movement that would stem the tide of totalitarianism.

Prior to my doctoral studies I undertook both a Master of Theology from London School of Theology and Master of Science in Sociology from the London School of Economics. In between these programmes – and during the final years of the Sri Lankan civil war – I worked as Lecturer and MA Course Leader at the Colombo Theological Seminary.

I convene the Global Network for Digital Theology, that brings together scholars across a range of disciplines to collaborate and further this emerging field of research. Over the last few years I have also been involved in setting up Hönö Connects, an international network of academics, activists, politicians and journalists seeking to respond to the growing influence of the far right and right wing populism in Europe.

• Digital culture
• Political theology
• Digital humanities
• Ecclesiology
• Theological ethics

Authored book

• Kurlberg, Jonas (2019). Christian Modernism in an Age of Totalitarianism: T. S. Eliot, Karl Mannheim and the Moot. Bloomsbury.

Chapter in book

• Kurlberg, Jonas & Mitchell, Jolyon (2020). Digital Representations of Martyrdom. In Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom. Middleton, Paul Wiley-Blackwell.
• Mitchell, Jolyon & Kurlberg, Jonas (2020). Building Peace in View of Digital Violence and Suffering. In Theologische Medienethik Im Digitalen Zeitalter. Ulshofer, Gotlind & Wilhelm, Monika Kohlhammer.
• Kurlberg, Jonas (2014). The Moot, the End of Civilisation and the Re-Birth of Christendom. In Modernism, Christianity and Apocalypse . 222.

Edited book

• Kurlberg, Jonas & Phillips, Peter M. (2020). Missio Dei in a Digital Age. SCM Press.

Journal Article

• Chow, Alexander & Kurlberg, Jonas (2020). Two or Three Gathered Online: Asian and European Responses to COVID-19 and the Digital Church. Studies in World Christianity 26(3): 298-318.
• Kurlberg, Jonas (2020). Doing God in Digital Culture: How Digitality is Shaping Theology. Cursor_ Zeitschrift für explorative Theologie
• Phillips, Peter M., Schiefelbein-Guerrero, K. & Kurlberg, Jonas (2019). Defining Digital Theology: Digital Humanities, Digital Religion and the Particular Work of the CODEC Research Centre and Network. Open Theology 5(1): 29-43.
• Kurlberg, Jonas (2013). Resisting Totalitarianism: The Moot and a New Christendom. Religion Compass 7(12): 517.