Victoria Turner (BA (Hons) Religion and Theology, Mth World Christianity)

Thesis title: Overcoming Colonialism and Classism: Exploring Shifting Theologies and Practices of Mission in the Iona Community and Council for World Mission

Biography

Background

Victoria's PhD researches practical responses to changing theologies of mission through exploring the history and theologies of the Iona Community (1938) and the Council for World Mission (1977). Her thesis is entitled 'Overcoming Colonialism and Classism: Exploring Shifting Theologies and Practices of Mission in the Iona Community and Council for World Mission.' Her studies are sponsored by the Council for World Mission's Special Academic Accompaniment Programme and the Milton Mount Congregational Trust. 

Victoria's wider research interests include ecumenism, young people, peace-making, ecclesiology and practical/political theology. She has published an edited book with SCM Press and works with bodies such as the World Communion of Reformed Churches, Tearfund, the United Reformed Church, the Student Christian Movement and is a Trustee for Churches Together in England.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) 1:1, Religion and Theology, University of Bristol

Mth (Merit) World Christianity, University of Edinburgh 

Responsibilities & affiliations

SSGAH Internship with National Trust for Scotland at the Hugh Miller Museum 

Gifford Lecture Series Blog Host, University of Edinburgh 

Trustee and Head Trustee for the Forum Conference, Churches Together in England https://cte.org.uk/about/whos-who/trustees/

Tearfund Young Theologian 

Student Christian Movement 'Movement' Magazine Editor 

Reform Magazine Editorial Board 

The Joint United Reformed Church and Baptist Union Interfaith Enabling Group Member

URC Church-Life Review Group Member 

Undergraduate teaching

Religion in Modern Britain Tutor 2020-21 (Semester 1)

Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding Tutor 2020-2021, 2021-2022 (Semester 2)

Christian Theology: Approaches and Themes 2021-2022 (Semester 1)

Project activity

SSGAH Internship with National Trust for Scotland. Project inspired by the year of Scottish Storytelling to create three historical stories about the legacy of Hugh Miller.

Invited speaker

‘Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Witness for Young Theologians Today,’ The right word at the right time? Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the ecumenical witness for justice and peace (World Council of Churches Webinar, 23rd September 2021). https://www.oikoumene.org/events/the-right-word-at-the-right-time-dietrich-bonhoeffer-and-the-ecumenical-witness-for-justice-and-peace.

Panellist Response ‘New Generations Uniting Divides by Exposing Injustice,’ to The Cathedral Lectures The Fire, The River, and The Scorched Earth Between 50 Years of Black Liberation Theology through the lens of Allan Boesak (2021).

‘Youth: Objects of or Partners in Mission?’ CWM Life Flourishing Webinars, (November 2020). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq6xeAB_Eh8

‘LGTBQ+ belonging in the Ecumencial Movement: The 4th Presidency Controversy of Churches Together in England,’ Keynote Paper, Rainbow Theology Symposium, University of Glasgow 18th February.

Organiser

'Religion and Class' Panel, EUARE, Bologna, Italy, 2022. Co-organiser with Sharaiz Chaudhry (Christian-Muslim Relations) 

Papers delivered

‘Iona and the World: The Life of George More, Iona Community Member and Missionary to India,’ Scottish Church History Conference, November 2021.

‘Enabling Dialogue or Diffusing Difference: The Adoption of Inclusive “Spirituality” as a Method of Interfaith Engagement,’ Scholars at the Peripheries Panel, EuARE, 2021.

‘The Coracle Magazine of the Iona Community and the Justification for Fluctuating Mission,’ Yale-Edinburgh Conference (22nd-24th June 2021).

‘Interrogating Whiteness in a Working-Class Church Community’ Dismantling Whiteness: Critical White Theology Conference, Regents Park College, University of Oxford (17th April 2021).

‘The Decolonisation of Mission through the Creation of the Council for World Mission, Society for the Study of Theology Annual Conference (12-14th April, 2021).

‘The Necessity of Adopting Wider Receptive Ecumenism when Facing the Challenge of Climate Change,’ Fifth International Conference on Receptive Ecumenism (22-25th June 2022), Sweden.

‘A Theological Justification for Interreligious Liturgical Hospitality,’ CTBI Crossing the Boundaries of Faith Conference, (3rd-5th March 2020), Glasgow.

‘New Ways of Being the United Reformed Church: The Witness of URC Youth,’ Meandering off the Path Reformed Theology Conference, Westminster College, University of Cambridge (21st-23rd February 2020). 

University of Edinburgh EUSA Teaching Awards, Tutor of the Year, 3 nominations, 2021. 

Council for World Mission Special Academic Accompaniment Programme for PhD fees and modest stipend for 3 years.

St Matthias Trust, £1,000 for Archival Research in the LMS/CWM archives, SOAS.

Milton Mount Congregational Trust, £2,000 awarded for academic year 2021/22 and 2022/23. 

School of Divinity Research Scholarship for archival travel 2021.

Pauline Webb Ecumenical Fund awarded for attendance at the 4th International Conference on Receptive Ecumenism, Sweden.

School of Divinity Masters Scholarship, £7,500.

 

V. Turner,  ed., Young, Woke and Christian: Words From a Mission Generation (London: SCM Press, 2022).

V. Turner, 'Interrogating whiteness through the lens of class in Britain: empire, entitlement and exceptionalism,' Practical Theology (Vol.15, 1, 2022). 

V. A. Turner, ‘Transformative Ecumenism as Reverting, Re-Routing, and Re-Balancing the Ecumenical Movement,’ Reformed World (Vol.69, 2, 2021). http://wcrc.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/ReformedWorld-69-2.pdf.

V.A. Turner, Book Review: Jione Havea (ed.), People and Land: Decolonizing Theologies. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books / Fortress Academic, 2020), Studies in World Christianity (Vol.28 (1), 2022), pp.134-135.

V. A. Turner, ‘Book Review: Bruce Ritchie, Columba: The Faith of an Island Solider (Tain: Christian Focus Publications, 2019),’ Scottish Church History (Vol. 50.1, 2021), pp.63-65.

V. A Turner, ‘Book Review: John G. Flett & David W. Congdon, Converting Witness: The Future of Christian Mission in the New Millennium (Langham: Fortress Academic, 2019),’ International Bulletin of Mission Research (Nov, 2020). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2396939320972685

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