Dr Timothy Stanley

Senior Lecturer

School of Humanities, Creative Ind and Social Sci (Philosophy)

Email:timothy.stanley@newcastle.edu.au
Phone:0249217927

Career Summary

Biography

Most of my funded research aims to help societies navigate religious pluralism and foster inclusive democratic practices. My books on secularisation (2015) and deliberative democracy (2022) respond to rising religious strife with models of more resilient communicative forums. Two more monographs on book history (2017, 2022) trace how religions adapt to technological change. Most recently, I’ve led the Religions journal special issue on situating religious cognition, and published another book that fosters cognitive empathy in the study of religion (2025). Persistent throughout all my writing is a materialist interest in bridging philosophical rigour with practical relevance.

My courses draw on this expertise to teach students habits of mind to thrive in diverse societies. This includes courses on philosophy of relationships, democracy and diversity, philosophy of religion, world religions and ethics of emerging technologies. I also supervise research students on these and related topics. From 2024-26, I am the Deputy Head of School Teaching and Learning in the university's School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, where I lead several committees to enhance graduate outcomes through data-driven deliberative decision-making practices.

Qualifications

PhD, University of Manchester - England
Master of Arts, University of Manchester - England

Keywords

Deliberative Democracy
Ethical Technology
Extended Mind Theory
Hermeneutics
Metaphysics
Methodology in the Study of Religion
Political and Social Theory
Print/Codex Information Technology
Scientific Studies of Religion
Secularisation Theory
Situated Religious Cognition
Tolerance and Antibigotry Studies

Languages

Greek (Working)
German (Working)
Hebrew (Working)

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
500306	Ethical theory	20
500316	Philosophy of religion	40
500321	Social and political philosophy	20
500207	History of ideas	20

Professional Experience

Academic appointment

Dates	Title	Organisation / Department
1/1/2026 -	Associate Professor	School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences Australia
1/1/2015 - 31/12/2025	Senior Lecturer	School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences Australia
1/8/2010 - 31/12/2014	Lecturer	School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences Australia
1/8/2008 - 1/8/2010	Post-Doctoral Research Fellow	The University of Manchester School of Arts, Histories and Cultures United Kingdom

Teaching

Code	Course	Role	Duration
PHIL1090	Ethics of Emerging Technologies The University of Newcastle - School of Humanities, Creative Industries, and Social Sciences Emerging technologies hold both enormous potential to foster human flourishing as well as significant new challenges to democratic societies. This tension requires that we understand the technology as well as its ethical implications. In response, each week of the course will introduce how a mathematical, algorithmic, or design principle raises new ethical questions about an emerging technology. It provides both an insight into how a technology works as well as an outline of its unpredictable environmental, economic, political, and social consequences. In each case, a significant ethical approach will be brought to bear by noting its historical and philosophical relevance to today. The course enhances student capacities to evaluate technological dangers as well as direct their positive potentialities.	Course Convenor	17/8/2026 - 13/11/2026
PHIL2040	Philosophy of Relationships The University of Newcastle - School of Humanities, Creative Industries, and Social Sciences Human relationships have provided one of the richest touchstones for philosophical reflection. For centuries people have sought to improve their experiences of other people, and this has resulted in significant ethical innovations in the history of ideas. Sometimes this includes analysis of painful experiences that defy meaningful description. The course investigates diverse recommendations to improve human relationships. It develops comparative methodologies in the academic study of philosophy, religion and ethics in order to help students evaluate a range complementary viewpoints on the topic.	Course Convenor	25/5/2026 - 3/7/2026

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Publications

For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.

Book (6 outputs)

Year

Citation

Altmetrics

Link

2025

Stanley T, 'Understanding Religion through the Eyes of Others: Case Studies of Key Thinkers' (2025)

2022

Stanley T, 'Printing Religion after the Enlightenment' (2022) [A1]

Citations	Scopus - 2

2022

Stanley T, 'Religion after Deliberative Democracy' (2022) [A1]

Citations	Scopus - 3

2017

Stanley TW, Writing Faith, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 154 (2017) [A1]

2015

Stanley TW, Religion after secularization in Australia, Palgrave MacMillan, New York, 233 (2015) [A3]

2010

Stanley T, Protestant Metaphysics after Karl Barth and Martin Heidegger, SCM Press, London, United Kingdom, 288 (2010) [A1]

Show 3 more books

Chapter (5 outputs)

Year	Citation	Link
2027	Stanley T, 'Religion, Science, and Popular Beliefs', A Cultural History of Historiography in the Modern Age, 1920-Present, Bloomsbury Press, New York (2027)
2026	Stanley T, 'The Far Side of Religion' (2026)
2021	Stanley T, 'Urban Surveillance: The Hidden Costs of Disneyland', The Many Faces of the City: Exploring the Metropolis, Common Ground, Champaigne (2021)
2015	Stanley TW, 'Utopia and the Public Sphere', 191-210 (2015) [B1]	Open Research Newcastle
2015	Stanley TW, 'Introduction', vii-xiv (2015) [B2]
	Show 2 more chapters

Journal article (23 outputs)

Year

Citation

Altmetrics

Link

2025

Stanley T, 'Tracing the Extended Mind', Religions, 16, 1-18 (2025) [C1]

DOI	10.3390/rel16020189

2025

Stanley T, 'Introducing the Special Issue: Situating Religious Cognition', Religions, 16, 1-7 (2025)

DOI	10.3390/rel16070884

2023

Stanley T, 'Barth's Repetition', Modern Theology, 39 (2023) [C1]

DOI	10.1111/moth.12845

2021

Stanley T, 'Applying Arendt's Vita Activa to Religion', Politics, Religion and Ideology, 22 (2021) [C1]

DOI	10.1080/21567689.2021.1877670

2021

Stanley T, 'Religious Print in Settler Australia and Oceania', Religions, 12 1-14 (2021) [C1]

DOI	10.3390/rel12121048

2020

Stanley T, 'Religious Interactions in Deliberative Democratic Systems Theory', Religions, 11, 1-16 (2020) [C1]

DOI	10.3390/rel11040210

2019

Stanley TW, 'On Unity, Liberty and Charity', Political Theology, 20 103-111 (2019) [C1]

DOI	10.1080/1462317X.2019.1558712

2019

Stanley TW, 'The Pragmatist Question of Sovereignty', Political Theology, 20 139-156 (2019) [C1]

DOI	10.1080/1462317X.2018.1559006

2016

Stanley TW, 'Faithful Codex: A Theological Account of Early Christian Books', Heythrop Journal: A Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology, 57, 9-28 (2016) [C1]

DOI	10.1111/heyj.12079

2016

Stanley TW, 'Bonhoeffer's Anti-Judaism', Political Theology, 17 297-305 (2016) [C1]

DOI	10.1080/10773525.2016.1187000
Citations	Scopus - 2

2015

Stanley TW, 'The Early Codex Book: Recovering its Cosmopolitan Consequences', Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches, 23 369-398 (2015) [C1]

DOI	10.1163/15685152-00233P04
Citations	Scopus - 1Web of Science - 2

2013

Stanley TW, 'A Serious Man', The Bible and Critical Theory, 9 27-37 (2013) [C1]

2012

Stanley TW, 'Barth after Kant?', Modern Theology, 28 423-445 (2012) [C1]

Citations	Scopus - 3Web of Science - 3

2010

Stanley T, 'Desire, Gift and Recognition: Christology and Postmodern Philosophy', Ars Disputandi, 10 128-131 (2010)

DOI	10.1080/15665399.2010.10820032

2009

Stanley T, 'Before Analogy: Recovering Barth's Ontological Development', New Blackfriars, 90 577-601 (2009) [C1]

DOI	10.1111/j.1741-2005.2009.01302.x

2008

Stanley T, 'Karl Barth and Jürgen Habermas: Transcendental Aporias of Global Civil Society', Political Theology, 9 477-502 (2008) [C1]

DOI	10.1558/poth.v9i4.477

2008

Stanley T, 'Speaking Credibly? Communicating Christian Particularism in Postmodern Contexts', International Review of Mission, 97 21-30 (2008) [C1]

2008

Stanley T, 'Returning Barth to Anselm', Modern Theology, 24 413-437 (2008) [C1]

DOI	10.1111/j.1468-0025.2008.00465.x

2007

Stanley T, 'Heidegger on Luther on Paul', Dialog: a journal of theology, 46 41-45 (2007) [C1]

DOI	10.1111/j.1540-6385.2007.00306.x

2006

Stanley T, 'From Habermas to Barth and Back Again', Journal of Church and State, 48, 101-126 (2006) [C1]

Citations	Scopus - 3Web of Science - 1

2006

Stanley T, 'Urban Surveillance: The Hidden Costs of Disneyland', International Journal of the Humanities, 3 117-124 (2006) [C1]

2006

Stanley T, 'Punch-Drunk Masculinity', Journal of Men s Studies: a scholarly journal about men and masculinities, 14 235-242 (2006) [C1]

DOI	10.3149/jms.1402.235

2005

Stanley T, 'Redeeming the Icons', The Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, 6 39-62 (2005) [C1]

Show 20 more journal articles

Other (2 outputs)

Year	Citation	Altmetrics	Link
2025	Nikkel D, Pihlström S, Smith TBM, Stanley T, Tanton T, 'Special Issue: Situating Religious Cognition', Religions, 16 (2025)
2019	Farneth M, Kahn J, Pihlström S, Stanley T, 'Special Issue: Pragmatism and Political Theology', Special Issue: Pragmatism and Political Theology ( issue.2 pp.103-175): Taylor & Francis (2019)

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Grants and Funding

Summary

Number of grants	6
Total funding	$137,500

Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.

20231 grants / $6,000

Understanding Religion through the Eyes of Others$6,000

This funding supports a book-length study of religion through the eyes of others. It draws students into perennial debates that evoke intersubjective habits of mind capable of engaging today’s diverse societies.

Funding body: Australian Research Theology Foundation

Funding body	Australian Research Theology Foundation
Project Team	TIMOTHY STANLEY
Scheme	Australian Research Theology Foundation
Role	Lead
Funding Start	2023
Funding Finish	2024
GNo
Type Of Funding	C3200 – Aust Not-for Profit
Category	3200
UON	N

20181 grants / $20,000

Religious Print after the Enlightenment$20,000

The project investigates how a new form of religious print came to be recognised in the Enlightenment era. It evaluates the State Library of NSW’s Richardson Collection of rare Bibles and early printed religious works.

Funding body: Library Council of NSW

Funding body	Library Council of NSW
Project Team	Doctor Timothy Stanley
Scheme	Australian Religious History Fellowship
Role	Lead
Funding Start	2018
Funding Finish	2019
GNo	G1800604
Type Of Funding	C3200 – Aust Not-for Profit
Category	3200
UON	Y

20131 grants / $1,500

The American Academy of Religion Annual Conference, USA 23-26 November 2013$1,500

Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts

Funding body	University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
Project Team	Doctor Timothy Stanley
Scheme	Travel Grant
Role	Lead
Funding Start	2013
Funding Finish	2013
GNo	G1300771
Type Of Funding	Internal
Category	INTE
UON	Y

20121 grants / $100,000

Religion in Political Life Research Program$100,000

Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts

Funding body	University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
Project Team	Timothy Stanley
Scheme	Round 3 Research Program Funding
Role	Lead
Funding Start	2012
Funding Finish	2013
GNo
Type Of Funding	Internal
Category	INTE
UON	N

20111 grants / $5,000

Stanley - New Staff Grant 2011$5,000

Funding body: University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts

Funding body	University of Newcastle - Faculty of Education and Arts
Project Team	Doctor Timothy Stanley
Scheme	FEDUA New Staff Grant
Role	Lead
Funding Start	2011
Funding Finish	2011
GNo
Type Of Funding	Internal
Category	INTE
UON	N

20101 grants / $5,000

Stanley - New Staff Grant 2010$5,000

Funding body: University of Newcastle

Funding body	University of Newcastle
Project Team	Doctor Timothy Stanley
Scheme	New Staff Grant
Role	Lead
Funding Start	2010
Funding Finish	2011
GNo	G1001043
Type Of Funding	Internal
Category	INTE
UON	Y

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Research Supervision

Number of supervisions

Completed6

Current4

Current Supervision

Commenced	Level of Study	Research Title	Program	Supervisor Type
2024	Masters	Fortuna Favours the Bold: Religion and Legitimacy in the Flavian Dynasty (69-96CE)	M Philosophy (Classics), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle	Co-Supervisor
2022	PhD	Free Will After Extended Mind Theory	PhD (Philosophy), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle	Principal Supervisor
2019	PhD	On the Russian Origins of Lev Shestov's Critique of Reason	PhD (Philosophy), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle	Principal Supervisor
2017	PhD	Beyond Enchantment and Charisma: Tabletop Roleplaying as the practice of communal responsibility	PhD (Sociology & Anthropology), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle	Co-Supervisor

Past Supervision

Year	Level of Study	Research Title	Program	Supervisor Type
2017	Honours	Mad Max: Fury Hope	Philosophy & Religious Studies, College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle	Sole Supervisor
2017	Honours	Buddhist and Lacanian Desire	Philosophy & Religious Studies, College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle	Sole Supervisor
2016	Honours	Origen's Midrash Pesher	Philosophy & Religious Studies, College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle	Sole Supervisor
2013	Honours	Kant in Rawls	Philosophy & Religious Studies, College of Human and Social Futures, University of Newcastle	Sole Supervisor
2012	PhD	An Investigation of Contrasting Approaches to Worship within Australian Baptist Churches to Explore the Role of Apollonian and Dionysian Concepts of Art Play in Understanding the Differences. A Case Study Approach	PhD (Music), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle	Co-Supervisor
2012	Honours	Law and Ethics in Bonhoeffer	Philosophy & Religious Studies, College of Human and Social Futures \| University of Newcastle	Sole Supervisor

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News

News • 30 Oct 2017

Historians awarded State Library fellowships

UON researchers Dr Julie McIntyre and Dr Tim Stanley have each been awarded a prestigious 2018 NSW State Library Fellowship.