Biography
David Fergusson studied philosophy and theology in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Oxford. He took up his current post in April 2021, having been Professor of Systematic Theology in the University of Aberdeen (1990–2000) and Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh (2000–2021). He serves as Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland and Dean of the Order of the Thistle. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2004) and a Fellow of the British Academy (2013).
Publications
Selected Publications
Single-Authored Works
Reformed Humanism: Essays on Christian Doctrine, Philosophy and Church (London: T&T Clark, 2024)
The Providence of God: A Polyphonic Approach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018)
Creation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014)
Faith and Its Critics: A Conversation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)
Church, State and Civil Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Community, Liberalism and Christian Ethics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)
The Cosmos and the Creator: Introduction to the Theology of Creation (London: SPCK, 1998)
Bultmann (London: Chapman, 1992)
Edited Works
The History of Scottish Theology (3 Vols.), co-edited with Mark W. Elliott (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019).
Cambridge Companion to Reformed Theology, co-edited with Paul Nimmo (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology, co-edited with Ian A. McFarland, Karen Kilby, and Iain R. Torrance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
Blackwell Companion to Nineteenth-Century Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2010).
The Future as God’s Gift: Explorations in Christian Eschatology (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2001), co-edited with Marcel Sarot.
Christ, Church and Society: Essays on John Baillie and Donald Baillie (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993)
Journal Articles
‘Adam Smith on Ethics and Religion’, Humanities and Culture, 2 (2021) forthcoming.
‘Theology in Lockdown’, Theology in Scotland, 28.1 (2021), 6–16
‘Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Creation: Church Bells Beyond the Stars’, International Journal for Systematic Theology 18.4 (2016), 414–431.
‘Are We Alone? And Does It Matter?’ Theology Today, 72.2 (2015), 194–205.
‘Engaging with a History of Counselling, Spirituality and Faith in Scotland: A Readers' Theatre Script’ with Alette Willis, Liz Bondi, Mary Catherine Burgess and Gavin Miller, British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 42.5 (2014), 525–543.
‘Humans Created According to the Imago Dei: An Alternative Proposal’, Zygon, 48.2 (2013), 439–453.
‘Confessing the Faith in a Plural Democracy’: Response to Miroslav Volf, A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2011), Political Theology, 14.6 (2013), 796–802
‘Theology and Therapy: Maintaining the Connection’ Pacifica, 26, (2013), 3–16
‘The Absence of God and its Contextual Significance in Hume’ Journal of Scottish Philosophy, 11.1 (2013), 69–85
‘Persons in Relation: the interaction of philosophy, theology and psychotherapy in twentieth-century Scotland’, Journal of Practical Theology, 5.3 (2013), 287–306
‘Theology of Providence’, Theology Today, 67 (2010), 261–278.
‘Beyond Theologies of Resentment: An Appreciation of Jeffrey Stout’s Democracy and Tradition’, Scottish Journal of Theology, 59, (2006), 183–197.
‘Church and State After Christendom’, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 4 (2004), 64–79.
‘Karl Barth’s Resurrection of the Dead: Further Reflections’, Scottish Journal of Theology, 56 (2003), 65–72.
‘The Doctrine of the Incarnation Today’, Expository Times, 113, (2001), 75–79.
‘Communitarianism and Liberalism: Towards a Convergence?, Studies in Christian Ethics, 10.2, (1997), 32–48.
‘John Macmurray's Philosophy of the Family’, Appraisal, 1.2, (1996), 68–74.
‘Meaning, Truth and Realism in Bultmann and Lindbeck’, Religious Studies, 26, (1990), 183–198.
‘Interpreting the Resurrection’, Scottish Journal of Theology 38, (l985), 287–305.
Contributions to Edited Collections
‘Reformed Social Thought’, in Heleen Zorgdrager, Pieter Vos and Eddy van der Borght (eds.), Calling of the Church in Times of Polarization, Studies in Reformed Theology (Leiden, Brill, forthcoming).
‘Providence and Analytic Theology’, in James Arcadi and James Turner (eds.), T&T Clark Companion to Analytic Theology (London: T&T Clark, 2021), 155–164.
‘Politics, Society and Law’ in Michael Allen and Scott Swain (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)
‘T. F. Torrance and Karl Barth’, in George Hunsinger and Keith Johnson (eds.), Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Karl Barth (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2020), 657–668.
‘Providence’ in Paul Dafydd Jones and Paul T. Nimmo (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Karl Barth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 373–388.
‘History, Tradition and Skepticism: The Patterns of Nineteenth-Century Theology’ Cambridge History
of Modern European Thought Volume 1: The Nineteenth Century, Warren Breckman and Peter E. Gordon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 65–87.
‘What Provides a Better Explanation for the Origin of the Universe: Science or Religion?’, co-authored with Katherine Snow, in Mark Harris and Duncan Pritchard (eds.), Philosophy, Science and Religion for Everyone (London: Routledge, 2018), 116–125
‘Reformed Theology in the British Isles 1700–2000 in Cambridge Companion to Reformed Theology, co-edited with Paul Nimmo (Cambridge University Press, 2016), 248–268.
‘The Last Judgement’ Theological Theology: Essays in Honour of John Webster, (eds.), R. David Nelson, Darren Sarisky & Justin Stratis (T&T Clark: London, 2015), 75–88
‘Loved by the Other: Creatio ex Nihilo as an Act of Divine Love’ in Dynamics of Difference: Christianity and Alterity. A Festschrift for Werner G. Jeanrond, (eds.), James Matarazzo and Ulrich Schmiedel (London: T&T Clark, 2015), 265–273.
‘Scottish Idealism’ in Karl Ameriks (ed.), Philosophy and Natural Sciences , Volume One, The Impact of Idealism – The Legacy of Post-Kantian German Thought, Nicholas Boyle and Elizabeth Disley (eds.) (Cambridge University Press, 2013), 270–296.
‘The Ethics of Being Reasonable’ in John Hughes (ed), The Unknown God: Sermons Responding to the New Atheists (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2013), 9–16.
‘Providence and Its Secular Displacements’ in Oxford Handbook of Theology and Modern European Thought, George Pattison, Graham Ward and Nicholas Adams (eds.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 655–674.
‘The Bible and Modernity’ in The Bible: Culture, Community and Society, Neil Messer and Angus Paddison (eds.) (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013) 9–30
‘Natural Theology After Darwin’, in Andrew Robinson (ed,), Darwinism and Natural Theology: Evolving Perspectives (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012), 78–95.
‘Interpreting the story of creation: a case study in the dialogue between theology and science’ in Genesis and Christian Theology, Nathan McDonald. Mark W. Elliott & Grant Macaskill (ed.), (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), 155–174.
‘Ecumenism and the Trinity’ in Oxford Handbook of the Trinity, Gilles Emery & Matthew Levering (eds.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 547–558.
‘Aesthetics of the Reformed Tradition’ and ‘Theology of Worship: A Reformed Perspective’, Worship and Liturgy in Context: Studies of Theology and Practice, Duncan B. Forrester & Douglas C. Gay (eds.), (London: SCM, 2009), 23–35, 67–80.
‘Jesus and the Faith-History Problem Today’, Jesus Christ Today: Studies of Christology in Various Contexts, Stuart G. Hall (ed.), (Berlin: Gruyter, 2009) 265–282.
‘Faith in the Public Square’, Theology as Conversation: The Significance of Dialogue in Historical and Contemporary Theology, Bruce L. McCormack & Kimlyn J. Bender (eds), (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009) 313–326.
‘Theology and Laughter’, in The God of Love and Human Dignity: Essays in Honour of George M Newlands, Paul Middleton (ed.) (London: T&T Clark, 2007), 107–116.
‘Creation’, Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) John Webster, Iain Torrance and Kathyrn Tanner (eds.), 72–90.
‘Types of Natural Theology’, The Evolution of Rationality: Interdisciplinary Essays in Honor of J. Wentzel Van Huyssteen F. Le Ron Shults (ed.) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 380–393.
‘The Protestant Churches and Europe: British Perspectives’ in Theologie für Europa: Perspectiven Evangelischer Kirchen, (eds.), Martin Friedrich, Hans Jürgen Luibl & Christine-Ruth Müller (Frankfurt: Lembeck, 2006), 92–108.
‘John Macquarrie as Interpreter of Bultmann’, In Search of Humanity and Deity, Robert Morgan (ed.), (London: SCM, 2006), 25–33.
‘Divine Providence and Action’ God’s Life in Trinity: Essays in Honour of Jürgen Moltmann, Michael Welker & Miroslav Volf (eds.) (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006), 153–165.
‘The Theology of Worship within the Reformed Tradition’, Loving God with our Minds: Festschrift for Wallace Alston, Michael Welker & Cynthia A. Jarvis (eds.), (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 367–380.
‘The Reformed Tradition and the Virtue of Tolerance’ in Public Theology in the 21st Century, William F. Storrar & Andrew Morton (eds.) (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2004), 107–121.
‘The Reformed Churches’, in The Christian Church: An Introduction to the Major Traditions, Paul Avis (ed.), (London: SPCK, 2002), 18–48.
‘Will the Love of God Finally Triumph?’, Nothing Greater, Nothing Better: Theological Essays on the Love of God, ed. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 186–202.
‘Eschatology’, Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine, ed. Colin E. Gunton, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 226-244.
‘Towards a Theology of the Personal’, The Presumption of Presence: Christ, Church and Culture in the Academy. Essays in Honour of DWD Shaw , Peter McEnhill and G. B. Hall (eds.), (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1997), 105–118.
Teaching and Supervisions
David Fergusson has worked across a range of subjects in historical and contemporary theology. He is currently preparing a one-volume systematics and is open to supervising projects in most areas of Christian theology.
