Miss Anna Blackman
- Lecturer in Catholic Religious Education (Educational Leadership & Policy)
email:
Anna.Blackman@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns:
She/her/hers
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9639-5569Biography
Anna is a Lecturer in Catholic Religious Education located in the Pedagogy, Praxis and Faith Research and Teaching Group. She assists with the work of the School of Education and the St. Andrew's Foundation. Anna has taught widely in the areas of Catholic social thought, Christian ethics, Christian apologetics, and political theology. Prior to her time at Glasgow, she lectured at the universities of Roehampton, Durham, Newcastle, and Tubingen, as well as working as a Research Associate in the area of Catholic social thought and practice at the Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame from 2018-2019. Her research focused on analysing the ethics of institutions in light of Catholic social teaching, in which she carried out extensive ethnographic research. Of special interest to her was the ethical frameworks used within Catholic schools. Following this she continued to research the ethics of institutions through an ethnographic study of the organizational functioning of the NHS in conjunction with the universities of Notre Dame and the IFZ in Salzburg. She has also undertaken research for several UK-based Catholic charities looking at the connection between institutional functioning and theological identity. Her upcoming research will focus on what methods can be used to best teach Catholic social teaching as well as how the tradition itself can be used to inform Catholic religious education and pedagogy.
Research interests
Anna's research focuses primarily on the intersection between Catholic theology and Catholic social thought and practice. She is interested in how Catholic social thought can be integrated in the wider body of Catholic theology, forming a holistic approach between the doctrinal and the social. Of particular concern is how this can be achieved in Catholic religious education and catechesis.
Anna is also interested in the dialogue between Catholic social thought, political theology, and Christian ethics. She is interested in how the Catholic tradition can learn from other traditions about the best ways to incorporate faith and praxis. In particular she is concerned with how we can learn from grassroots faith-based movements and organizations, viewing praxis as already theological. Her doctorate focuses on this in specific relation to the Catholic Worker movement presenting a theology of praxis and how this relates to, and critiques, more recognised theological voices such as those of the Magisterium and the academy. Of specific concern is what such socio-political movements can teach the Church about how to best engage with the poor and marginalized, as well as how more normative theological voices often further isolate these groups.
Additional information
Experience and Responsibilities
Teaching:
Guest lectures:
- ‘Living in and with Poverty’, Scott Appleby’s Introduction to Global Affairs, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame, February 2019.
- ‘Collective Dignity’, Clemens Sedmak’s Theology of Human Dignity, February 2019.
- ‘Enacting Human Dignity’, Clemens Sedmak’s Integral Human Development, November 2018.
- ‘Introduction to Catholic Social Thought’, given to Fulbright FLTAS, University of Notre Dame, November 2018.
Extra-curricular ‘Introductory course to Catholic Social Thought and Practice’, Durham University, October-November 2014.
Conference Organization:
2012 ‘Contemporary Issues in Catholic Theology’, Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University.
2012 ‘Blurring Boundaries’, & 2011 ‘Perspectives from Where We Stand’, Café des Femmes, Theology Department, Durham University.
Invite-only Research Colloquiums:
International Workshop: The Ethics of Institutions, University of Notre Dame, 28th – 29th October 2019.
Restorative Justice on Catholic Campuses Workshop, University of Notre Dame, March 2019.
CAFOD day of reflection on Laudato Si’, Durham University, 19 th January 2016.
‘Laudato Si’: The Greening of the Church?’, Institute for Religion and Critical Enquiry, Australian Catholic University & Catholic University of America Rome Center, 22 nd-25th September 2015.
Employment
September 2019 - June 2020 Researcher: Health Services and Humanizing Institutions, University of Notre Dame & the University of Salzburg.
September – December 2019 Visiting Lecturer, University of Roehampton, Christian Apologetics.
August 2018 – August 2019 Research Fellow, Center for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame, Humanizing Institutions Project.
October 2017-March 2018 Teaching Fellow, Dogmatic Doctrinal History and Ecumenical Institute, Tubingen University, Germany, 20th Century Social Movements and the Construction of Catholic Social Doctrine.
October 2016-June 2017 Lecturer, Durham University, 3rd year course, Christian Tradition and the Practice of Politics.
May 2016- January 2017 Researcher for St. Vincent de Paul charity, working alongside Dr. Anna Rowlands, Prof. Karen Kilby & Dr. Jim Sweeney.
January 2015- December 2017 Research Assistant for Dr. Anna Rowlands.
October 2014- June 2016, Lecturer, Newcastle University, The Art of Theological Reflection.
October 2013- June 2016, Teaching Assistant, Durham University:
- October 2015- June 2016: 2nd year courses, Topics in Christian Ethics, with Prof. Robert Song, and God, Freedom & the Soul (an introduction to philosophical theology)
- October 2013 –June 2015: 1st year course, Introduction to Christian Theology
- October 2013 – June 2014: 1st year course, Christianity in Context
Memberships
Society for the Study of Religion
American Academy of Religion
Society for the Study of Christian Ethics
