Jeremy Begbie
· Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Research Professor of Theology; The McDonald Agape Director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the ArtsVerifiedDuke University · Divinity School
Active 1983–2026
About
Jeremy Begbie is the Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School and the McDonald Agape Director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts. His academic focus is on systematic theology with a specialization in the interface between theology and the arts, particularly the interplay between music and theology. Begbie has previously served as associate principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and has held honorary professorship at the University of St Andrews, where he directed the research project, Theology Through the Arts at the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts. He is a senior member of Wolfson College and an affiliated lecturer in the faculty of music at the University of Cambridge.
Research topics
- Natural Language Processing
- Computer Science
- Philosophy
- Acoustics
- Art
- Theology
- Literature
- Physics
- Linguistics
- Psychology
Selected publications
Scottish Journal of Theology · 2026-01-22
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingTheology at the University of St Andrews, may well have been anticipating
Music and Letters · 2026-01-01
article1st authorCorresponding2024-10-02
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingThis chapter argues that, far from being theologically straightforward, Holman Hunt's The Light of the World provokes a range of questions that are not easily resolved. Hunt's own theological comments on the symbolism of the painting are considered, along with Ruskin's expansion of them. It is suggested, however, that the work brings larger and more weighty theological matters to the fore when seen in the light of two critiques mounted against it. Thomas Carlyle's assessment poses questions about visually portraying Christ's ascended (as distinct from his earthly) humanity. Rowan Williams notes a lack of a sense of divine disturbance in this style of painting. Given that The Light of the World was intended to be highly disturbing in its time (and was received as such), this line of critique provokes questions about the way in which subsequent art and patterns of assessment shape our perception of art today. Both critiques present sharp questions for artists today who face the ancient and perennial challenge of rendering the person of Christ in pictorial form.
1. Encountering the Uncontrollable
Open Book Publishers · 2024-06-28
book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorrespondingThis chapter explores the ways in which the practices of music press against reductionism, and the theological resonances this provokes. Music is especially effective in countering reductionist habits: it stubbornly refuses to be treated as an equivalent or merely an instance of something else, or as no more than its component parts. Music makes sense through the distinctiveness of its own forms of life. Attention is paid to one form of reductionism lying behind many of the concerns of this volume—‘naturalistic reductionism’—and especially on the paradigm of language that regularly attaches to it. This language paradigm is criticised, and it is argued that music’s challenge to reductive impulses and its favoured language push us in decidedly theological directions without denigrating the spoken and written word.
2024-01-01
other1st authorCorrespondingCambridge University Press eBooks · 2024-11-15
book-chapterSenior authorT&T Clark eBooks · 2021
1st authorCorresponding- Acoustics
- Physics
Oxford University Press eBooks · 2021-06-09
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingAbstract Music has been perennially associated with divine revelation. This chapter asks why this might be the case, with special reference to the self-revelation of God in the Christian faith. It begins by outlining the theology of music offered by Augustine in his De musica, in which the numerical character of the cosmos, to which sounding music is attuned, is said to give access to God. This is set alongside Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834), for whom music more than any other art shares in and awakens that dimension of human experience he regards as distinctively religious. Critical questions are asked of both theologians, in the light of which some four fundamental yet oft-neglected themes and trajectories of classical Christian theology are explored with respect to music’s revelatory potential: the priority of God’s revealing action, the social and embodied character of revelation, creation’s revelation of the divine, and revelation through language.
Oxford University Press eBooks · 2021 · 16 citations
1st authorCorresponding- Philosophy
- Theology
- Literature
Amid a flourishing of interest in the theological dimensions of Bach’s output, relatively little attention has been paid to what the disciplines of biblical exegesis and systematic theology can bring to Bach studies. In the first part of the chapter, two major issues are examined: “anti-Judaism” in Bach, and his vision of time and eternity. Approaching the <italic>St. John Passion</italic> through close exegesis of John’s Gospel shows that Bach is a subtler and more independent figure than some current discussions of his alleged “anti-Judaism” imply. With regard to time and eternity, it is argued (against Karol Berger) that Bach displays a profound understanding of what a distinctively Christian metaphysics entails. The second part of the chapter asks what Bach might bring to the theologian. Two matters are considered—Bach’s creativity, and his layering of different theological lines—to show how his music can enable theology to be better attuned to its subject matter.
Oxford University Press eBooks · 2021
1st authorCorresponding- Computer Science
- Computer Science
- Natural Language Processing
Abstract This chapter takes its cue from the vision of music adumbrated by the previous three essayists: in which music is seen as depending on a ‘faith in an order of things that exceeds the logic of statement and counterstatement’, arising from an embodied dwelling in the world which is pre-conceptual, pre-theoretical. As such, music has the capacity to free us from the kind of alienating relation to our physical environment that an over-dependence on instrumental language brings, and free us for a more fruitful indwelling of it that has been largely lost to modernity. This resonates with broadly biblical-theological view of humanity’s intended relation to the cosmos, as exemplified in the concept of New Creation in Christ. This essay returns to language, considered in this light: how can music, and thinking about music, enrich language? Specifically, how might music facilitate a deeper understanding of the way ‘God-talk’ operates? It is argued that music can offer a powerful witness to the impossibility (and danger) of imagining we can grasp or circumscribe the divine (the antithesis of human freedom). More positively, it can greatly enrich our use (and understanding) of existing theological language, and generate fresh language that enables a more faithful perception of, and participation in the realities it engages.
Frequent coauthors
- 4 shared
Colin Gunton
- 3 shared
David Fergusson
University of Cambridge
- 2 shared
Steve Moyise
- 2 shared
J. Robert Wright
- 2 shared
Paul M. Collins
Cork University Hospital
- 2 shared
Olav Fanuelsen
Indiana Wesleyan University
- 2 shared
John M. Hawkins
- 2 shared
D. Bruce Hindmarsh
Regent College
Education
B.A., Philosophy and Music
Edinburgh University
M.A., Theology
University of Aberdeen
M.A., Theology
University of Cambridge
Awards & honors
- Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen (2026)
- Doctor of Divinity from University of Aberdeen
- Resume-aware match score
- Save to shortlist
- AI-drafted outreach
See your match with Jeremy Begbie
PhdFit ranks faculty by your research interests, methods, and publications — grounded in their actual work, not templates.
- Free to start
- No credit card
- 30-second signup