The

Kirby Laing
Centre

for public theology in cambridge

Christian scholarship and public theology, rooted in spirituality and practised in community, for the glory of God and the flourishing of the church and world.

"Christ is the clue to all that is."

Lesslie Newbigin

At KLC, Public Theology means the joyful and rigorous attempt to explore and provide answers to the question how then shall we live? Following Lesslie Newbigin we believe that “Christ is the clue to all that is.” This means pursuing Christ-the-clue in all of life.

As an academic research centre concerned with public theology we seek to do rigorous scholarship across the disciplines addressing the great issues of our day from a Christian view point. We also seek to foster and nurture Christian scholarship that is rooted in spirituality and practised in community, all with Christ-the-clue at its heart.

Scholarship Rooted in Spirituality

KLC seeks to build a nurturing and collaborative community of Christian scholars from across the disciplines by means of:

the Scripture Collective
the KLC Research Hubs
the KLC Fellows
the PhD Programme

Theology & Practice in Community

KLC’s vision of nurturing Christian scholarship rooted in spirituality and practiced in community is expressed in online and in-person events, including:

Webinars and public lectures
The annual summer conference
The annual meal at SBL

Academic & Accessible Resources

We promote deep Christian scholarship and its translation at the most accessible levels. KLC’s publications include:

The Big Picture
Ethics in Conversation
Scripture Collective’s Zondervan series

The Big Picture Magazine

Gerard Manley Hopkins famously wrote: “Christ plays in ten thousand places”. Public theology is of little use if it does not take centre stage in every area of life. The Big Picture is our magazine in which as a community we give expression to our celebration of life and explore the question, how then shall we live? In The Big Picture you will find discussions covering theology, Scripture, economics, food, nature, art, poetry, film, music, sport, medicine, education, spirituality, science, and even motorcycles!

TBP is available for free digital download, and a beautiful print edition is for sale to those in the UK & Europe, USA, and South Africa.

Read & share some of our favourites from this issue

Some of the highlights of Issue 11 have been turned into sharable posts. Share your favourite with your network and introduce The Big Picture to a wider community.