My academic interests are in practical theology, with my writing often focusing on gender, embodiment and ministry. More broadly I am interested in issues of faith in the public square, Baptist ecclesiology and the theology of mental health.

I am a fully accredited Baptist minister in the Baptist Union of Great Britain. I underwent ministerial formation at Regent’s Park College from 2011-2014, alongside writing my MTh in Applied Theology.

Previously I worked as the Baptist Union of Great Britain’s ‘Public Issues Enabler’, leading our work on faith in the public square, and working ecumenically with the Joint Public Issues Team. This was an exciting, reactive role asking the theological questions in a team of policy and economics experts. Whilst there I also founded the ‘Politics in the Pulpit?’ weekly podcast/vlog, a lectionary based preaching resource designed to ask questions about how we engage with political issues in the world and in the scriptural texts.
Prior to this I have been in two pastorates: John Bunyan Baptist Church in Oxford, and Market Bosworth Free Church in Leicestershire. My undergraduate degree was a Master of Theology from University of St Andrews, 2006-2010.

My role in college

I am Chaplain, Head of Welfare and Fellow in Theology at Regent’s Park. The majority of my role is pastoral care. It is my deep privilege to listen to the different experiences of students and staff, to hear the different issues at play and to work with them to create solutions as possible, especially through the signposting to further welfare resources available. I am available to people of all faiths or none, and this includes any topics you might want to raise with me – I try hard to be super nonjudgmental whilst very caring. I attend to the spiritual life of the College, through the running of the chapel and provision of spiritual care; I put our ‘All College Cake Breaks’ in this latter category too!
Alongside my pastoral role I teach on the BTh on practical theology, worship and homiletics, and I continue in my own academic research.

 

Books

  • Ed. with Anthony Clarke and Andy Goodliff, Reconciling Rites: Essays in Honour of Myra N. Blyth (Oxford Centre for Baptist Studies, 2020)

Articles and Research Papers

  • ‘The disembodiment of birthing and the incapacity to theologically reflect: a perspective from perinatal mental illness in ministry’, Practical Theology 16.3 (2023)
  • with Andy Goodliff, ‘Appreciating Ruth’, Journal of Baptist Theology in Context Issue 4 (2021)
  • ‘Performing Baptism, Embodying Christ’ in Reconciling Rites: Essays in Honour of Myra N. Blyth (2020)
  • with Andy Goodliff, Ruth Gouldbourne, Steve Holmes, David Kerrigan, Glen Marshall & Simon Woodman, ‘The Courage to be Baptist: A Statement on Baptist Ecclesiology and Human Sexuality’, Baptist Quarterly, 48:1 (2017) 2-10
  • ‘”That we might see ourselves as we could be”; Baptist Interpretations of Scripture on the Complementarity of Male and Female’, Gathering Disciples: Essays in Honor of Christopher J. Ellis edited by Myra Blyth and Andy Goodliff (Pickwick, 2017), 90-111

 

 

See also

Personal twitter: @bethjallison
Something to Declare: personal podcast interviewing Baptists about their Baptist identity.

  • Selected Publications