Dr Jenny Leith

Political theology

Negative theology

Ecclesiology

Christian formation and discipleship

Anglicanism

Biography

I studied for my undergraduate degree in Russian and Italian at Jesus College, Cambridge, before going on to work in politics for several years. This work – as a parliamentary researcher and then in social policy – eventually led me to study theology, in order to think through more deeply the relationship between Christian faith and participation in political life. I began my graduate studies at King’s College London and went on to complete a PhD in political theology at Durham University. This research formed the basis of my monograph, Political Formation: Being Formed by the Spirit in Church and World (SCM Press, 2023). After a postdoctoral research fellowship with the University of Roehampton, I took up a post as Director of Studies at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide. In September 2022, I became the Lecturer in Christian Ethics at Westcott House. Along the way I have also taught at the Lindisfarne College of Theology, the College of the Resurrection (Mirfield), King’s College London, and Sarum College.

Research

My research interests bring together negative theology, political theology and theory, and ecclesiology. I have a particular interest in the ways individuals are formed by belonging to institutions (both ecclesial and more widely political), and in how, in turn, institutions can and should be formed. Lately, I have been reflecting on how theological resources might be fruitfully brought to bear on our contemporary political ills of polarisation and exclusion from civic life.

Publications

Key publications:

Jenny Leith, Political Formation: Being Formed by the Spirit in Church and World (SCM Press, 2023)

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Authored with King-Ho Leung and Peter Leith, ‘Unknowing (the End of) the World: Negative Eschatology and Political Theology’, Studies in Christian Ethics, 37:4 (2024).

Authored with Karen O’Donnell, ‘Complicating Conversations: English Anglican Perspectives on Abortion’, Special issue: ‘Abortion After Dobbs’, Anglican Theological Review, 106:2 (2024).

‘Anglicanism and the Reproduction of Peoplehood’, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 24:1 (2024).

‘The Place of Civic Belonging: The dangers and possibilities of Anglican territorial embeddedness’, Special issue: ‘Rethinking the sacred in religion and nationalism’, Religion, State, and Society, 50:5 (2022).

‘Radical Democratic Discipleship: Encountering the Spirit in civic life’, Political Theology, 22:6 (2021).

Edited journal issues

Edited with Edward Cardale. ‘Longing for Peace Under the Clouds of War’, Crucible, the Journal of Christian Social Ethics (October 2023).

Chapters in edited collections

Authored with Joseph Galgalo, ‘Anglicanism’, The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology Since 1918, 4th Edition (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2024), Eds. Ashley Cocksworth and Rachel Muers.

‘Theopolitical Visions of National Belonging: Resisting the totalising tendencies of inclusion’, Christianity Identity in National, Local and Transnational Space (Leiden: Brill), Eds. Zoran Grozdanov, Sophia Johnson, Petr Kratochvil, Marietta van der Tol. Accepted by volume editors, forthcoming.