Centre for Religion and Public Life

• Mikel Burley, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy
• Caroline Fielder, Associate Professor in Chinese Studies
• Alistair McFadyen, Retired Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology
• Seán McLoughlin, Professor of the Anthropology of Islam (Muslim Diasporas)
• Tasia Scrutton, Associate Professor in Philosophy and Religion
• Mustapha Sheikh, Professor in Islamic Studies; Co-Director of the Iqbal Centre for the Study of Contemporary Islam
• Jasjit Singh,  ​​​​​Professor of Religion and Global Engagement
• Stefan Skrimshire, Associate Professor in Theology and Religious Studies
• Caroline Starkey,  Associate Professor of Religion and Society
• Johanna Stiebert, Professor of Hebrew Bible
• Aled Thomas, Lecturer in Religious Studies
• Emma Tomalin, Professor of Religion and Public Life
• Adriaan van Klinken, Professor of Religion and African Studies
• Robert Vanderbeck, Professor of Human Geography and Head of School

Speaker: Dr Hannah Waite, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow of Religion at the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science.

This talk draws on my new book Named, Shamed and Blamed: Theology, Mental Health and The Wounds of Stigma, to examine spiritual stigma as a form of oppression within Christian responses to mental health. Focusing particularly on the experiences of Christians diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I explore how religious language, practices, and expectations can intensify shame and locate responsibility for suffering in morally damaging ways. Drawing on lived experience and liberation theology, I argue that stigma creates real forms of poverty—relational, spiritual, and communal—and should be understood as an injustice that wounds both individuals and the Church. Rather than treating mental illness as a pastoral or medical problem alone, this paper reframes stigma itself as a theological issue requiring critique, repentance, and transformation.

Please note this event will take place at 15.00-16.30

Speaker: Latrell Felix, Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society, University of Groningen / Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Córdoba

Queer bodies dwelling within the church are sites of contestation. Negotiating the tension between their queer and religious identities has given rise to distinct navigational strategies. Existing scholarship often describes queer religiosity and spirituality as personal and inward experiences, emphasizing the reflexive negotiation of faith. However, my ethnographic engagement with self-identified Baklang Katoliko revealed a more public dimension of their religious experience and faith. Drawing from a month of fieldwork and 10 in-depth interviews, I propose the concept of queer devotion to illustrate how Baklang Katoliko embody and perform their faith within the church. Queer devotion comprises three interrelated elements: (1) a public and outward expression of faith, (2) social and communal church life, and (3) a sense of calling to serve. I argue that Baklang Katoliko perform, negotiate, and affirm their existence within religious spaces of tension through these public enactments of faith. Ultimately, their acts of queer devotion not only assert queer visibility within religious life but also elicit hope for future generations of queer Catholics seeking inclusion and affirmation in the church.