Dr James Eglinton (LLB (Hons.), BTh (Dist.), PhD)

Meldrum Senior Lecturer in Reformed Theology

Biography

Background

I was appointed to the Meldrum Lectureship in Reformed Theology in 2013, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2020. Prior to joining the School of Divinity, I was a postdoctoral research fellow, and then senior researcher in systematic and historical theology, at the Theologische Universiteit Kampen. I hold undergraduate degrees in law (LLB Hons, Aberdeen) and theology (BTh Dist., Glasgow). My PhD, on the Dutch dogmatician Herman Bavinck, was written at the University of Edinburgh under the supervision of Prof. David Fergusson.

To date, the bulk of my research and writing has focused on neo-Calvinism, a form of Reformed Christianity that developed between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the Netherlands, and that has continued to evolve in a range of international contexts. My first monograph, Trinity and Organism, was published by Bloomsbury in 2012 (Chinese translation published: 2019). I was co-editor of Neo-Calvinism and the French Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2014), editor and translator of Herman Bavinck on Preaching and Preachers (Hendrickson, 2017), and co-editor and co-translator of Christian Worldview (Crossway, 2019). My second monograph, Bavinck: A Critical Biography, was published by Baker Academic in 2020, and won that year's History and Biography Book of the Year Prize in The Gospel Coalition 2020 Book Awards. It was also a finalist in the 2021 ECPA Book Awards. In 2023, I was responsible for three more books: the first English translation of J.H. Bavinck's Personality and Worldview (Crossway), the co-translation of Herman Bavinck's Christianity and Science (Crossway), and the volume Neo-Calvinism and Roman Catholicism (Brill), co-edited with George Harinck.

Alongside my work on neo-Calvinism, I have a longstanding interest in the relationship of theology to linguistic diversity. I am currently writing a monograph on Christian theological accounts of language difference. From 2024-26, I am working with the neuroscientist Dr Thomas Bak in an externally funded project on theological ethics and bilingualism (supported by the John Templeton Foundation).

I serve as Associate Editor of the Journal of Reformed Theology, published by Brill.

I maintain a strong interest in public theology, both theoretical and practical, and have previously written for The Times, The Herald, The Scotsman, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and Nederlands Dagblad, and have taken part in broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 (Moral Maze), STV (Scotland Tonight), BBC Alba (An Là) and BBC Radio nan Gàidheal (Naoi gu Deich).

I speak, read and write English, Scottish Gaelic, Dutch and French.

Qualifications

LLB (Hons.), BTh (Dist.), PhD

Responsibilities & affiliations

External appointments

Member of editorial or advisory boards for journals:

Journal of Reformed Theology

Theologia Reformata

The Bavinck Review

 

Member, The Bavinck Society

Undergraduate teaching

Christian Theology: Approaches and Themes

Christian Theology: Doctrines and Debates

Body, Soul and Self: Theological Anthropology

Modern Christology

The Theology of Karl Barth

Modern Theology from the French Revolution to the First World War

Postgraduate teaching

Jesus Christ in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics

Readings in Theological Anthropology

Readings in Western Theology: From the French Revolution to the First World War

Previous MTh by research supervision: Amy Plender, Arthur Rankin

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Current PhD students supervised

Terence Chu

David Meinberg

Sebastian Bjernegård

Jack Gamble-Smith

Ragaai Atia

Màiri MacPherson

Arthur Rankin

Past PhD students supervised

Rev Dr Henry Chiong

Rev Dr Israel Guerrero (pastor, Cornerstone Free Church, Edinburgh)

Rev Dr Hunter Nicholson (pastor, Columbia Presbyterian Church, Columbia, MS)

Dr Robb Torseth (public service librarian and adjunct professor, Gateway Seminary)

Dr Greg Parker (Assistant Professor of Theology, Cairn University)

Dr Ximian Xu (Kenneth and Isabel Morrision Postdoctoral Fellow in Theology and AI Ethics, University of Edinburgh/Edinburgh Futures Institute)

Dr Cameron Clausing (Lecturer in Applied Theology and Missional Engagement, Christ College, Sydney, Australia)

Dr Richard Brash (Lecturer in Systematic Theology, Christ Bible Seminary, Nagoya, Japan)

Dr Bruce Pass (Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Queensland, Australia)

Dr Nathaniel Gray Sutanto (Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington, DC)

Rev Dr Cory Brock (St Columba's Free Church, Edinburgh)

Current research interests

My current research interests lie in two areas: the neo-Calvinst theological tradition (and in particular, its leading theologian Herman Bavinck); and the relationship of theology to language difference. My most recent monograph was the first English scholarly biography of Herman Bavinck. I continue to be research active in that field, alongside my work in theology and language. I am currently writing a monograph on the history of Christian theological interactions with language diversity. From 2024-26, I am also engaged in a collaboration with the neuroscientist Dr Thomas Bak on the relationship of theological ethics to bilingualism (funded by the John Templeton Foundation).

Knowledge exchange

I regularly contribute op-ed columns and articles on religion and public life to a number of national and international media outlets, including The Times, The Herald, The Scotsman, Christianity Today, Nederlands Dagblad, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Current project grants

I am co-investigator on God, Language, and Diversity, which was awarded c. £1.5 million by the John Templeton Foundation. This project (2024-26) brings together theologians and psychologists and neuroscientists of language, and involves academics from Edinburgh, Cambridge, Leeds, St Andrews, Aberdeen, and La Trobe.

Within this grant, I am joint-PI with Dr Thomas Bak for a sub-project on theological ethics and bilingualism. Our sub-project was awarded £195k.

Past project grants

I was co-investigator on God and Human Speech: A Planning Grant in Comparative Science-Engaged Theology, which was awarded c. £150k by the John Templeton Foundation (2022-23). This award enabled the preparation and submission of a larger grant proposal (God, Language, and Diversity, £1.5 million).

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