Jeremy Sutherland Begbie, DD, BA, BD, PhD, LRAM, ARCM, FRSCM, is Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Research Professor of Theology at

Duke Divinity School The Duke Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, is one of ten graduate or professional schools within Duke University. It is also one of thirteen seminaries founded and supported by the United Methodist Church. It has 39 ...

, Duke University, where he is the McDonald Agape Director o
Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts
He is a systematic theologian whose primary research interest is the correlation between

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

and the arts, in particular the interplay between music and theology. He is also an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Music at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and Fellow Commoner o
Magdalene College, Cambridge

Biography

Begbie was born on 15 June 1957. He obtained a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and

Bachelor of Divinity In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity or Baccalaureate in Divinity (BD, DB, or BDiv; ) is an academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies. ...

and

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

degrees at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

. He was ordained priest in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

in 1983, and served as a Curate in the Diocese of Guildford. Prior to teaching at Duke Divinity School, he was the Associate Principal of

Ridley Hall, Cambridge Ridley Hall is a theological college located on the corner of Sidgwick Avenue and Ridley Hall Road in Cambridge (United Kingdom), which trains men and women intending to take Holy Orders as deacon or priest of the Church of England, and members ...

, as well as an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity,

. From 2000, he was an Honorary Professor at the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at St Mary's College,

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, in Scotland. He was co-founder and Associate Director of the Institute. In 2009 he was appointed Thomas A. Langford Research Professor of Theology at Duke University. He is a Senior Member of

Wolfson College, Cambridge Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The majority of students at the college are postgraduates. The college also admits "mature" undergraduates (aged 21 and above), with around ...

and Fellow Commoner of
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Being a professionally trained musician, he has performed as a pianist, oboist, and a conductor. He is founder of the New Caritas Orchestra, a group of professional players of faith in the United States. Begbie has lectured worldwide, delivering multi-media presentations in venues all over the UK, as well as in the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Belgium, Germany, Israel, South Africa, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. In June 2024, he was awarded a DD by the University of Aberdeen. The New Testament scholar, N T Wright, has written: “Jeremy Begbie is a musician/theologian par excellence. Whatever music you enjoy and wherever you are on the journey of faith, he will delight, surprise, challenge, and inspire you.”

Research

Jeremy Begbie is known for his writing and lecturing in theology and the arts, especially music. In September 1997 he founded the ''Theology Through the Arts'' project at the University of Cambridge, whose primary aim was "to discover and demonstrate ways in which the arts can contribute towards the renewal of Christian theology". The project included conversation among artists and theologians, academic lectures, publications, and an international arts festival held in Cambridge in 2000. As the Thomas A. Langford Research Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School, he founde
Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts
(DITA), a project which "promotes and supports the vibrant interplay between Christian theology and the arts by encouraging transformative leadership and enriching theological discussion in the Church, academy, and society." For his book, ''Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music'', Begbie won the 2008 ''Christianity Today'' Book Award in the theology/ethics category.

Publications

Books

*''Voicing Creation's Praise: Towards A Theology of the Arts'', T&T Clark, 1991. *''Beholding the Glory: Incarnation Through the Arts'' (ed.), DLT/Baker Books, 2000. *''Theology, Music and Time'', Cambridge University Press, 2000. *''Sounding the Depths: Theology Through the Arts'' (ed.), SCM Press, 2002. *''Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music'', Baker Academic, 2007. *''Resonant Witness: Conversations Between Theology and Music'' (co ed.), Eerdmans, 2011. *''Art, Imagination and Christian Hope: Patterns of Promise'' (co ed.), Ashgate, 2012. *''Music, Modernity, and God'', Oxford University Press, 2013. *''Redeeming Transcendence: Bearing Witness to the Triune God'', Eerdmans, 2018. *''A Peculiar Orthodoxy: Reflections on Theology and the Arts'', Baker Academic, 2018. *''Theology, Music, and Modernity: Struggles for Freedom'', (co ed.), Oxford University Press, 2021. *''The Art of New Creation: Trajectories in Theology and the Arts'' (co ed.), IVP, 2021. *''Abundantly More: The Theological Promise of the Arts in a Reductionist World'', Baker Academic, 2023.

Selected articles

* "Who Is This God?--Biblical Inspiration Revisited.” ''Tyndale Bulletin'' 43, 2 (November 1992): 259-282. * "The Theological Potential of Music: A Response to Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin.” ''Christian Scholar's Review'' 33, 1 (Fall 2003): 135-141. *“On the Strange Place of Contemporary Art,” article review of ''On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art'', James Elkins (New York: Routledge, 2004) and ''God in the Gallery: A Christian Embrace of Modern Art'', Daniel Siedell (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), in ''Image Journal'', Iss. 64 (December 2009): 105–13. *“Modelling Harmony: Music, Theology and Peace-Building” in ''Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology,'' 71.1 (January 2017) *“An Awkward Witness in a Worded World: Music and the Reformation” in ''The Protestant Reformation of the Church and the World'', eds. John Witte and Amy Wheeler (Louisville: Kentucky, WJK, 2018), pp. 71-8. *“Making the Familiar Unfamiliar: Macmillan’s ''St Luke Passion''” in ''James Macmillan Studies'', eds. George Parsons and Robert Sholl (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020) pp. 111‒128. *“Scripture in Sound” in ''Hearing and Doing the Word: The Drama of Evangelical Hermeneutics?,'' eds. Daniel J. Treier and Douglas A. Sweeney (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2021), pp. 287–302. *“Theologie für Bach und Bach für die Theologie,” in ''Bach unter den Theologen: Themen, Thesen, Temperamente'', ed. Ingo Bredenbach, Volker Leppin, und Christoph Schwöbel (Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 227-256.

Selected chapters

* "Through Music: Sound Mix." In ''Beholding the Glory: Incarnation Through the Arts,'' ed. Jeremy Begbie. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000. * "Unexplored Eloquencies: Music, Media, Religion and Culture." In ''Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Religion and Culture,'' eds. Jolyon Mitchell and Sophia Marriage. London: T&T Clark, 2003. * "Beauty, Sentimentality and the Arts." In ''The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts,'' eds. Daniel J. Treier, Mark Husbands and Roger Lundin. Downers Grove: IVP, 2007. * "Created Beauty: The Witness of J.S. Bach." In ''The Beauty of God: Theology and the Arts,'' eds. Daniel J. Treier, Mark Husbands and Roger Lundin. Downers Grove: IVP, 2007. * "The Sense of an Ending." In ''A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions,'' ed. Dallas Willard. Downers Grove: IVP, 2010. * "The Future: Looking to the Future: A Hopeful Subversion." In ''For the Beauty of the Church: Casting a Vision for the Arts,'' ed. W. David O. Taylor. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010. * "The Shape of Things to Come?: Wright Amidst Emerging Ecclesiologies." In ''Jesus, Paul, and the People of God: A Theological Dialogue with N.T. Wright,'' eds. Nicholas Perrin and Richard B. Hays. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2011. * "Confidence and Anxiety in Elgar's Dream of Gerontius." In ''Music and Theology in Nineteenth-Century Britain,'' ed. Martin Clarke. Burlington: Ashgate, 2012. * ""A Semblance More Lucid"? in An Exploration of Trinitarian Space." In George Westhaver (ed.), ''A Transforming Vision'', London: SCM Press, 2018. * "“There before Us”: New Creation in Theology and the Arts." In ''The Art of New Creation: Trajectories in Theology and the Arts'', edited by Jeremy Begbie, Daniel Train and W. David O. Taylor, Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP, 2022. * “Encountering the Uncontainable in the Arts.” In ''God, Wonder, And the Arts'', ed. Jeff Barbeau and Emily Hunter McGowin, (Wheaton Theology Conference, 2022) Eugene OR: Cascade, 2023.

References

External links

*
Duke Faculty Page

Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts Interview with Image Journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Begbie, Jeremy 1957 births 20th-century Anglican theologians 20th-century English Anglican priests 21st-century Anglican theologians 21st-century English Anglican priests Academics of the University of St Andrews Alumni of Ridley Hall, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British Anglican theologians British classical oboists 20th-century British conductors (music) British male conductors (music) British male pianists Duke Divinity School faculty Living people Staff of Ridley Hall, Cambridge Systematic theologians