Christopher Watkin
Associate Professor, French Studies, at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Biography
Chris has written extensively on modern and contemporary European thought, atheism, and the relationship between the Bible and philosophy. He believes passionately in bringing the Bible into conversation with modern and contemporary secular thought, under the banner of audi alteram partem (listen to the other side). His books on the relationship between the Bible and philosophy include "Biblical Critical Theory" (2021), "Thinking Through Creation: Genesis 1 and 2 as Tools of Cultural Critique" (2017), and volumes on Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze in the P&R ‘Great Thinkers’ series. Chris also curates thinkingthroughthebible.com, a site with resources, seminars and book excerpts aimed at helping Christian university students and faculty to think biblically about life and work. The site is guided by the principle that a full-orbed contemporary articulation of Christianity must not only explain the Bible to the culture. It must also explain the culture through the Bible. Chris blogs about philosophy and academic research work at christopherwatkin.com. You can find him on Twitter @DrChrisWatkin and on Bluesky @drchriswatkin.bsky.social
Academic biography
https://christopherwatkin.com/about/https://thinkingthroughthebible.com
Research topics
Western Modernity and the Social Contract. My book "The State of Nature and the Shaping of Modernity" (2025) explores how the state of nature motif sits at the heart of a fractured and contentious West. I am currently researching a second volume in the series, on the notion of the common good in modernity.
Theology and contemporary social theory. In "Biblical Critical Theory" I set out an agenda for biblically-informed contemporary cultural theory. I am currently working on a follow-up volume that addresses the problems of the meaning crisis and the culture wars.