Dr Victoria Turner
Victoria Turner has a PhD in World Christianity from University of Edinburgh, where her thesis research examined how missional theology, impacted by the Global South, influenced the practice of Reformed mission in the UK by focusing on the Iona Community and the Council for World Mission. This also involved engaging with liberation theology as the Iona Community was trying to overcome class divides and the Council for World Mission coloniality. Previously, Victoria earned an MTh with Merit in World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh and a BA (Hons) in Religion and Theology at the University of Bristol. Victoria is co-editor of the International Journal of the Study of the Christian Church with Professor Stephen Burns, and is book reviews editor for the journal Modern Believing.
Victoria’s research interests include World Christianity, ecumenism, youth studies, decolonial and liberation theology, interfaith, mission history and theology, and political and practical theology. She is the editor of Young, Woke and Christian: Words from a Mission (London: SCM Press, 2022) and Emerging, Awake and Connected: Meditations on Justice from a Missing Generation, (SCM Press: 2024) and has co-edited with Ben Adlous, Peniel Rajkumar and Harvey Kwiyani Lived Mission in 21st Century Britain (London: SCM Press, forthcoming October 2024). She has also published peer-reviewed articles in Practical Theology, The Journal of Youth and Theology and Reformed World. Her forthcoming book chapters include ‘Strapping in For the Long Haul: Exploring Youth Work in Working Class Areas Through the Mission of the Iona Community’ in Luke Larner ed., Confounding the Mighty: Stories of Church, Social Class, and Solidarity (London: SCM Press, 2023); ‘A Happy Ecumenical Legacy for the London Missionary Society? Exposing the Coloniality Between Churches Engaged in Mission,’ in Anthony Reddie & Carol Troupe ed., Deconstructing Whiteness, Empire and Mission (London: SCM Press, 2023); and ‘Poverty in Working Classes and Christian Social Movements in Britain’ in D. Hiebert ed., Routledge International Handbook of Sociology and Christianity (Abingdon: Routledge, 2023) and 'Loyalty or Solidarity? Being a Friend to the Church,' in Mona Siddiqui and Nathanel Vette ed, Loyalty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).
Victoria tutored at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Stirling whilst studying for her PhD and is an Associate Fellowship of Advance HE. She also won the World Communion of Reformed Churches Lombard Prize in 2022 for her essay that explored Receptive Ecumenism and its scope for achieving life flourishing. Victoria is a Trustee for Churches Together in England and has spoken at events such as Greenbelt and the World Council of Churches, BBC Scotland and for radio and other forms of media.