Postgraduates

The centre's academic staff are supervising a number of doctoral candidates. To contact the postgraduates on the list below, click on the appropriate name. For recent graduates see below.

David Bennett

  • Past Degrees: B.Th and M.Th (with merit), both through the Australian College of Theology.
  • Supervisor: Prof Philip Almond
  • Area of Research:  My topic is "The Origin of Left Behind Eschatology". The "Left Behind" books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are novels about the end of the world that have been extremely popular, especially in America. Though these books are fiction, they are based upon a specific Christian understanding of the end of the world. The most striking feature of this system of belief is the "rapture" in which Christians will be suddenly taken to up to heaven, leaving behind a world in chaos. Antichrist then takes control and his reign is marked by a seven-year period of "tribulation". My thesis explores the origins of the various main elements of these beliefs and seeks to discover when they came together to form a system. 

Andrew Brown

  • Past Degrees: BA (TTU, Chattanooga, USA), BTh (Aust. Coll. Theology), BMin (QBCM/Malyon, Brisbane), BA (Hons) (Queensland)
  • Supervisor: Prof Philip Almond
  • Area of Research:  My thesis explores mainly Christian interpretation of the creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:3 of the Hebrew/Christian Bibles, specifically in its seven-day structure.  The paradigmatic nature of this defining Jewish/Christian origins account makes this text pivotal in not only Christian theology but in Christian views of history, time, nature and humanity across two millennia.   Its interpretation both reflects the great currents of thought across that period, and up until recent centuries, helped to create and guide those currents.  As such, this study offers a profound case study of the rise and dominance of the worldview of Christendom, followed by the rise of Modernity and the emergence of the dominant scientific way of viewing the world.

Kim Hajek

  • Past Degrees:BSc Hons Class I (Physics) UQ, BA Hons Class I (French Language and Literature) UQ
  • Supervisors: Prof. Peter Cryle, Dr Heather Wolffram
  • Area of Research: My thesis investigates the cultural and intellectual history of medical research into hypnotism in France, during its 'golden age' at the end of the nineteenth century. In particular, I am interested in how researchers attempted to construct hypnotism as a proper positivist science, akin to Physics or Chemistry, and in possible dialogue over this question between scientific and literary texts. My work mainly involves close reading of key scientific texts to elucidate the issues at stake in claiming and defending hypnotism’s scientificity. Literary representations of hypnotism are probed and contrasted with the scientific texts in order to ask whether scientific and literary discourses interacted in any meaningful way around the notion of a serious scientific hypnotism.

Pete Jordan

  • Past Degrees: BE (Hons) (QUT), PhD (Cornell), MDiv (Duke)
  • Supervisor: Prof. Peter Harrison
  • Area of Research: My research focuses on the intersections of Christian theology and the new natural philosophies in seventeenth-century England. I am especially interested in the history of atheism, as well as the evolution of Christian thinking on such topics as divine providence in light of debates between rival philosophies of nature. 

Andrea Josipovic

  • Past Degrees: MA (Cologne), MCouns (UQ)
  • Supervisors: Prof. Peter Cryle & Prof. Karen Healy 
  • Area of Research: The aim of my thesis is to bring together current research and child protection practises regarding female sexual offending with nineteenth century discourse examining and developing classifications of mental disorders. Central to my discussion is the emergence of sexuality as a concept and discourse on femininity. The implicit nature of female perpetrated child sexual abuse has led to massive discrepancy between females convicted of a sex crime against children and the number of victims acknowledging sexual abuse by a female.  With exploring formative ideas around the constitution of child sexual abuse perpetrated by women, the cultural focal point of the inquiry will be on the influence of Western European Countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Marrying the genealogical development of an intellectual history of female perpetrated child sexual abuse with an exploration of how specific work practices and policies have come into being, an understanding is thought of how social work practice is applied in context. The way discourse is used, both ordering and shaping cognitive frameworks and building a conglomerate of ideas around the probability of women sexually abusing children, will be examined in detail.

Irena Larking 

  • Past Degrees: BA (University of Auckland),BAHons (FirstClass) University of Auckland, MA (First Class) University of Auckland
  • Supervisors: Prof Philip Almond, Dr A D (Dolly) McKinnon
  • Area of Research: My thesis explores a cultural history of religious practice in England (Norfolk and Suffolk) during the late medieval and early modern period. Its central question is how people practiced their faith within the context of the parish church during this period and how this changed over time. In order to analyse this change I examine how parish churches were fabricated: what objects were used or not used, destroyed or replaced; how was the church space used and by whom, and how did individuals or groups of individuals interact with each other within that space; what ceremonies were conducted for the purpose of worship, and how did the objects and the use of space employed for such purposes affect the experience of those that worshiped within its walls? By looking at the physical objects, space and ceremony of parish churches, it is hoped that a greater degree of insight can be gained into what faith meant for communities and how this played out in practice.  

Martyn Lloyd

  • Past Degrees: BA (QUT), BA (Hons)(Queensland)
  • Supervisors: Prof. Peter Cryle & Dr. Aurelia Armstrong
  • Area of Research: My dissertation will examine the Enlightenment foundations of the philosophy of the Marquis De Sade. Sade’s thought is deeply embedded in that of the French Enlightenment a fact which was overlooked by the twentieth century avant garde who used Sade’s oeuvre for to their own purposes and generally without considering its historical situation. My project will therefore entail a close reading of eighteenth century philosophy including: Condillac, Helvétius, Diderot, d’Alembert, d’Holbach, La Mettrie and Voltaire. It will also entail a major study of Rousseau who was arguably both Sade’s principal inspiration and antagonist. Critical to this project will be an investigation of the genre of the conte philosophique and the manner in which it can be understood to operate as a nexus between philosophy and literature. Tangential to my dissertation is research on the philosophy of Michel Foucault with a focus on the “middle” and “late” periods.
  • Supervisor: Peter Cryle
Postgraduates section

Recent Graduates

Recently graduated Phds supervised by CHED staff

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