Staff profile

My academic research has its origins in the practice of mission and ministry in the Christian Church. For more than 15 years I worked as Christian youth worker and then 5 years working as Archbishop of Canterbury’s Adviser for Youth Ministry. It was the experience of working with young people and the issues around ecclesiology and mission that this raised that generated a number of my publications including Youthwork and the Mission of God (SPCK 1997), Liquid Church (Paternoster 2002) and Participation and Mediation: a Practical Theology for the Liquid Church (SCM 2008). My doctoral research developed these concerns by examining the phenomenon of contemporary worship. This research drew upon cultural studies and theology and it was published as Selling Worship (Paternoster 2005). My interest in theology and popular culture has been a significant feature of my research. I was part of the group that founded the Religion, Media and Popular Culture Network in the UK and more recently I wrote on celebrity worship Gods Behaving Badly (Baylor University Press 2011). I currently teach Religion Media and Popular Culture, which is a strand in the Research Project and Colloquium second year undergraduate module. I also teach a Masters Module in Ecclesiology and Ethnography. 

 

In 1996 I joined to King’s College London where I established the DThM and the Masters Programmes in Theology and Ministry. In 2012 I became Professor of Theology and Ministry at King’s. I am currently Chair of the Ecclesiology and Ethnography Network (https://www.ecclesiologyandethnography.net) and I was editor of the Journal Ecclesial Practices published by Brill. I am one of the co-ordinators for the Ecclesial Practices Group at the AAR. The Ecclesiology and Ethnography Network hold their annual conference in Durham at St John’s College. There is a book series linked to the network and I edited the first volume, which was published as Perspectives on Ecclesiology and Ethnography (Eerdmans 2012). I am Programme Director for the DThM in Durham, which is co-taught with Cranmer Hall. Alongside my appointments in Durham I am also Professor of Practical Theology (Professor II) at the Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo and Professor of Practical Theology (Professor II) at NLA University College in Bergen.

 

I welcome enquiries from students who want to discuss the possibility doctoral work on an aspect of the contemporary Church. All of my current students are using theologically informed approaches to qualitative empirical research to examine an aspect of the Christian community. These include, The Identity of Roman Catholic Young People in England, The ecclesial significance of a Christian Skateboard Park in Canada, the ecclesiology of Urban Saints, the theology of New Missional Communities and the relationship between the local church and Anglican lay people who volunteer. I have a particular interest in issues of gospel and culture, mission studies, contemporary ecclesiology including Fresh Expressions and Anglican Ecclesiology. I have had a long interest in all aspects of youth ministry, popular culture and the Church and the study of contemporary worship.

• Theology and Qualitative Research. Practical Theology, Bluegrass Music and Theology. Popular Culture and Religion. Contemporary Evangelicalism/ Worship, and Youth Ministry.

Authored book

• Ward, P. (2019). Celebrity Worship. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429503788
• Ward, P. (2017). Introducing Practical Theology: Mission, Ministry, and the Life of the Church. Baker Academic
• Ward, P. (2017). Liquid Ecclesiology: The Gospel and The Church. Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004347359

Chapter in book

• Fiddies, P. S., & Ward, P. Affirming Faith at a Service of Baptism in St Aldate's Church, Oxford. In C. B. Scharen (Ed.), Explorations in Ecclesiology and Ethnography (51-70). Eerdmans
• Ward, P. (2017). Celebrity Worship as Parareligion: Bieber and the Beliebers. In B. Forbes, & J. Mahan (Eds.), Religion and popular culture in America (313-335). (3rd ed.). University of California Press
• Ward, P. (2016). ‘Seeing and Believing’. In J. S. Sexton, & P. Weston (Eds.), The end of theology : shaping theology for the sake of mission (145-170). Fortress press
• Ward, P. (2012). Attention and Conversation. In P. Ward (Ed.), Perspectives on Ecclesiology and Ethnography (36-49). W.B. Eerdmans
• Ward, P. (2012). The Economics of Charismatic Evangelical Worship. In G. Lynch, & J. Mitchell (Eds.), Religion, Media and Culture: A Reader (23-30). Routledge
• Researching Religion and Popular Culture (62 - 81). Bloomsbury
• Ward, P. (2006). Reorganizing the Chairs on the Titanic: A Case of a Change in Priorities. In M. Percy, & I. Markham (Eds.), Why Liberal Churches are Growing (30-44). T&T Clark

Edited book

• Ward, P. (Ed.). The Rite Stuff. BRF
• Ward, P. (Ed.). Perspectives on Ecclesiology and Ethnography. Eerdmans
• Ward, P. (Ed.). Mass Culture: The Interface of Eucharist and Mission. BRF
• Percy, M., & Ward, P. (Eds.). (2014). Wisdom in the Spirit: Gospel, Church and Culture. Ashgate Publishing

Journal Article

• Ward, P. (2018). Ecclesiology and Ethnography with Humility: Going Through Barth. Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology, 72(1), 51-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/0039338x.2016.1204363
• Ward, P. (2015). Blueprint Ecclesiology and the Lived: Normativity as Perilous Faithfulness. Ecclesial Practices, 2(1), 74-90. https://doi.org/10.1163/22144471-00201008
• Dunlop, S., & Ward, P. (2014). Narrated Photography: Visual Representations of the Sacred Among young Polish migrants in England. Fieldwork in Religion, 9(1), 30-52. https://doi.org/10.1558/fiel.v9i1.30
• Dunlop, S., & Ward, P. (2012). From Obligation to Consumption in Two-and-a-half Hours: A Visual Exploration of the Sacred with Young Polish Migrants. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 27(13), 433-451. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2012.722037
• Ward, P. (2012). The Hermeneutical and Epistemological Significance of Our Students - A Response to Bonnie Miller-McLemore. International Journal of Practical Theology, 16(1), 55-65. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijpt-2012-0005
• Ward, P., & Campbell, H. (2011). Ordinary Theology as Narratives: An Empirical Study of Young People's Charismatic Worship in Scotland. Practical Theology, 15(2), 226-242
• Ward, P., & Dunlop, S. (2011). Practical Theology and the Ordinary: Visual Research among Migrant Polish Catholic Young People. International Journal of Practical Theology, 4(3), 295-313
• Campbell, H., Lynch, G., & Ward, P. (2009). 'Can You Hear the Army?' Exploring Evangelical Discourse in Scottish Prayer Meetings. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 24(2), 217-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537900902816699
• Ward, P. (2005). Coming to Sermon: The Practice of Doctrine in the Preaching of John Calvin. Scottish Journal of Theology, 58(3), 319-332
• Ward, P. (2005). Affective Alliance or Circuits of Power: The Production and Consumption of Contemporary Charismatic Worship in Britain. International Journal of Practical Theology, 9(1),
• Ward, P. (2003). Renewal an Soul Survivor as Distinction and Subcultural Capital. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 24(2),
• Ward, P. (2003). Union With Christ: The Subplot of Evangelical Soteriology. Journal of youth and theology, 2(1),
• Ward, P. (2002). Spiritual Songs as Text, Genre and Interpretation. Journal of youth and theology, 1(1),
• Ward, P. (1998). Alpha: The McDonaldisation of Religion. Anvil (Bristol), 15(4), 279-286

Monograph

• Ward, P. Selling Worship. Paternoster press
• Ward, P. Growing Up Evangelical: Youthwork and the Making of a Subculture. SPCK
• Ward, P. Particiption and Mediation: A Practical Theology for the Liquid Church. SCM Press
• Ward, P. Youth Culture and the Gospel. Marshall Pickering
• Ward, P. Worship and Youth Culture. Marshall PIckering
• Ward, P. (2013). Liquid Church. Paternoster press
• Ward, P. (2011). God's Behaving Badly: Media Religion and Celebrity Culture. Baylor University Press
• Ward, P. (1997). Youthwork and the Mission of God. SPCK

Other (Print)

• Ward, P. (in press). When Gods Fall (off Their Bike)