Dr Simon Ravenscroft

My past research has criss-crossed the disciplines of theology, philosophy, literature, political and social theory, and economics. Broadly I try to be open to any topic that allows me to bring philosophical and theological reasoning to bear in interesting ways on issues of contemporary social, political, economic, and/or existential significance. Unfortunately, this means that my work has tended to be somewhat unsystematic and ad hoc. My doctoral thesis was on the work of the late Catholic radical Ivan Illich, re-examining his thinking around the fate of social relations under conditions of economic modernity. A major postdoctoral project has been on the ethical issues surrounding the patenting of life forms, bringing moral, religious, and political considerations into conversation with developments in law and biotechnology, and will conclude with the publication of a co-edited volume with Cambridge University Press in 2019. My latest research is on laughter, exploring what life in its comic aspect has to do with questions of power, knowledge, and religious faith.