Academic Background
My first degree is in History from the University of East Anglia, followed by a D.Phil. from York. I have taught at York, Leicester, and Oxford Brookes Universities. I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHist.S) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
Undergraduate Teaching
Nineteenth-century social, cultural, and religious history. History of law, crime, and deviance.
Postgraduate Teaching
Blasphemy from Ancient to Modern Society. Dphil supervision in areas related to religious history, atheism and crime.
Research Interests
History of blasphemy, history of atheism and atheists, history of secularisation, history of law, crime, and deviance, the history of shame.
Hobbies
My hobbies include black-and-white (film) photography, development, and printing. I am married with one daughter and a granddaughter.
Publications
- Blasphemy in Modern Britain 1789-present (Ashgate Publishing), 1999.
- Blasphemy in the Christian World (Oxford University Press), 2007.
- Cultures of Shame: Punishing Moral Lapses in the West 1500-1900 with Anne-Marie Kilday (Palgrave Publishing), 2010.
- Christian Ideals in British Culture: Stories of Belief in the Twentieth Century (Palgrave Publishing), 2013.
- Shame and Modernity with Anne-Marie Kilday (Palgrave Macmillan), 2017.
- Acts Against God (Reaktion), 2020.
- Beyond Deviant Damsels. Criminal Women in the Nineteenth Century with Anne-Marie Kilday (Oxford University Press), 2023.
In connection with my work on blasphemy, I have advised the British and Irish governments as well as the European Commission and the United Nations.
Links
Subject notes for courses taught at Jesus College:
See also the Faculty of History website.