Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David Clough @dlclough.bsky.social · 14d

Here’s my brief introduction to the Race & Class in UK Religious Studies and Theology project I’m co-convening with Dulcie McKenzie and Caroline Starkey. Do join us for the project launch on Wed 1st October to hear more.

raceclassrst.bsky.social @raceclassrst.bsky.social · 18d

The Race and Class in UK Religious Studies and Theology Project will take place over the next 5 years.

If you want to find out more about the project and how you can get involved, join our launch event on the 1st October at 4:15pm.

Register here: queens-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · 21d

@durham-university.bsky.social has been highly ranked in all as an institution, and has been awarded University of the Year by the Sunday Times Good University Guide.

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · 21d

www.theguardian.com/education/ng...

Best UK universities for theology & religious studies – league table

The study of religious belief systems, including Christian theology, Islam and Buddhism

www.theguardian.com

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · 21d

www.thetimes.com/uk-universit... (the subject rankings need to be selected under “explore the table”), but here is also a screenshot.

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · 21d

The last week has seen the release of three U.K. university league tables and @durhamtheology.bsky.social has been ranked 1st in all of them. www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-table...

Theology & Religious Studies Subject League Table 2026

Theology & Religious Studies focus on the world's major religions from a non-biased, academic perspective

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk

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James F. McGrath (ReligionProf) @religionprof.bsky.social · 23d

Now available: my new book co-authored with computer scientist Dr. Ankur Gupta. The title is REAL INTELLIGENCE: Teaching in the Era of Generative AI.

The book is open access (i.e. free), published by PALNI Open Press.

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · 27d

Thanks, Gerard. I hadn’t realised the full subject listing had been released with this. Great to see. @durhamtheology.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/education/ng...

Best UK universities for theology & religious studies – league table

The study of religious belief systems, including Christian theology, Islam and Buddhism

www.theguardian.com

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Gerard Loughlin @gerardpatrick.bsky.social · 27d

Ranked first for T&RS.

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · 27d

Good see @durham-university.bsky.social ranked at #5, up a place from last year. www.theguardian.com/education/ng...

The Guardian University Guide 2026 – the rankings

Find a course at one of the top universities in the country

www.theguardian.com

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Sep 8

It is wonderful to see Douglas Davies from @durhamtheology.bsky.social @durham-university.bsky.social honoured for his incredible work. www.durham.ac.uk/news-events/...

Durham professor honoured for pioneering contributions to death studies - Durham University

www.durham.ac.uk

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Sep 2

New digs (or, really, the view from my new digs). @durhamtheology.bsky.social (also, not sure if “digs” translates for non UK readers …)

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Sep 2

I’m sorry that I couldn’t be at this year’s @bntsoc.bsky.social in person, with such a great line up of papers, many representing important interventions and disruptions in the field. This week is my first in post @durham-university.bsky.social @durhamtheology.bsky.social and I have to be in Durham

British New Testament Society @bntsoc.bsky.social · Aug 29

Session 1 will feature Lydia Lee on ‘Not an Echo but a Reverb: Transformative Dynamics within Aesthetic Figural Interpretation’ and Session 2 will feature Aminta Arrington on ‘The Foreigner Who Returned: Narrative Repair and Counterstory in the Healing of the Ten Lepers’.

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British New Testament Society @bntsoc.bsky.social · Aug 29

Session 1 will feature Lydia Lee on ‘Not an Echo but a Reverb: Transformative Dynamics within Aesthetic Figural Interpretation’ and Session 2 will feature Aminta Arrington on ‘The Foreigner Who Returned: Narrative Repair and Counterstory in the Healing of the Ten Lepers’.

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 24

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Time for a reality check: Britain cannot be a big player on the world stage unless we speak more languages | Sophia Smith Galer

For all the talk of addressing the problem, things have got worse. Which is criminal when there is so much we could do, says journalist Sophia Smith Galer

www.theguardian.com

Iona Fyfe @ionafyfe.bsky.social · Aug 17

Anyone here living in New Hampshire? I'm looking to fill a show in or near Portsmouth NH on Friday 17th October for Iona Fyfe! If you know any halls, concert promoters, venues or bars looking for a Scottish folksinger and pianist, please comment! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇸

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sarah boothby @swastrosarah.bsky.social · Aug 10

Thanks to Emily Dugan and the Sunday Times for exposing this aspect of how Maeve died from ME. A Devon County Council cover up. Maeve was taking them to judical review, dying in the attempt.
Devon County Council may have learnt nothing from the inquest. I have learnt a lot about them.
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Prof Brendan Crabb AC @brendancrabb.bsky.social · Aug 10

What an opening session line up! www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...

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Dr. med. Hank Schiffers @leanhealth.bsky.social · Aug 8

UK: What if everyone had masked up? Analysis of app data has the answer:
"Respirators would have dropped the rate of COVID transmission by an estimated factor of 9, compared with 0.6 for surgical masks. A factor of 9 is enough to put SARS-COV-2 into exponential decay!
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

What if everyone had masked up? Analysis of app data has an answer

Modelling study based on almost 250,000 positive COVID-19 tests in the United Kingdom shows that universal masking could have cut transmission markedly.

www.nature.com

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Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · Aug 8

Reupping this job ad too - applications due 9/1!

Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · Jun 12

Position (tenured) in ancient/late antique Jewish history, religion, and culture at Harvard (deadline 9/1) academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/14958

Tenured Professor in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations seeks to appoint a tenured professor in Jewish Studies, with a specialization in Jewish history, religion, and culture in antiquity and/or la...

academicpositions.harvard.edu

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Miles W. Griffis @mileswgriffis.bsky.social · Aug 8

Graphic designer & advocate Derrick Kardos passed away last month due to complications of Long COVID 🕯️

"I am 52 and I have experienced more discrimination and stigma for being openly disabled by #LongCOVID than I ever did for being openly gay," he wrote in 2024.

thesicktimes.org/2025/08/08/b...

‘Black Swan’ graphic designer, Derrick Kardos, dies at 53 due to complications of Long COVID - The Sick Times

Derrick Kardos, an Oscar-nominated graphic designer and Long COVID advocate, died on July 18 at the age of 53 due to complications of Long COVID, his family recently announced.

thesicktimes.org

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 8

The band recorded a new version of the song during the lockdowns of the pandemic, incorporating fans’ footage into the video. youtu.be/v-WqMgD_NFE?...

Marillion - Made Again 2020 - Lockdown Version

YouTube video by marilliononline

youtu.be

Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 8

The album closes with a simply beautiful and optimistic track called Made Again. It was added (as I understand it) to counterbalance the darkness of much of the album. It says something about the kind of hope that can resist the darkness, particularly when practiced collectively.

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 8

Trigger warning: if you listen to Brave, be ready for themes of abuse and suicide. But the album also has moments of real beauty, and the title captures something of its spirit, embodied particularly in the title track itself. And here is that coda that I mentioned above:

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 8

“Stand us in our silly clothes
Put our batteries in
Line us up like fairground ducks
Watch us grin and grin
See the lies behind our eyes
See the will to win
We'll buy you and we'll sell you
But perhaps we'll save your skin…

…We're tin-hard and we rattle when we're shaken”

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 8

“The Hollow Man” is a deceptively gentle contribution to the development of these themes. “I think I have become one of the hollow men, as I shine on the outside more these days.” It is the testimony of someone who has become complicit with the void and contributes to its viciousness. It continues:

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 8

It is a (mostly) bleak album, and it may say something about how I felt in the mid-90s that I listened to it on repeat, but it also expresses constructive anger and develops a perceptive analysis of what is involved in “Living with the Big Lie” (answer: “you get used to it”).

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 8

Brave is a concept album of sorts, but the concept it explores is the mundane structural horror of modern society and what it means to live within it. It is loosely built around the story of an unidentified person found on the Severn bridge, building a narrative of their past and their prospects.

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Grant Macaskill @grantmacaskill.bsky.social · Aug 8

I hope it is okay to share this version of The Hollow Man by @marillion.com The song has been in my head for the last few weeks, triggered by the cynicism of our politics, especially at the international level (but an optimistic coda below). It is from the 1994 album, Brave. youtu.be/t-tXbVLe8-I?...

Marillion - The Hollow Man - Official Music Promo Video

YouTube video by marilliononline

youtu.be

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H-Net Job Guide @h-net-job-guide.bsky.social · Aug 7

New job:

Associate/Full Professor, Endowed Chair in the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Times and Contemporary Media

University of California - San Diego

jobs.h-net.org/jobs/68946

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Adam @abrokenbattery.bsky.social · Aug 7

Edited version of BBC 5 Live’s Nicky Campbell phone-in (53 mins) on the DecodeME results. Professor Chris Ponting explains the findings, and callers share how stigma, misdiagnosis, and severe illness have shaped their lives with #MECFS.

youtu.be/U9mc8lWvF-w?...

5 Live - Nicky Campbell - DecodeME phone in

YouTube video by Broken Battery

youtu.be

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