Dr David Grumett (BA(Hons) MPhil PhD SFHEA)
Senior Lecturer, Theology and Ethics; Director of Quality Assurance and Enhancement; Convener, Research Ethics Committee

Address
- Street
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School of Divinity, Mound Place
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH1 2LX
- Street
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Room 2.7, 1-7 Roxburgh Street
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9TA
Background
David has interests in theology, ethics and philosophy. Prior to arriving at Edinburgh, he held positions at the Universities of Cambridge and Exeter.
Qualifications
BA(Hons) MPhil PhD FHEA
Responsibilities & affiliations
Internal Appointments:
- Director of Quality Assurance and Enhancement, Divinity
- UG Theology cluster Programme Director
- Convener, Divinity Research Ethics Committee
External appointments:
- Animal Welfare Committee, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- AHRC Peer Review College
- Research Assessor, Carnegie Trust
- Deputy Editor, Ecclesiology
- Associate Editor, Brill Research Perspectives in Theology
Undergraduate teaching
THET08015 Ethics and Society
This course combines philosophical and theological approaches to ethics, bringing together key texts and practical issues. It surveys different possible sources of ethics and focuses on command, virtue, conscience, utility, freedom, community and narrative.
THET10016 Metaphysics and Morality
This course examines the relationship between metaphysics and morality in German philosophy from Kant to Arendt, including the place of God and religion. It is for 3rd and 4th year students in the School of Divinity, inclding those also studying Philosophy. The other major figures studied are Hegel, Nietzsche and Heidegger.
THET10052 Consuming Practice: Food in Christian Religion
This course explores fascinating and sometimes bizarre Christian traditions of food and eating in order to understand consumption, addiction and abstinence today. Bringing together material from biblical studies, history, theology and social theory, it is for 3rd and 4th year students in the School of Divinity and for visiting students.
THET10057 Regarding the Other: Theological Ethics in Continental Perspective
This course examines recent theories of the person and relationships between people developed or used by Christian ethicists. It is for 3rd and 4th year students in the School of Divinity, including those also studying Philosophy, and for visiting students. The major ethicists studied are Levinas, Ricoeur, Derrida, Merleau-Ponty and Bonhoeffer.
DIVI10001 Dissertation
Postgraduate teaching
THET11039 Key Thinkers in Science and Religion
DIVI11010 Dissertation
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Current PhD students supervised
Beatrice Ang
Carolina Sanz De La Fuente
John McLuckie
Nomi Pritz
Paul Scott
Jeremy-Joe Tan
Past PhD students supervised
Julian Roche, Roger Garaudy, Marxism and Christianity (2020)
B. J. Condrey, Supererogation in Christian ethics (2020)
George Walters-Sleyon, Christian ethics, mass incarceration and death (2019)
Anthony Haynes, Jacques Maritain, metaphysics and mysticism (2018)
Russell Almon, Stanley Grenz’s social trinitarianism (2017)
Research summary
David's interests span theology, ethics and philosophy. He has published extensively on aspects of modern French Catholic theology, including the work of Henri de Lubac, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Maurice Blondel and Yves de Montcheuil. He has also produced work on theology and food, in which he seeks to recover and rearticulate a distinctively Christian ethics of eating for the present day.
His major book Material Eucharist was published by Oxford University Press in 2016.
Current research interests
David is currently working on aspects of sacred and secular material theology, including the Eucharist. He is always pleased to receive enquiries from potential research students wishing to work in these areas or in others reflected in his interests and publications. From 2019 to 2021, David is co-investigator on the AHRC-funded research project 'Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare'.-
De Lubac and Suárez: A reappraisal
In:
Theological Studies, vol. 81
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Electric shock control of farmed animals: Welfare review and ethical critique
In:
Animal Welfare Journal, vol. 31, pp. 373-385
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7120/09627286.31.4.006
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Synods and conferences
(6 pages)
In:
Ecclesiology: The Journal for Ministry, Mission and Unity, vol. 18, pp. 153-158
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/17455316-18020002
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Editorial (Published) -
[Review of] C. Andrew Doyle, (2021) Embodied Liturgy: Virtual Reality and Liturgical Theology in Conversation
(3 pages)
In:
Ecclesiology: The Journal for Ministry, Mission and Unity, vol. 18, pp. 272-274
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/17455316-18020010
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book/Film/Article review (Published) -
Sunday morning Eucharists: A defence
(8 pages)
In:
Theology, vol. 125, pp. 182-189
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X221097546
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
[Review of] Thomas Plant, The Lost Way to the Good: Dionysian Platonism, Shin Buddhism, and the Shared Quest to Reconnect a Divided World
In:
Theology, vol. 125, pp. 222-223
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X221097552h
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book/Film/Article review (Published) -
Food
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780199642465.001.0001
Research output: › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary (Published) -
[Review of] Nicholas Wolterstorff, (2018) Acting Liturgically: Philosophical Reflections on Religious Practice
In:
Ecclesiology: The Journal for Ministry, Mission and Unity, vol. 18, pp. 128-130
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/17455316-18010008
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book/Film/Article review (Published) -
Tradition and innovation
Research output: › Chapter (Accepted/In press) -
[Review of] Anthony Bash, Remorse: A Christian Perspective
(2 pages)
In:
Theology, vol. 124, pp. 454-455
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0040571X211056801r
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Book/Film/Article review (E-pub ahead of print)