Staff

Dr Bex Lewis

Dr Bex Lewis is a member of the CODEC team, employed 4-days-a-week by St John’s College, University of Durham, as ”Research Fellow in Social Media and Online Learning”, where she is Director of The Big Bible Project, which she first developed in 2010.  She is passionate about helping Christians be a positive presence in the digital world. In July 2011, finished reading the Bible from cover to cover for the first time (took 3 years), and is always looking for new ways to engage with the Bible. She is able to ask daft questions about theology as she has a background in historical communications – she wrote the history for the Keep Calm and Carry On poster, as part of her PhD ‘British Home Front Propaganda Posters of the Second World War’, completed 2004 at the University of Winchester, where she’d done her first degree in History with Education Studies.

Bex has over 15 years of experience in the digital environment, having built her first website in 1997, and undertaken accessibility and usability projects. She, however, is more interested in people/ communication/ popular culture than programming, and therefore was delighted when social media took off, and she is the Director of ‘Digital Fingerprint’, a social media consultancy, whose clients include the Church of England. Bex has spoken at a number of events, including academic conferences, Christian events, on TV and the radio, and is open to invitations. She is currently working on her first book for Lion Hudson, a digital literacy text for parents in the digital age, whilst preparing her PhD for publication, and preparing research on online community and the ‘reality’ of relationships.

As well as a ‘digital resident’, Bex is a polymath, which means that she has multiple interests.  She has promoted interdisciplinary research, undertaken the LICC Toolbox course, and written for Damaris Culturewatch. After 7 months travelling around the world (Asia, Australasia, South America), she worked a summer season as a Tour Leader with Oak Hall Expeditions in 2008. She gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Teaching Academy in 2011, whilst in her role as Lecturer/ ’Technology Enhanced Learning Fellow’ at the University of Winchester, to which she was promoted to Senior Fellow in 2012. She is continuing a JISC-funded project she commenced whilst at Winchester, working on a digital literacy project with the Organisational Development in HE Group through ’til Summer 2013.

Bex can generally be found working on The Big Bible Project Monday-Thursday at St John’s College, at the Premier Radio offices in Pimlico when in London, and at various meetings, conferences and Tweetups around the country.

Thanks to The Jerusalem Trust who have under-written the majority of Bex’s role until July 2015.

Email ; Twitter ; Blog; Facebook; Academia.Edu; LinkedIn; Slideshare; Google +; Audioboo; Flickr; Pinterest; Digg; Delicious; YouTube; Entries on BigBible

Revd. Dr Pete Phillips

Revd. Dr Pete Phillips is Director, Centre for Biblical Literacy and Communication, part of CODEC, based at the University of Durham, and Bex’s line manager. His interests according to Twitter include “living in digital age, digi-discipleship, media/arts, literary theory, postmodernism, Church, Bible”

Pete has a background in Classics and Biblical Studies, and is also a Methodist Minister.  Having served in a Methodist Circuit in the Midlands, Pete was New Testament Tutor at Cliff College for thirteen years, also working on his PhD on the Prologue of John’s Gospel from Sheffield University which he gained in 2004. During his time at Cliff, Pete also gained considerable experience in academic administration, focussing especially on links between Cliff and its validating universities. In 2006, Pete gained a MEd in Teaching and Learning for Higher Education and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Teaching Academy in 2007.

Pete’s research areas include Johannine Literature and he co-chairs the Johannine Literature section of the British New Testament Conference. Pete has also given papers at international conferences on John’s Gospel and on postmodern interpretation. Another key research area is in Theology and Contemporary Culture and Pete is now exploring how this can be fused with an exploration of Biblical Literacy in a globalised environment increasingly denuded of its cultural heritage.

Pete now serves Director of Research for the new Centre for Biblical Literacy, which is seeking to map out the terrain for this merging field of enquiry. Passionate about mission, the Bible and teaching, his interests also include postmodernism, theology and arts, film and football.  Pete has spoken at a number of Christian festivals including Spring Harvest (Main Event and Le Pas Opton), Summer Fire and Easter People and is open to invitations.

Pete can usually be found in Durham, but, as those who follow on Twitter will be aware, spends significant amounts of time on the train/in London.

Email, Twitter, Facebook; Google +; Posterous; Entries on BigBible 

Andy Byers

Andy Byers and his family moved to Durham from the US in 2011 in order for Andy to begin a PhD program in New Testament.  Andy writes regularly for the Big Bible blog as its theological consultant. Andy served in pastoral ministry for ten years prior to their move, and it is out of that experience that he entered into writing—both book projects he has undertaken have developed out of a handful of sermons preached during his time as a minister to university students. The first book is on cynicism within the church and disillusionment with God.

The book project now underway is on media theology.  Observing the powerful influence of media and media technology on the lives of the students under his pastoral care, he decided that the issue had to be tackled theologically and homiletically.  He kept wondering and praying, Surely there is a theology of media, right Lord…?  After working through that sermon series, he was gripped by a vision for framing the church’s use and understanding of media within the biblical story and within the vision of the Gospel.

Other

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