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Howard Paterson Professor of Theology and Public Issues,David Tombs 2020 image
and Director, Centre for Theology and Public Issues MA(Oxford), STM(Union Theological Seminary, NY), MA, PhD(London)

Course adviser for MTheol and PhD students
Room 4S8, Arts Building
Tel +64 3 479 8450
Email david.tombs@otago.ac.nz

David Tombs took up the Director role at the Centre and the Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues in January 2015. David is an Anglican lay theologian and his work focusses on contextual and liberation theologies, theologies of reconciliation, and the cross. He also writes on how churches can make better responses to spiritual and sexual abuses. His research has pioneered the study of crucifixion as a form of torture, an instrument of state terror, and an open opportunity for sexual harm.

His publications include When Did We See You Naked?: Jesus as a Victim of Sexual Abuse’ (co-edited with Jayme Reaves and Rocío Figueroa, SCM 2021), and The Crucifixion of Jesus: Torture, Sexual Abuse, and the Scandal of the Cross (Routledge, 2023).

Originally from the United Kingdom, David previously lectured at the University of Roehampton, London, and the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
Read more at www.david-tombs.com

View David's Inaugural Professorial Lecture"Latin American Liberation Theology and its Ongoing Legacy"

Teaching

  • CHTH233 Faith in the Public Square
  • CHTH333 Faith in the Public Square (Advanced)
  • CHTH305 The Roots of Public Theology
  • CHTH405 The Roots of Public Theology (Advanced)
  • CHTH319 Reconciliation, Christian Ethics and Public Theology
  • CHTH415 Reconciliation, Christian Ethics and Public Theology (Advanced)

Current Postgraduate Students

  • Robert Fakafu (PhD) The Forau model: The Diaspora experiences of a relocated people in the face of climate change with special reference to the Polynesian people of Tikop
  • Tamsyn Kereopa (PhD) A Wahine Maori Theology of Liberation

Recent Postgraduate Students

  • Gray Baldwin (MTheol) Creation Care: A New Direction for the Oikoumene
  • Latuivai Latu (PhD) Honouring Tautua As Suli: A Postcolonial Reading of Identity Politics in Samoan Jurisprudence and Relational Hermeneutics
  • Sarah Pidgeon (MTheol) Nobody Heard Us: A theological response to the contextual hearings of the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care in New Zealand

Publications

Tombs, D. (2024). Things too indecent to be recorded: The soldiers mocking the death of Herod Agrippa. In L. J. Claassens, R. Graybill & C. M. Maier (Eds.), Narrating rape: Shifting perspectives in Biblical literature and popular culture. (pp. 157-172). London, UK: SCM Press. Chapter in Book - Research

Tombs, D. (2024). Crucifixion and sexual abuse: A theological resource for addressing sexual exploitation. In G. Miles & C. Foster Crawford (Eds.), Stepping out of the traffick: Pausing for theological reflection on Christian response to sexual exploitation and trafficking. (pp. 83-99). Oxford, UK: Regnum Books. Chapter in Book - Research

Tombs, D. (2024, July). Tortured bodies and afterlives: Historical experiences of torture and Christian perceptions of hell. Verbal presentation at the Worlds Above and Below Interdisciplinary Conference, [Hybrid]. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Tombs, D. (2024). New Zealand's Royal Commission into abuse in care. Proceedings of the Australian & New Zealand Association of Theological Studies (ANZATS) Conference: Context and Community. (pp. 31-32). Retrieved from https://anzats.edu.au Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Tombs, D. (2024). Redress. In A future of hope: Answering the call to love our neighbour. (pp. 21-24). Christchurch, New Zealand: Theology House. Chapter in Book - Other

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