Léon Turner
Profile
Having studied psychology as an undergraduate, and the history
and philosophy of science as a graduate student in London, Léon
Turner came up to Cambridge to read for the MPhil degree in
theology at Queens’ College Cambridge. His subsequent doctoral
studies, supervised by Fraser Watts at the Faculty of Divinity,
focused upon the relationship between psychological, sociological
and theological descriptions of self-unity and self-multiplicity.
Léon was awarded an ESSSAT (European Society for the Study of
Science and Theology) prize for this research in 2002 and it was
published by Ashgate in 2008, as
Theology, Psychology and the Plural Self. In 2003 Léon was
elected to a junior research fellowship at Queens’ College, where
he became the first Templeton fellow for science and religion, and
he gained his PhD in 2004. Léon joined the psychology and religion
research group formally in 2006 and continues to research and teach
in Cambridge.
Research interests
Léon’s research interests are focused upon the interaction
between contemporary theology and psychology in the realm of
philosophical anthropology. His doctoral research examined
theological and psychological responses to the age old
philosophical problem of the unity of self, and his subsequent
research has addressed other difficulties with the
conceptualisation of self and personhood in this interdisciplinary
context. An article tackling the thorny problem of relationality in
contemporary theology and psychology will be published in 2008.
Suffusing this broad enterprise is an interest in postmodern
thought in the human sciences (particularly social constructionist
and narrative approaches to understanding human being) and its
implications for the major themes of theological anthropology: the
doctrines of human nature, imago Dei and sin. In addition, Léon is
interested in the dialogue between evolutionary theory, theology
and the study of religion, and sat on the organising committee for
the international conference on Darwinism that took place in
Cambridge in the summer of 2009.
Publications
Turner, L.P. (2007) ‘First Person Plural: Self-Unity and
Self-Multiplicity in Theology’s Dialogue with Psychology.’
Zygon, 42:1, 7-24.
Turner, L.P. (2008)
For We Are Many: Psychology, Theology and the Plural Self.
Aldershot: Ashgate.
Turner, L.P. (2010) ‘Disunity or Disorder? The ‘Problem’ of
Self-Fragmentation,’ in J.W. van Huyssteen, & E.P. Wiebe (eds)
In
Search of Self: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on
Personhood. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans (In Press).
Turner, L.P. (2010) ‘Behind the Mask.’
Edification. (In Press)
