Professor Chris Greenough

Profile

Biography

Chris gained his PhD from the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Dr Deryn Guest in 2016 and his Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education from Edge Hill University in 2019. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is an external member of Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies and on the editorial board of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies.

Research Interests

Chris Greenough is Professor of Social Sciences and is primarily interested in the intersections between gender, sexuality and religion, especially in queer theory and queer studies. He has published two monographs in this area: Undoing Theology (2018, SCM Press) and Queer Theologies: The Basics (2019, Routledge).

As co-director of The Shiloh Project, Chris also has research interests in the role of the Bible and religion in relation to rape culture and gender-based violence. Chris’s third monograph reflects this interest, The Bible and Sexual Violence Against Men (2020, Routledge). Chris has published book chapters and journal articles on religion, gender and sexualities; as well as the use, function and impact of the Bible in the contemporary world.

Chris is co-editor on the international Bible and Violence Project, alongside Johanna Stiebert (University of Leeds) and Johnathan Jodamus (University of the Western Cape), and Mmapula Kebaneilwe (University of Botswana) commissioned by Bloomsbury. With over 100 chapters, the Bible and Violence aims to be an inclusive reference work that explores the complex dynamics between the Bible, its interpretation, reception, and imprint on society and culture today.

Recently, Chris has been keynote speaker at the Finnish Institute in Rome, as well as invited speaker at the Universities of Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Chester. He has examined international research degrees at the University of Oslo, Norway, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Teaching

Chris enjoyed 16 years as a secondary school teacher, before joining Edge HIll University. In this role, he was Assistant Headteacher with whole-school responsibility for safeguarding, child protection, pupil wellbeing, and working with external agencies. This experience informs his teaching across a range of Youth Studies modules. Chris teaches on undergraduate courses in the Department of Social Sciences, and works with postgraduate researchers at MRes and PhD level.