Alumni Answers

In Alumni Answers we want to learn more about our alumni and where life has taken them after graduation - and what better way to feed one’s curiosity than asking questions! In 2021 it was reported the number of school pupils in the UK taking Religious Studies at A-level had risen 6.1%, suggesting that a past decline is now being reversed as young people increasingly recognise the value of this subject. A topic on which we know many of our alumni would have important insight, we asked three alumni to tell us about their time at Oxford and beyond, and to answer the question ‘Why study theology?’

Didi (Ogede) El-Mawas

Didi (Ogede) El-Mawas (Theology, 2009) is Research and Insight Lead at the Chartered Governance Institute for UK and Ireland, where she leads the Business and Market Research Programme providing evidence-based strategic input to develop products and services that connect to market needs and interests within the broader business environment.

How did she find herself an undergraduate at Regent’s studying for a degree in theology? ‘Regent’s was my first choice. To give a bit of background, I found myself really interested in religion and moral philosophy at secondary school, and a good relationship with one of my tutors helped me because he really pushed me even to consider studying theology and philosophy at university. He was the one who told me that it was possible for me, because I had thought Oxford was a bit out of my reach. Through his wife, who had gone to Oxford, he had connections with Regent’s and he told me how great it was for theology so I thought, if I was going to study theology, that was the place to be.’

Despite initial reservations about fitting in at Oxford, she found that the warm and open nature of the Regent’s tutors helped her feel at ease. ‘I sort of had this image of scary Oxford dons, but they were more human and down to earth than I imagined, so that was great. I felt that I could be free to talk with them and share my ideas. I threw myself into everything that was Regent’s - I headed up the College netball and croquet teams. I hadn’t played croquet before, but then found myself captain!’

Of course, Regent’s wasn’t only fun and games, it was also a challenging and exciting academic experience. ‘The benefits of studying theology are immense because it will give you knowledge and understanding of diverse philosophies and beliefs, and of the nature of belief and where that comes from, the different types of religious faiths around the world and how they connect and the common themes that run through them... it helps you understand people because at the heart of every individual is a belief system, whether they have a specific religious belief in a higher power or not. So, it’s understanding that and being able to appreciate people, their faith and the motivation for their actions, which I think are such invaluable skills for life.’

Didi also believes that studying theology has led her to excel in her career. ‘It has really been invaluable for me and my approach to research. I take a human-centred approach that is all about connecting with the customers’ views and instilling that within product development, and that goes back again to what I was saying about theology helping you to understand people, and it’s really important to be able to ask tough questions because that’s where you get the real insight. Being at Regent’s has given me the mindset, the confidence and the ability to be able to do that, and to think beyond the narrow box.’

Dr Bradley Onishi (MPhil Theology, 2005) is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Skidmore College in New York. Together with Regent’s alumnus Dan Miller (DPhil Theology, 2003), he co-hosts Straight White American Jesus (straightwhiteamericanjesus.com), a podcast on religion and politics affiliated with the Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life at University of California, Santa Barbara.

If you expect Brad, a professor of Religious Studies, to have a great pitch for studying theology, then you won’t be disappointed. ‘If you want to teach Religious Education or to be a scholar at the university level, then studying theology is an obvious path. It’s a privilege to think and read books and discuss ideas – that’s a very privileged life, no matter how it plays out. Now, most folks who study theology or religion aren’t going to end up teaching, so why do it? The skills of critical thinking, of analysis, of reading, of looking at systems as a whole and being able to dissect the blind spots and the weak parts of an infrastructure or an approach to a problem, these are things that everyone from Google to your local non-profit value, and a degree in theology trains you to do those things.’

Dr Bradley Onishi

For Brad, theology is a way to study the existential and, for lack of a better word, moral questions that have always plagued him. ‘The questions I address in my work as a theologian were the questions that I myself was asking as a human being, as an individual. Again, this goes back to my pitch for studying theology, you get to engage with questions about what kind of world we want to build and what kind of world we should build, and you can do that in very interdisciplinary ways, in ways that are in conversation with environmental studies or gender studies or so on.’ Looking back, he feels that Regent’s ‘provided a really nice landing spot for me to explore what I thought and what I was going to end up thinking about those things.’

While at Regent’s, Brad’s MPhil research focused heavily on thinking through the theological implications of new information technologies and living in a networked age. Thanks in part to this academic experience, Brad and Regent’s alumnus Dan Miller, now Associate Professor of Religion and Social Thought at Landmark College in Vermont, recognised the impact their podcast on religion and American politics could have. ‘For me, doing the podcast is a matter of getting to reach out to scholars who I might not have spoken to before, reading their books and finding a way for us as a team to communicate the very important insights of their work to people listening who don’t have degrees in theology or aren’t postgraduates in philosophy, and really just need help understanding something as it comes to scripture or ethics or politics. When you can provide some aid in that’, he adds, ‘all the stuff we do as scholars – the reading, the writing, the exams, the Greek translation – comes home to roost.’

The Revd Dr Matthew Tennant is twice an alumnus of the College (MSt Theology, 2007; DPhil Theology, 2008), and now the Senior Minister at University Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Before he was called to Baptist ministry, Matthew’s various job titles included ‘scuba diving instructor in Puerto Rico’! ‘Going back just briefly to the mid-90s, my girlfriend (now my wife) was in another city so I applied for any jobs that would enable me to move and, although I had no particular interest in it, I ended up in a brokerage firm and moved up that corporate trajectory.’ Several years, multiple moves, and even an MBA later, he and his wife moved to Puerto Rico for her work – hence the scuba diving. When his second child was on the way, Matthew decided he wanted to do something in ministry: ‘It was sort of a theological quest to learn more about faith.’

Matthew and his wife attended churches of various denominations, but once he started to asking theological questions, ‘The nature of freedom and the role of freedom in Baptist theology kept me coming back to it.’ He and his family moved to Virginia where he attended the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. ‘It was in seminary that I decided I really wanted to continue to ask some of these questions. One of my professors, Stephen Brachlow (DPhil English, 1974), had studied at Regent’s and suggested I apply, so Regent’s was always my first choice.’ While at Oxford, Matthew lived in College with his wife and two children. ‘We have video of our children learning to ride their bikes in the Quad. Everyone from the Fellows to the undergraduates were just so warm to my children; it was such a friendly context. And the whole academic process of turning over every stone, and having supervisors who pushed but also encouraged, was an amazing experience.’

After only two years at Regent’s, Kilmarnock Baptist Church in Virginia called Matthew to be their pastor so he completed his doctoral thesis longdistance. ‘There were times where it was really hard,’ he admits,’ but I just dug deep and finished writing the darn thing’. In 2017 he moved with his family to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he has since been Senior Minister of the University Baptist Church which has proved to be an incredible match for his interests and skills. Because of his Regent’s DPhil, for example, he has been uniquely placed to facilitate the Richard E. Myers Lecture Series, hosted by the University Baptist Church and published by the University of Virginia Press. He insists, ‘I wouldn’t have been able to go to UVA Press and convince them to let me edit a book series, if it weren’t for my connections from Oxford!’

So, why study theology? For Matthew, whether or not you are called to live a religious life, the answer is simple: ‘Critical thinking. Theology is going to help you develop the critical thinking skills that are transferable to any job or task that you’ll be called upon to do.’

The Revd Dr Matthew Tennant