Book launch: Christian polytheism?

Polydox Theologies of Multi-devotional and Decolonial PraxisDr Ankur Barua, Dr Giles Waller, and Dr Lindsey-Taylor Guthartz are on the panel at this February book launch.

This event is organised by author Paul Hedges. Paul was a visiting scholar at the Faculty of Divinity in 2024/25 and is a Life Member of Clare Hall.

About the book

Christian polytheism? is a theological and political exploration of how Christianity may be compatible with polytheism, arguing that there is no singular “orthodoxy”, rather we see “polydoxy”. Conceptually deconstructing the distinction between monotheism and polytheism, it advances multi-devotionalism and mono-devotionalism as analytically preferable terminology.

It starts by exploring notions of polytheism in the Old(er) Testament, New(er) Testament, and Christian developments of the Trinity over subsequent centuries, before placing Christianity in comparative dialogue with Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism. Employing a decolonial and feminist stance, the book proceeds to examine global Christianities, focusing on African and Asian theologies as well as Goddess traditions. It concludes by offering five options for developing a theology of Christian polytheism: Henotheist originalism, theologies of plurality, generous orthodoxy, atheistic Christian polytheism, and a theology of polytheistic excess.

Characterised as “original and compelling”, Routledge consider it essential reading for scholars of Christian Systematic Theology and Modern Theology. Join Paul & co. in Cambridge or on livestream to hear what others make of it.

About the author

Paul Hedges is a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, UK, and Professor of Interreligious Studies in NTU (Singapore). He has worked at, or lectured in, various universities in the UK, mainland Europe, Asia, and North America. He frequently works with stakeholders outside academia, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Ministry of Community, Culture and Youth (MCCY, Singapore), the Anglican Communion Network for Interfaith Concerns (NIFCON), the Dialogue Society (UK), Netflix, and the BBC.

He is co-editor of Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology, editor-in-chief of the Occasional Paper series Interreligious Relations, and sits on the editorial board of numerous journal and book series.  He works in such areas as interreligious studies, theory and method in the study of religion, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, prejudice studies, theological studies, and decolonising academia.

He has published fifteen books and over ninety scholarly papers, including Christian Polytheism? Polydox Theologies of Multi-devotional and Decolonial Praxis (Routledge 2024), Understanding Religion: Theories and Methods for Studying Religiously Diverse Societies (University of California Press 2021), and Religious Hatred: Prejudice, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in Global Context (Bloomsbury 2021).

Practicalities

This event is hosted at Clare Hall, Cambridge. For those attending in Cambridge, light refreshments will be available on arrival (from 17:00).

The livestream will begin at 17:20. Enter meeting code 847 9415 6721 to join via Zoom.