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Revd Canon Professor Kenneth Newport

EMERITUS PROFESSOR
Theology, Philosophy and Religious Studies
0151 291 3510
knewport@hope.ac.uk

I am Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic) and Head of the Department of Theology, Philosophy and Religious Studies at Liverpool Hope University, where I have been teaching and researching for over fourteen years. Before coming to Hope I taught at the Universities of Manchester and St Andrews and in Hong Kong. I did my own doctoral studies (DPhil) under the guidance of E.P. Sanders at the University of Oxford, from which institution I also hold a masters degree and also a higher doctorate (DD). My main interests are in New Testament Studies and the use of the New Testament in various later contexts (for example its use by millennial groups or in the works of Charles Wesley). At Hope I teach a course on the gospel of John, which I see as the most influential Christological text in the later development of Christian doctrine. I have a passion for this text and despite (or perhaps because) of the fact that I have been teaching in this area for over sixteen years find that every time I have the opportunity to go through it with students again new things emerge and new insights arise: John’s Gospel is indeed a storehouse containing treasures both old and new (see Matthew 13.52!)

I have supervised ten research degrees to successful completion at Hope and extensive experience of doctoral examination at other Universities both in the UK and elsewhere. I welcome enquiries from potential students who have an interest in the life and prose works of Charles Wesley and the use and influence of the Bible (especially the apocalyptic literature). I have just put to press two books: one (co-edited with Joshua Searle at Trinity College, Dublin) is a collection of essays on the future of millennial studies and the other (with Gareth Lloyd at the University of Manchester) is the first of a two-volume edition of Charles Wesley’s letters. My next planned project (other than the second volume of the Charles Wesley letters) will be a smaller book on 2012 in apocalyptic expectation and the way in which those who were anticipating the end to occur during this year re-evaluate things during 2013 (presuming the predicted end does not come that is!)

Sample published works include: (with Gareth Lloyd) The Letters of Charles Wesley volume 1. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming in 2013), c. 600pp; Editor, (with Joshua Searle) Beyond the End: The Future of Millennial Studies (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, forthcoming in 2012), c. 300pp; (with ST Kimbrough) The Journal of Charles Wesley MA, 2 vols. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2008); Editor, (with John Walliss) The End All Around Us: Apocalypse and Popular Culture (London: Equinox, 2008), 226pp; Editor, (with Ted A. Campbell), Charles Wesley: Life, Legacy, Literature (Epworth Press, 2007), 580pp; Editor, (with Crawford Gribben) Expecting the End: Millennialism in Social and Historical Context (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press 2006), 319pp; The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect (Oxford University Press, 2006), 396pp; The Sermons of the Revd. Charles Wesley: A Critical edition with an Introduction and Notes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 407pp; Apocalypse and Millennium: Studies in Biblical Eisegesis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000 [paperback edition 2008]), 247pp; The Sources and Sitz im Leben of Matthew 23, (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 205pp.

I am a QAA Reviewer and hold responsibility for Quality Assurance at the University. I am also responsible for the Personnel Office, and for the Academic Profile of Hope (including Research and the Research Excellence Framework). I am a priest in the Church of England attached to Bolton Parish Church. My leisure interests include longer-distance running and 'bagging Hewitts' (i.e. climbing Hills in England, Wales or Ireland over Two Thousand feet).