The Revd Professor Kenneth Newport Profile Page

Kenneth G.C. Newport  BA, MA, MSt, DPhil (Oxon) is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Academic Development) and Professor of Christian Thought. Prior to coming to Hope, Professor Newport taught at the University of Manchester, St Andrew’s University and in Hong Kong. He is a priest in the Church of England. 

Kenneth is a QAA Auditor and, as Pro Vice Chancellor, sits on a number of senior committees of the University. Professor Newport is responsible for all matters relating to research at Hope and for all issues relating to the overall academic profile of the University. He is also Head of Personnel.  He is centrally involved in all University academic appointments and takes a keen interest in academic staff development. Other responsibilities include Graduate Studies, the University's RAE (now REF) submission and research funding.

Professor Newport has published widely in a number of areas, and has a particular interest in early Methodism (especially the life, literature, theology and legacy of Charles Wesley) and in millennialism. Kenneth has supervised a number of students in both areas, has examined at PhD level both in the UK and abroad and continues to welcome enquiries from students wishing to pursue doctoral studies. Professor Newport  remains an active researcher with a number of major projects currently in progress. He regularly lectures in USA, especially at the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion Annual and International Meetings.

Preferred areas of supervision

1. Wesley Studies
2. Millennialism

Theological Book Review

Professor Newport is the editor of Theological Book Review. Click here for further details, including a list of books for which reviewers are currently sought.

Published Books and Books in Press

1. Editor with ST Kimbrough, The Journal of Charles Wesley 2 vols.(Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2008), 731 pp 

2. The Branch Davidians: The History and beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect (Oxford University Press, 2006), 379 pp.

3. The Sermons of the Revd. Charles Wesley: A Critical edition with an Introduction and Notes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 407 pp.

4. Apocalypse and Millennium: Studies in Biblical Eisegesis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 247 pp.

5. The Sources and Sitz im Leben of Matthew 23, (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 205pp.

6. Editor with Crawford Gribben, Expecting the End (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2006), 335pp

7. Editor with Ted Campbell, Charles Wesley: Life, Literature, Legacy (London: Epworth Press, 2007), 573 pp.

8. Editor with John Walliss, The End All Around Us (London: Equinox, 2009), c. 226 pp 

Books in Progress

1. The Letters of Charles Wesley, 2 vols. (Oxford University Press, estimated completion vol. 1 - 2009, vol. 2 - 2012, c. 1,500 pp Click here for further information on this project.

Book Chapters (Samples)

'Be Thou Faithful Unto Death' (cf. Rev 2.10): The Book of Revelation, the Branch Davidians and Apocalyptic (Self-)Destruction' in William John Lyons and Jorunn Okland, eds. The Way the World Ends? The Apocalypse of John in Culture and Ideology (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009), pp. 211-226 

'The Davidian Seventh-day Adventists' in Newport and Gibben, eds. Expecting the End (Baylor University Press, 2007), pp. 131-146

‘The Heavenly Millennium of Seventh-day Adventism’ in Stephen Hunt, ed. Christian Millennialism (Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2001), pp. 131-148

Refereed Journal Articles (Samples)

'Charles Wesley Warts and All', Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society 56(2008): 165-188 

'Charles Wesley's Journal' Epworth Review 34(2007): 17-28 

‘Charles Wesley and the Interpretation of Faith’, Methodist History 42(2003):33-48

‘Charles Wesley’s Experience of Salvation: The Evidence of the Sermon Corpus’, Proceedings of the Charles Wesley Society 6(1999-2000):13-30.

‘The Psalms of David (Koresh): A Study into the Afterlife of a Biblical Text’, Religious Studies News (SBL Edition) October 2001 (web published on Society of Biblical Literature website (http://www.sbl-site.org/Newsletter/10_2001/NewportFullP.htm).

‘The Branch Davidians and Seventh-day Adventists’, Spectrum 29(2001):37-47

[with Gareth Lloyd] ‘George Bell and Early Methodist Enthusiasm: A New Source from the Manchester Archives’ Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 80(1998):89-101.

‘Revelation 13 and the Papal Antichrist in Eighteenth-Century England: A Study in New Testament Eisegesis’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 79(1997):91-103.

‘Premillennialism in the Early Writings of Charles Wesley’, Wesleyan Theological Journal 32(1997):85-103.

‘George Bell, Prophet and Enthusiast’, Methodist History 35(1997):95-105.

‘Charles Wesley and the end of the World’, Proceedings of the Charles Wesley Society 3(1996):33-61.

‘Methodists and the Millennium: Eschatological Belief and the Interpretation of Biblical Prophecy in Early British Methodism’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 78(1996):103-122.

‘Charles Wesley’s Interpretation of Some Biblical Prophecies according to a Previously Unpublished Letter Dated 25 April, 1754’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 77(1995):31-52.

‘Benjamin Keach, William of Orange and the Book of Revelation: A Study in English Prophetical Interpretation’, The Baptist Quarterly XXXVI(1995):43-51.

Dictionary Articles (Samples)

‘Knollys, Hanserd (1599-1691)’, New Dictionary of National Biography

‘Barret, John (1631-1713)’, New Dictionary of National Biography

‘John and Charles Wesley - Jesus in the Theology of’ in J.L. Houlden, ed. Jesus in History, Culture and Thought c. 3000 words (Oxford and Santa Barbara: ABC Clio, 2003), pp. 873-879

‘Seventh-day Adventism - Jesus Christ in the Theology of’ in J.L. Houlden, ed. Jesus in History, Culture and Thought c. 3000 words (Oxford and Santa Barbara: ABC Clio, 2003), pp. 789-795

‘Second Coming of Jesus, in Current Belief’ in J.L. Houlden, ed. Jesus in History, Culture and Thought c. 3000 words (Oxford and Santa Barbara: ABC Clio, 2003), p. 778-783