Dr Joanna Leidenhag
Lecturer in Theology and Liberal Arts
University of Leeds
Leeds, United Kingdom
Biography
I grew up in an evangelical Anglican family, which highly values further education and the includes several people working the sciences. Sunday lunch conversation would often pivot between discussing sermons and the latest issue of The New Scientist. It wasn't until graduate studies that I fully appreciated the damage that the myth of conflict, and even the myth of independence, between science and religion has done in the world. I also became fascinated by the challenge of integrating knowledge from different sources together. My interest in science and religion grew throughout my doctoral work, when I wrote my first monograph on panpsychism and Christian theology. I got my first job as Lecturer in Science-Engaged Theology at the University of St Andrews. Science-Engaged Theology seeks to use the sciences as a source for theological reflection when relevant (when theologians engage empirical questions and realities). More than anything else, I love teaching students the history, philosophy, and theology of science and religion.
I have recently finish a Cambridge Element entitled "Science-Engaged Theology" and I am currently working towards a book on autism and Christian theology. I am the Project Leader for multi-institutional a grant called "God & Human Speech" looking at how theologies of language from across the Abrahamic faiths can work together with psychology of language to better understand how different linguistic abilities and cultures impacts spiritual well-being.
Honoraria Titles
Major Prizes
Essay Prize for the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology
Religion, Philosophy & History Interests
Christianity-Protestantism, History of Science, Indigenous Religions, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion, Theology
Science & Technology Interests
Medicine & Health, Neuroscience, Psychology
Website
https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/philosophy/staff/3700/dr-joanna-leidenhag
Publications
Minding Creation: Theological Panpsychism and the Doctrine of Creation
T&T Clark/Bloomsbury Jan-2021
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/minding-creation-9780567696243/
