Peter Sherlock (born 26 October 1972) is an Australian academic and was the inaugural

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

of the

University of Divinity The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university with a specialised focus in divinity and associated disciplines. It is constituted by twelve theological colleges from seven denominations and three schools. The University of Di ...

in Melbourne, a role he held between 2012 and March 2024. He specialises in the

cultural history Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a group favors. Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897) helped found cultural history ...

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

Europe, and is a recognised authority on historic monuments.

Education

Sherlock completed a MA in history at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. He held a Commonwealth Scholarship at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...

from 1997 to 2000. His D.Phil thesis from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

was titled ''Funeral Monuments: Piety, Honour and Memory in Early Modern England'' and was supervised by Clive Holmes. From 2004 to 2008 Sherlock was an Australia Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the

Career

Throughout his career Sherlock has made significant contributions to ecumenical theological education and Australian Universities. He served as Dean of the United Faculty of Theology from 2008 to 2012 and was appointed as the inaugural Vice-Chancellor of the

in 2012. He has been the Chair of the Council of Deans of Theology since 2015 and Treasurer of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies since 2014. He was elected as President of th
Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Schools
in 2022. Sherlock has also contributed to Australian public theological debate. Between 2013 and 2014 he wrote a column providing religious perspectives on contemporary issues called Theophilus for The Conversation. He has been a guest on several

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is a ...

Radio National ABC Radio National, more commonly known as Radio National or simply RN, is an Australian nationwide public service radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. ...

programs and also appeared on episodes of ''The Drum''. Sherlock's contributions to the Anglican Church includes serving as the Lay Canon of St Paul's Cathedral Melbourne from 2010 to 2016. He was editor of the ''

Journal of Anglican Studies The ''Journal of Anglican Studies'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal focusing on the history, theology and practice of Anglicanism. It was established in Australia in 2003, and was initially published by Continuum Publishers. It is now ...

'' from 2020 to 2021. Sherlock he has spoken publicly in favour of the

Anglican Church of Australia The Anglican Church of Australia, originally known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. In 2016, responding to a peer-reviewed study ...

supporting

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

. He has been in a long-term same-sex relationship and married his partner in 2018. Sherlock delivered the 48th Barry Marshall Memorial Lecture, 'Why Australia Needs Theology', at Trinity College, Melbourne in 2017. Sherlock's research explores Renaissance and Reformation Europe history and theology, especially the commemoration of the dead and cultures of remembering and forgetting. He is a recognised authority on historic monuments. He has also published in the areas of gender and religion, on theological education, and contributed multiple entries in the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

''.

Select publications

Books

* Sherlock, Peter (2008) ''Monuments and Memory in Early Modern England''. Ashgate, Aldershot. 296pp. * Cassidy-Welch, Megan and Sherlock, Peter (2008) ''Practices of Gender in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe''. Turnhout: Brepols (Late medieval and early modern studies, v. 11).

Book chapters

* Grimshaw, Patricia, and Peter Sherlock (2021) "Women and Cultural Exchanges". In: ''Critical Readings in the History of Christian Mission (Volume 2)''. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands, pp. 600–619. * Sherlock, Peter (2020) "Monuments and the Reformation". In: ''Memory and the English Reformation''. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 168–184. * Sherlock, Peter (2019) "Sacred memory: The Elizabethan monuments of Westminster Abbey". In: ''Historicising Heritage and Emotions : The Affective Histories of Blood, Stone and Land''. Routledge, London, pp. 67–83. * Sherlock, Peter (2018) "Monuments and Memory". In: ''A History of Early Modern Women's writing''. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 292–312. * Sherlock, Peter (2017) "The Revolution of Memory: Monuments at Westminster Abbey". In: ''Revolutionary England, c.1630–c.1660: essays for Clive Holmes''. Routledge, London, pp. 201–217.

Journal articles

* Sherlock, Peter (2016) The Foundation of the Melbourne College of Divinity. ''Journal of Religious History'', 40 (2). pp. 204–224.

References

External links

University of Divinity Staff Profile Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherlock, Peter Living people University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Heads of universities in Australia Academic staff of the University of Divinity Seminary presidents Historians of the early modern period Australian Anglicans LGBTQ Anglicans Academic journal editors LGBTQ academics 1972 births