Dr William Wood

Fellow and Tutor in Theology

Dr William Wood (MA, Ph.D)

I oversee the teaching and admission of theology undergraduates at Oriel, where I teach a wide variety of papers in historical and contemporary theology and philosophy of religion.  I currently have three active research projects.  I am writing a book for Oxford University Press called Blaise Pascal on Sin, Duplicity, and the Fall: The Secret Instinct. This work is part of a broader interest in philosophical and theological accounts of sin and self-deception in the Augustinian tradition.  As a corollary to that project, I am also trying to develop an account of what it means to say that God is truth, drawing especially on medieval figures like Anselm and Aquinas. I also have research interests in the relationship between philosophy, theology, and the study of religion. I have just begun a three-year project that will compare the methods and norms of analytic philosophical theology with the methods and norms of the academic discipline of religious studies. For links to some of my published papers and works in progress, please see my research page.

I am originally from the United States. Before coming to Oriel, I received a PhD in theology from the University of Chicago in 2007 and spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. 

Email: william.wood@oriel.ox.ac.uk