Department of Theology and Religious Studies

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Jeremy Gregory

Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Social Sciences (interim) and Professor of the History of Christianity, Faculty of VC's Office

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Biography

Jeremy joined the University in September 2015. He has a BA in Modern History and a D.Phil from the University of Oxford and was appointed Lecturer in History at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) in 1985, becoming Head of History and Principal Lecturer in 1995. He moved to The University of Manchester in 2000, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2001, and to Professor in 2010. At Manchester, he was the first Director of Undergraduate Education in the newly-formed School of Arts, Histories and Cultures from 2004 to 2007, becoming Head in 2011, and from 2012 he was the founding Head of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, with over 6,000 students and c. 500 staff. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has held visiting fellowships at Brown University, Magdalen College, Oxford, and The Boston Athenaeum.

In his role as Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Jeremy provides executive leadership to the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Social Sciences (interim), to ensure strategic and operational outcomes are met. Jeremy is a member of the University Executive Board where he shares ownership of key decisions, jointly leading the development and implementation of the University Strategy.

Research Summary

Jeremy's research and publications have shaped and contributed to the debates concerning the role of the Church of England in particular, and religion in general, in English social, cultural,… read more

I have been fortunate to supervise a number of outstanding research students, many of whom have published the outcomes of their research.

These include:

  • Susan Rutherford, 'Reformation Principles: the Religious and Political Ideas of Benjamin Hoadly (1676-1761)'. (Ph.D thesis, University of Northumbria). Degree awarded 2000.
  • Timothy Walsh, '"To meet and satisfy a very hungry people": an exploration of the origins, emergence, and development of the Pentecostal Movement in Britain, 1907-1925'. (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester). Degree awarded 2007. Published as 'To meet and satisfy a very hungry people'. The Origins and Fortunes of English Pentecostalism, 1907-1925 (Studies in Evangelical History and Thought, Paternoster Press, 2011)
  • Barbara Prosser, '"An arrow from a quiver". Written instruction for a reading people: John Wesley's Arminian Magazine, 1778-1791'. (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester.) Degree awarded 2008.
  • Geordan Hammond, 'Restoring Primitive Christianity: John Wesley and Georgia, 1735-7'. (PhD thesis, University of Manchester). Degree awarded 2008. [Winner of the Wesleyan Theological Society Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2009] Published as John Wesley and America (OUP, 2014)
  • David Wilson, 'Church and Chapel: parish ministry and Methodism in Madeley, c. 1760-1785, with special reference to the ministry of John Fletcher'. (PhD thesis, University of Manchester). Degree awarded 2010.
  • David Hart, 'The emergence and development of Methodism in Norwich, 1754-1802.' (PhD thesis, University of Manchester). Degree awarded 2010.
  • Simon Mayers, 'English Catholic Attitudes towards Jews and Anglo-Jewish Attitudes towards Catholics at the end of the 19th Century and Beginning of the 20th Century'. (co-supervisor) (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester). Degree awarded 2011.
  • Ruth Hadley, 'The Concept of 'Toleration' in Twentieth Century Thought, with special reference to the UNESCO '1995: Year of Toleration'. (second supervisor). (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester). Degree awarded 2012.
  • Carl Kilcourse, 'Taiping Theology: Religious Identity in Global Perspective' (co- supervisor). (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester). Ph.D Degree awarded 2013.
  • Meriel Boyd, 'In their own image? Church building in the deanery of Manchester, 1847 to 1903: relationships between donor, architect, and churchmanship'. (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester, co-supervisor). Degree awarded 2015.
  • Anne-Louise Critchlow, 'William Kelly (1821-1906): Biblical Literalist, Conservative Intellectual, and Mystic'. (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester). Degree awarded 2015. Published as Against the Trend. The Spirituality of William Kelly (1821-1906) (Wipf & Stock, 2016).
  • Naomi Billinglsey, 'William Blake's Visual Christologies' [AHRC funded]. (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester). Degree awarded 2016.
  • Michael Smith, 'Piety and Devotion in the North-West of England' (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester).To be submitted in 2016.
  • Jessica Patterson, 'The East India Company and perceptions of religions in India' [AHRC funded] (Ph.D thesis, University of Manchester).

I looks forward to supervising PhD students on any aspect of religious history in the long eighteenth century.

Current Research

Jeremy's research and publications have shaped and contributed to the debates concerning the role of the Church of England in particular, and religion in general, in English social, cultural, political and intellectual history from the mid seventeenth to the mid nineteenth centuries. He has also published on the relationship between religion and gender, religion and the wider artistic and literary culture, and on the relationship between conformity and dissent. His current research is on the Church of England in colonial British North America and he is also keen to explore the rich records of the Archdeaconry of Nottingham housed at the University's Manuscripts and Special Collections.

His recently edited book, Manchester Cathedral. A History of the Collegiate Church and Cathedral, 1421 to the present, was published by Manchester University Press in November 2021. His edited volume, The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume II Establishment and Empire, 1662-1829, was published by Oxford University Press in 2017 (paperback 2019). He has been a co-editor of Studies in Church History and an editor of Literature & History. He was President of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 2013-15. Jeremy looks forward to supervising PhD students on any aspect of religious history in the long eighteenth century.

Department of Theology and Religious Studies

University of Nottingham
University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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