Revd Dr Chris Dowd

I grew up in Australia in a socially and theologically conservative community and have been chafing at theological and social straightjackets ever since. I began my career in various organisations as a teacher and in training and development in Australia.

After immigrating to the UK in 1995, I worked for a consulting firm before opening my own in 1998. I provided large scale public consultations and training and development for the public sector until 2008. During this time, I became a self-supporting minister who planted two congregations for Metropolitan Community Churches.

In 2008 I became Free Church Chaplain at Aston University and I transferred denomination to become a minister of Word and Sacrament in the United Reformed Church. In 2015 I took up my first post in Hull.

I live here with my partner Will, our 3 dogs and 2 chickens.

Qualifications

Bachelor of Arts	1988	Macquarie University, New South Wales Australia
Master of Applied Science	1997	University of New South Wales, Australia
Doctor of Contextual Theology	2015	Birmingham University

Roles

• Pioneer  Minister in Metropolitan Community Churches 2003-2013
• Free Church University Chaplain Aston University 2008-2013.
• Minister of Word and Sacrament United Reformed Church 2015-
• Founder and pastoral Leader of Peter’s House Lived Community Hull  2017-
• University Chaplain Hull University 2015-

Research Interests

My research interest can be best described as an intersection between sociology and theology where I investigate the lives of people on the margins of the Church. My theological  framework is informed by Liberation Theology and Indigenous Knowledge.

I conduct interviews and focus groups and use them as material  for theological reflection. The interviewees are active participants in the research and critique the writings that emerge from the process.

Up until now my work has been primarily with the gender variant community but my next project will be engaging with the BDSM, porn producing and polyamorous communities.

Publications

Books

2018 Transfaith Darton Longman + Todd

2019 Making your church trans friendly (working title) Jessica Kingsley (released in November)

Chapters

2016 “5 things cis people don’t know about transfolk because it isn’t on trashy TV-my right of reply” in This is my Body Darton Longman + Todd