Bethany Sollereder

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Research Fellow

Bethany Sollereder is an Assistant Professor in Science and Religion in the faculty of Theology and Religion as well as the Wills Tutor in Theology at Harris Manchester College. She specialises in theology concerning evolution and the problem of suffering. She has worked in practical theology, looking at how theodicies affect the way people encounter suffering, developing a field she has called “compassionate theodicy”. She is currently working on theological aspects of climate change. Bethany received her PhD in Theology from the University of Exeter and was a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. She is the author of God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering: Theodicy without a Fall (2019) and Why is there Suffering? Pick your own theological expedition (2021) and co-editor of the volumes Emerging Voices in Science and Theology: Contributions by Young Women (2022) and Progress in Theology: Does the Queen of the Sciences Advance? (2025)

Research Interests

  • Theodicy
  • Animal Theology
  • Genesis 1-3
  • Divine Action
  • 19th century History
  • History of Science
  • Practical Theology

Affiliations

  • Senior member, Regent’s Park College, Oxford
  • Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR)
  • American Academy of Religion, Steering Committee for the Open & Relational Theology 
  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)
  • Canadian Scientific & Christian Affiliation (CSCA)
  • Christians in Science UK
  • Science and Religion Forum

 

Publications

  • God, Evolution, and Animal Suffering: Theodicy without a Fall
  • “Exploring Old and New Paths in Theodicy” Zygon (September 2018): 727-738.
  • “On Principles and Standards in Ecological Restoration.” Journal of Ecological Restoration (February 2018): 1-5. Co-Authors: Eric Higgs, Jim Harris, Steve Murphy, Keith Bowers, Richard Hobbs, Willis Jenkins, Jeremy Kidwell, Nik Lopoukhine, Katie Suding, Allen Thompson, and Steve Whisenant.
  • “God and Natural Disasters.” In A Teacher’s Guide to Science and Religion in the Classroom, eds. Berry Billingsley, Manzoorul Abedin and Keith Chappell (London: Routledge, 2018): 105-113.
  • “Evolution, Suffering, and the Creative Love of God,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 68:2 (June 2016): 99-109.
  • “When Humans are Not Unique: Perspectives on Suffering and Redemption,” The Expository Times 127:1 (October 2015): 17-22.
  • “A Modest Objection: Neo-Thomism and God as a Cause Among Causes,” Theology and Science 13:3 (2015): 345-353.
  • “From Survival to Love: Evolution and the Problem of Suffering.” The Christian Century 131:19 (Sep 2014).  Available online at: http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2014-08/survival-love.
  • “The Lions Roar for Prey, Seeking their Food from God’: Divine Action and Evolutionary Suffering.” in Chance or Providence? Religious Perspectives on Divine Action, ed. Louise Hickman.  Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2014): 61-78.
  • “The Purpose of Dinosaurs: Evolutionary Extinction and the Goodness of God.” The Christian Century 130:20 (Oct 2013).  Available online at: http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2013-09/purpose-dinosaurs.
  • “The Darwin-Gray Exchange.” Theology and Science 8 (November, 2010): 417-432.