Biography
Louise is Reader in Philosophy of Religion, and programme lead for taught post-graduate Theology provision. She studied for her first two degrees at the University of Exeter and completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge. She has published on various aspects of the history of philosophy, the philosophy of religion, and science and religion. From 2011-2018, she was editor of Reviews in Science and Religion.
Louise is a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion and a Senior Fellow of the UK’s Higher Education Academy. She is also a trustee of the Trussell Trust.
Profile
Research Interests
Louise researches the history of philosophy, focusing particularly on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British philosophy. Much of her work is centred on Platonism and dissenting traditions of thought. She is keen to bring this interest in history into conversation with the philosophy of religion and with science and religion. This forms the basis of her recent research into an ethico-political re-conception of the philosophy of religion.
Louise welcomes enquiries from prospective research students in the following areas: Philosophy of Religion, Philosophical Theology, and Eighteenth-Century Rational Dissenting thought.
Teaching
Louise is the module co-ordinator for all Philosophy and Ethics modules. She also teaches on the Foundation Year programme.
Administrative Responsibilities
Louise has served on a number of committees, most recently the mitigating circumstances committee.
Membership of Professional Organisations
- Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy
- Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion
- American Academy of Religion
- British Society for the History of Philosophy
- British Society for the Philosophy of Religion
- UK Science and Religion Forum
Other Activities
Publications
Books
Eighteenth Century Dissent and Cambridge Platonism: Reconceiving the Philosophy of Religion. London: Routledge, 2017.
Edited Books
Forty Years of Science and Religion: Looking Back, Looking Forward. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.
Chance and Providence: Religious Perspectives on Divine Action. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014.
Articles
‘The Good, the True and the Beautiful: Imagining an ethico-political future for the philosophy of religion’, Palgrave Communications 4, 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-018-0180-y.
‘Modelling the Cosmos: Transformative Pedagogy in Science and Religion’, Zygon, 53:3, 2018, pp. 881-886.
‘Casting out Hagar and her children: Richard Price, Platonism and the origins of American Independence’, International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 18, 2011, pp. 393-414.
Hickman, L. (2008) ‘Godliness and Godlikeness: Cambridge Platonism in Richard Price’s religious rationalism’, Enlightenment and Dissent, 24, 2008, pp. 1-23.
Chapters in Books
‘Mixing Politics with the Pulpit: Eternal Immutable Morality and Richard Price’s Political Radicalism’ in Douglas Hedley and David Leech (eds.) Revisioning Cambridge Platonism: Sources and Legacy. Dordrecht: Springer, 2019.
‘The Nature of the Self and the Contemplation of Nature: Ecotheology and the History of the Soul’ in Michael Fuller (ed.) Can the Concept of the Soul have Meaning? Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014, pp. 5-28.
‘Love is All and God is Love: Universalism in Peter Sterry (1613-1672) and Jeremiah White (1630-1707)’ in Gregory MacDonald (ed.) All Shall be Well: Explorations in Universal Salvation and Christian Theology from Origen to Moltmann. Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, 2011, pp. 95-115.
Speaking Engagements and Select Conference Papers
‘Radical Enlightenments: The metaphysics of Cambridge Platonism and the politics of Rational Dissent’. End of project conference for the AHRC funded ‘The Cambridge Platonists at the Origins of Enlightenment’ project. Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, 2019.
Invited Public Lecture: ‘Radical Enlightenments’, Dublin City University. 2018.
Invited Public Lecture: ‘Resisting Blind Chance and ‘Senseless’ Cosmos: Historical Perspectives on science, ethics and nature’, Faraday Institute, Cambridge University, 2018.
Natural Theology and Eighteenth-Century Rational Dissent: Towards an ethico-political philosophy of religion. University of Edinburgh research seminar, 2017.
Respondent to the Annual Boyle Lecture, St. Mary-Le-Bow, London, 2015.
Recent External Collaborations
Advisory board member for Templeton funded project, ‘God and the Book of Nature: Building a Science-Engaged Theology of Nature’
Collaborator for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada funded project ‘The Reception of German Mysticism in Early Modern England’