Staff profile

After first studying History at Cambridge I completed a PGCE and was a History teacher and then Head of History in two London secondary schools. I subsequently completed an MA in Systematic Theology at King’s College London, and then in 2012 returned to Cambridge for doctoral study and to train for ordination. My PhD, AHRC-funded, was supervised by Sarah Coakley. This was published by Oxford University Press in 2020 as John of the Cross: Desire, Transformation and Selfhood; it is a study of the central role of desire in the poetry and prose writings of this sixteenth-century Discalced Carmelite friar.

I am also an ordained priest in the Church of England, and my pastoral and ministerial experience underpins, and continues to nourish, my academic interests. Before arriving in Durham I served for eight years as an ordained priest in the Church of England – first in Borough in south London, and subsequently in Chelsea in west London. In the latter role I was Associate Vicar in a busy and prominent two-church parish with 500 members; in addition to the work of Sunday services, baptisms, weddings, and funerals, I oversaw the Foodbank, parish communications, the church’s ministry to children (over 100 attended church each week), launched a new children’s choir, and oversaw academic achievement and pastoral care in a local secondary school in my role as a Governor there. I also taught theology at nearby St Augustine’s Theological College at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. From 2022-2025 I was a Trinity Leadership Fellow with Trinity Church Wall Street, in New York City. My role in Durham combines a research fellowship in the Department of Theology and Religion with responsibilities at University College for leading worship in the college chapels there alongside work in Student Support more broadly. 

I continue to develop my research interests in spiritual and mystical theology, and in 2025-26 will lead an undergraduate research module on emotion in medieval mystical theology. I am also currently under contract for two books in slightly different subject areas.

The first book, Nourishing Prayer, is an introduction to the rites for Holy Communion in the Church of England from a devotional perspective, a significant development of a video I made on the subject which has received 10,000 views. (I also in 2024-25 led the MA module on Anglican Theology.)

The second book, Power and Privilege, is an edited volume with contributions from many members of the Department. This originated as a sermon series at University College evensong. Each chapter explores how a specific biblical figure handled the responsibilities of power, and the implications of the story for the Church today.

I am also a University Liaison Officer for Cranmer Hall and Lindisfarne theological colleges as part of the Common Awards programme, and chair the DThM Programme Board.

• Spiritual and Mystical Theology
• Theologies of Desire, Experience and Emotion
• Anglican Theology

Authored book

• John of the Cross: Desire, Transformation, and Selfhood
  
  Hole, S. (2020). John of the Cross: Desire, Transformation, and Selfhood. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198863069.001.0001
• Nourishing Prayer: A Handbook to Holy Communion
  
  Hole, S. (n.d.). Nourishing Prayer: A Handbook to Holy Communion [Contracted by publisher]. Canterbury Press.

Chapter in book

• The influence of Thomas Aquinas on John of the Cross
  
  Hole, S. (2024). The influence of Thomas Aquinas on John of the Cross. In E. Howells & P. Tyler (Eds.), John of the Cross: Carmel, Desire and Transformation. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003308713-16
• Epilogue
  
  Hole, S. (2024). Epilogue. In E. Howells & P. Tyler (Eds.), John of the Cross: Carmel, Desire and Transformation. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003308713-27

Edited book

• Profiles in Power and Privilege: reckoning with scriptural stories for everyday life
  
  Hole, S. (n.d.). Profiles in Power and Privilege: reckoning with scriptural stories for everyday life [Contracted by publisher]. BRF.

Journal Article

• “In the midst of life we are in death”: Christian perspectives on the meaning of death and life in the assisted dying debate
  
  Hole, S. (2024). “In the midst of life we are in death”: Christian perspectives on the meaning of death and life in the assisted dying debate. Challenging Religious Issues, 21, 28-33.