New Year, New Projects

This year, 2023, marks a decade of living and learning in the United Kingdom — first as a postgraduate student, now as a postdoctoral research fellow. Here’s a preview of what’s ahead.

Publications are on my mind as I enter the first full term in the McDonald post. My essay on the shrewd steward (Lk 16:1-9) will be published by Theology this spring. The steward, you may recall, was praised after having cooked his master’s books. Does the parable ask us to admire someone who’s been dishonest? I use Zagzebski’s theory of moral exemplarism to think through what we might learn from the parable.

I also have a full-length article under review, which provides a theological take on the US Supreme Court case, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo (2020). The dispute involves restrictions upon religious attendance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In its per curiam opinion, the Court gestures towards theological reasoning, and I flesh out that theological reasoning with the help of Saint Thomas Aquinas. The article helps Christians and lawyers to better appreciate the significance of in-person worship as well as relationship between church and state, particularly from a virtue perspective.

The Brooklyn article was submitted on New Year’s Day — a nice way to kick off the year, in my opinion at least! Two other projects must be wrapped up this month: a review of Garrett Potts’ Work as a Calling: from Meaningful Work to Good Work, as well as my article manuscript on moral exemplars in UK finance. A summary of this finance research is being presented at the Jubilee Conference at Oriel College, Oxford this week.

Other projects on the horizon include more law-and-religion writing and graduate teaching on Anscombe and property. I’ve also settled on my next big research adventure: authoring a theological monograph on moral exemplarism. It goes without saying that I’m very excited about this project in particular. And what an absolute joy to have four years in Oxford to bring it to completion, deo volente.

Here’s to a new year, new post, and new projects — further opportunities to serve the common good and draw our attention to the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17).