Revd Dr Catrin Harland-Davies

After training for presbyteral ministry at Wesley House, Cambridge, I ministered for 5 years in West Sussex, followed by 10 years as a chaplain to the University of Sheffield, before coming to Queen’s. Alongside this ministry, I studied for my PhD in New Testament studies, looking at the use of the image of ‘priesthood’ as an identity-shaping concept for the early church.

Qualifications

1999	BA (Law)	Oxford University
2003	BA (Theology & Religious Studies)	Cambridge University
2013	PhD	Cambridge University

Roles and Responsibilities

As the Director of Methodist Formation, I have particular lead responsibility for how the training at Queen’s relates to the needs and requirements of the Methodist Church in Britain. I serve on the Queen’s Leadership Team.

External roles and responsibilities

Prior to coming to Queen’s as a tutor, I served for six years on the Oversight Committee for the Queen’s Connexional Course. I have also served on and chaired the MHEC executive, a group which supports and represents Methodist Higher Education Chaplains, and the Board of Studies for Worship: Leading and Preaching, the course of study for those training as lay preachers and worship leaders in the Methodist Church. I am currently a member of the Methodist Church’s Faith and Order Committee, and a trustee for the Fernley Hartley Trust, which aims to encourage Methodist theological study, by organising an annual lecture.

Research interests and supervision

My main area of interest focuses around the development of the ecclesiology and patterns of ministry in the early church. My doctoral research considered the use of the metaphor of ‘priesthood’ or ‘priests’, as applied particularly to the early Christian communities of Asia Minor (1 Peter and Revelation). I continue to be interested particularly in the Catholic Epistles, the use of priestly and temple imagery, and the ways in which Jewish imagery and scripture was understood within gentile Christian congregations. I am also interested in Acts and the Pastoral Epistles, particularly as sources for the development of structure and ministry within first century Christianity.

This sits alongside an interest in the ways in which ministry, leadership and oversight are viewed and exercised in contemporary Methodism, and in particular the ways in which these can constrain or liberate the Church’s mission, and enable or disable the discernment, nurturing and commissioning of vocation within church communities.

I am interested in supervising in any of these areas.

Publications

‘Diversity, Disagreement and Debate: A theology of impure holiness in the early church and modern Methodism’, Holiness Volume 10 (2025): Issue 2

I have contributed for a number of years to Fresh from the Word (Oxford; Lion Hudson), a book of daily Bible reading notes, published annually by the International Bible Reading Association.