Prf John Wolffe

Professional biography

I was an undergraduate  and doctoral student at the University of Oxford, then held temporary posts at the University of York for 5 years. I first joined the Open University as an Associate Lecturer in the Yorkshire region in 1990, and joined the full time staff as Lecturer in Religious Studies in 1990. I was promoted Professor of Religious History in 2004. During my years at the OU I have been a member of numerous course teams and have chaired two production mdoule teams in Religious Studies (AA313 Religion in Victorian Britain) and AA307 Religion in History. I have also served two terms as Sub/Associate Dean (Research) in Arts from 1994 to 1997 and from 2007 to 2009. I was Head of Department of Religious Studies from 1998 to 2001 and from 2006 to 2007. Between 2009 and 2011 I led the initial development of the Digital Humanities thematic research network. Following restructuring in 2016 I was appointed Associate Dean (Research Enterprise and Scholarship) in  the much enlarged merged Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and served in that role until March 2021, including overseeing the Faculty's twelve submissions for REF2021. I was also a member of the University Council from 2014 to 2020. Having recently returned to my substantive post as Professor of Religious History, I am looking forward to renewing and expanding collaborative research activity and to contributing further to module development and presentation. 

I was President of the Ecclesiastical History Society in 2013-14 and am currently President of the Religious Archives Group. I was a member of the sub-panel for Theology and Religious Studies for REF2021, having also been a member of that subpanel for REF2014. 

Contact
Prof John Wolffe
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The Open University
Walton Hall
MILTON KEYNES, MK7 6AA

01908-655916

john.wolffe@open.ac.uk

Research interests

My research interests relate to British (and to some extent English-speaking world) religious history since the late 18^th century. More specifically I am interested in anti-Catholicism, evangelicalism, responses to prominent deaths, and other interfaces between religion and nationalism/national identity.

Current projects include: 

• RETOPEA (Religious Toleration and Peace), a major international collaborative project funded by the European Commission under the Horizon2020 progamme http://retopea.eu. I lead the Open University team seeking to develop tools to engage young people with historic experiences of religious toleration and apply  them to their own context. 
• Wilberforce Diaries Project. I am a co-editor on this project led by Prof John Coffey (University of Leicester) producing a scholarly edition to be published by Oxford University Press of the diaries of the iconic slavery abolitionist and religious leader. 

I have previously led the following major projects: 

• Building on History, funded by the AHRC for knowledge exchange/public engagement projects in collaboration with the Anglican Diocese of London and other religious groups in the London area. For further information see www.open.ac.uk/buildingonhistory and www.open.ac.uk/arts/religion-in-london.
• Protestant-Catholic Conflict: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Realities funded by the RCUK Global Uncertainties programme. See http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/raise/knowledge_exchange/briefing_papers/series3/wolffe241013.pdf for a briefing paper prepared for the Northern Ireland Assembly which summarizes some key insights from the project, which are further elaborated in the two volumes published by Palgrace listed below. 
• A Global Uncertainties ‘Leadership Fellowship, entitled Religion, Martyrdom and Global Uncertainties entailing endeavours to take an overview of the interface between ‘religion’ and ‘security’ alongside new research on ideas of martyrdom/sacrificial death, engaging with issues raised by the centenary of the First World War. For outcomes see https://www.paccsresearch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Religion-Security-Global-Uncertainties.pdf and my recently-published book Sacred and Secular Martyrdom in Britain and Ireland since 1914 (London: Bloomsbury, 2020). 

Publications

Other recent publications include:

(with Mark Hutchinson), A Short History of Global Evangelicalism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012)

(edited), Protestant-Catholic Conflict from the Reformation to the Twenty-First Century (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2013).

(edited), Irish Religious Conflict in Comparative Perspective : Catholics, Protestants and Muslims (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2014).

'Plurality in the capital: the Christian response to London's religious minorities', Studies in Church History Vol 51, 2015, pp.232-58

‘A Comparative Historical Categorization of Anti-Catholicism’, Journal of Religious History, Vol 39(2), 2015, pp.182-202.

Towards the post-secular city? London since the 1960s’, Journal of Religious History, Vol 41(4), 2017, pp. 532-49. 

See also Open Research Online for further details of my research publications.