Rachel Muers --- Smith Lecture Autumn 2023 A Systematics of One's Own: Reflections on a Search For Foremothers In Systematic Theology

Each semester, an outstanding female scholar from any sub-discipline of Divinity is invited to St Andrews to deliver the Smith Lecture in memory of Agnes Lewis and Margaret Dunlop (both née Smith), twin sisters from Ayrshire, whose contribution to Divinity led to the award of honorary doctorates in 1901 by the University.

A Smith Lecturer addresses a wide-ranging audience of undergraduates, postgraduates and staff and also meets informally with female students who might be interested in pursuing an academic career in the discipline.

Rachel Muers joined the University of Edinburgh in 2022, as the first woman to be appointed to the historic Chair of Divinity.

She is a theologian who tries to listen and speak across boundaries – disciplinary, confessional, and institutional. Prof. Muers has worked both on the history of Christian theology (particularly the twentieth century) and on developing new theological responses to urgent questions.

Prof. Muers studied at the University of Cambridge (BA 1997, MPhil 1998, PhD 2002) and was Margaret Smith Research Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge from 2001 to 2003. She was a Lecturer in Theology at the University of Exeter from 2003 to 2007, and then Lecturer and later Senior Lecturer at the University of Leeds from 2007; she was promoted to a personal chair in 2018.

Rachel Muers is a former President of the Society for the Study of Theology and a current member of the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission.

Following the lecture, women scholars will have the opportunity to meet Prof. Muers in an adjacent venue for conversation not only about her lecture but around ways of encouraging and advancing women's careers in the academy.

This event is organised by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion committee of the School of Divinity of the University of St Andrews.