Dr Sarah Lewis BA, MA, PG Cert, PhD

Contact Details

School of Theology, Religious Studies and Islamic Studies
Tel: 01570 424950 (4950)
E-mail: sarah.lewis@trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk

Location

Sheikh Khalifa Building

First Floor

Campus

Lampeter Campus

Job Title

Lecturer in Religious Studies

Role in the University

I lecture at undergraduate and postgraduate level and supervise research in the following areas: New Religious Movements, New Age, Religion in the Contemporary World, Alternative Spiritualities, Secularisation, Study Skills, Sociology of Religion, Psychology of Religion, Nineteenth Century Church History.

I am the Programme Coordinator for the BA on-campus degree scheme, the School Examinations Officer, Web Site Contributor, Unfair Practice Officer and Curator of the Building. 

I am also a member of the Committee of Inquiry of the University.

Background

  • PGCert, “Education Studies”, University of Wales Bangor, 2002.
  • PhD, Religious Studies, "Unificationism, Christianity and the Messianic Claims of Sun Myung Moon", University of Wales Lampeter, 1996.
  • MA, “Church, Religion and Society 1790-1920”, College of St Paul and St Mary, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (now the University of Gloucestershire), 1991.
  • BA (2:1), Religious Studies and English (Combined Honours), College of St Paul and St Mary, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (now the University of Gloucestershire), 1990.

Academic Interests

New Religious Movements

Publications

  • “The Unification Movement: Science, Religion and Absolute Values" in Religion and the Authority of Science, (2010) James Lewis and Olav Hamer eds, Leiden, Brill.
  • Sacred Schisms, How Religions Divide, (2009) edited with James Lewis, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
  • "The Peculiar Sleep: Receiving The Urantia Book" in Sacred Traditions, James R Lewis ed (2008) Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
  • “Emin” in Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities, C Partridge ed (2004) Oxford, Lion Publishing, 404.
  • “Emissaries” in Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities, C Partridge ed (2004) Oxford, Lion Publishing, 330.
  • “Feng Shui” in Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities, C Partridge ed (2004) Oxford, Lion Publishing, 254-255.
  • “The Unification Church” in Encyclopedia of New Religions: New Religious Movements, Sects and Alternative Spiritualities, C Partridge ed (2004), Oxford, Lion Publishing, 71-74.
  • “The Book of Urantia”, in Is the Truth Out There? Studies in Contemporary UFO Religion, (2003) C Partridge ed, London, Routledge, 129-148.

Current Research:

  • A book on the Unification Movement.


Internal Examining:

  • PhD, Nancy Tarr Hart “Beyond the Veil – Unmasking the Feminine”, 2011.
  • PhD, Stuart Heywood, “The Influence of German Romanticism on the Philosophy of Rudolf Steiner”, 2009.
  • PhD, Richard Harvey, “Mapping Messianic Jewish Theology”, 2008.
  • PhD, Valerie Martin, “Liberation Theology and Contextual Biblical Exegesis: An exploration of its relevance to South East Wales with special reference to Torfaen”, 2008.
  • MPhil, Naboth Uzoma Njoku, “The Impact of the Pioneer Christian Missionaries on African Traditional Religion in Nigeria”, 2008.
  • MPhil, Byong-ok Son, “Shamanism in Korean Christianity”, 2007.
  • PhD, Mi Young Park, “Open-ended Marginality, Korea and Korean Women”, 2005.
  • PhD, WJ Walsh, “The Ascension Theology of Joseph Smith”, 2005
  • PhD, David Hannah, “Death and Immortality within the Unificationist Tradition”, 2004
  • MPhil, Sun Jin Park, “Christianity in Korea”, 1999.

 Completed Supervision:

  • PhD, Bryan Allen, “Christian New Religious Movements: evolution or heresy?”, 2009.
  • MPhil, Michael Berman, "The Nature of Shamanism and the Shamanic Story", 2006.
  • PhD, James Perfect, “Modern Magic and Magical Practices”, 2004.
  • PhD, James R Lewis, “The Legitimation of New Religions”, 2003.

 Current Supervision:

  • PhD, “Perception, Persuasion and Communication in New Religious Movements”. 
  • PhD, “Western Notions of Holism”, (with Professor David Cockburn).
  • PhD, 'Guardian Angels: Subjective Experience or Objective Reality?”
  • MPhil, The Sacred and Deconstructed Body’.
  • PhD, “Twentieth century sectarian movements inKorea”.
  • MPhil, “A study of suffering and Korean and Christian attitudes towards it”.

External Examining:

  • MA Religion and Society, Liverpool Hope University, 2010-
  • BA (Hons) Religious Studies/BTh/Combined Honours Theology and Religious Studies/Combined Honours Religion and Culture, University of Chester, 2004 – 2008
  • External adviser for the review and revalidation of Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, 2007
  • MA/Diploma Contemporary Spirituality, University of Chester, 2004 – 2008
  • PhD, Ruth Bradby, “The Book of Miracles”, University of Chester, 2006.
  • PhD, John Selby, “Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy and Esotericism”, University of Exeter, 2008