Dr Matthew Kirkpatrick

Tutorial Fellow in Ethics and Doctrine, Tutor for Graduates and Dean of Degrees

MA, MSt, D.Phil (Oxon)

Before joining Wycliffe Hall, Matthew studied theology and then ethics at the University of Oxford, before completing a D.Phil. analysing the thought of Søren Kierkegaard and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

He teaches a wide range of subjects for the University of Oxford across ethics, Christian doctrine, historical theology, and philosophy, for both undergraduate and graduate programmes. His wide interests include particular attention to the interplay of existentialism and Christianity, the theology of death and the interplay between theology and psychology, and the wider thought of Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer. He welcomes applications for those wishing to study for the DPhil in the areas related to his own research.

Classes Taught

For the Oxford BA:

Christian Moral Reasoning
Key Themes in Systematic Theology
Themes in 19th Century Theology and Religion
Further Studies in New Testament and Christian Origins: Kierkegaard
Further Studies in New Testament and Christian Origins: Bonhoeffer

For the BTh:

Introduction to Christian Doctrine
Introduction to Christian Ethics
Issues in Christian Doctrine
Special Theologian

Research Interests

Doctrine
Ethics
The interface of theology and psychology
The theology of death and dying
Søren Kierkegaard
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Martin Buber
Dialogical theology and philosophy
Existentialism
The theology and ethics of children

Publications

Books

2024. Bonhoeffer for the Church: An Introduction. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
2016. How to Live a Good Death. Cambridge: Grove Books.
2016. Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Impact and Influence of Bonhoeffer’s Life and Thought. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
2013. Søren Kierkegaard. Cambridge: Grove Books.
2011. Attacks on Christendom in a World Come of Age: Kierkegaard, Bonhoeffer, and the question of “Religionless Christianity”. Princeton Theological Monographs. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.
2011. Bonhoeffer’s Ethics: Between Pacifism and Assassination. Cambridge: Grove Books.

Articles and Chapters

2022. ‘On Love, Teaching, and Forgetting.’ In Kierkegaardian Essays: A Festschrift in Honour of George Pattison. Edited by Clare Carlisle and Steven Shakespeare. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH.
2020. ‘Creating Children: Parenthood and the Challenge of Kierkegaard’s Understanding of Community.’ In Taking Kierkegaard Personally: First Person Responses. Edited by Jamie Lorentzen and Gordon Marino. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.
2020. ‘Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In Defence of Christian Witness.’ In The History of Apologetics: A Biographical and Methodological Introduction. Edited by Benjamin K. Forrest, Joshua D. Chatraw, and Alister McGrath. Zondervan Academic.
2019. ‘Kierkegaard on the Church.’ In The T&T Clark Companion to the Theology of Kierkegaard. Edited by David Gouwens and Aaron Edwards. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.
2019. ‘Sources and Texts.’ In The Oxford Handbook to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Edited by Michael Mawson and Philip Ziegler. Oxford: OUP.
2019. ‘Bonhoeffer’s Failures: The Transformation of Power and Success through the Failure of Christ on the Cross.’ In Theologies of Failure. Edited by Roberto Sirvent and Duncan Reyburn. Macmillan Palgrave.
2018. ‘Sociological Categories and the Journey to Selfhood: From the Crowd to Community.’ In Kierkegaard and Political Thought. Edited by Roberto Sirvent and Silas Morgan. Eugene, OR: Pickwick.
2016. ‘Situations, Context, and Responsibility: Bonhoeffer’s Ethics in the Thought of Joseph Fletcher, Paul Lehamnm, and H. Richard Niebuhr,’ in Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Impact and Influence of Bonhoeffer’s Life and Thought. Edited by Matthew D. Kirkpatrick. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
2016. ‘Bonhoeffer and Liberation Theology,’ with Geffrey B. Kelly, in Engaging Bonhoeffer: The Impact and Influence of Bonhoeffer’s Life and Thought. Edited by Matthew D. Kirkpatrick. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
2013. ‘Bonhoeffer, Kierkegaard, and the Teleological Suspension of the Ethical: The Beginning or End of Ethics?’ in Ontology and Ethics: Bonhoeffer and Contemporary Scholarship. Edited by Adam Clark and Michael Mawson. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.