Dr Méadhbh McIvor publishes book on religious activism

Congratulations to new Pembroke Junior Research Fellow Dr Méadhbh McIvor on the publication of her first book, Representing God: Christian Legal Activism in Contemporary England.

Drawing on almost two years of fieldwork carried out during her doctoral studies at the London School of Economics, Representing God analyses the changing place of “public” Christianity in England through the rise of Christian legal activism, arguing that this activism simultaneously responds to and constitutes the religious life of a nation. The book was published by Princeton University Press in October.

Méadhbh joined Pembroke this year as a Junior Research Fellow in Religions and the Frontier Challenges, an interdisciplinary research unit established in 2019 to explore the role of religion in the contemporary world. Here she will continue her research on religious activism with a project titled “Water in the Desert: ‘Liberal’ Religious Freedom and Humanitarian Activism on the Mexico-US Border.”

Discussing the publication of her book and her recent arrival at Pembroke, Méadhbh commented: “It’s very exciting to see Representing God published just as I join Pembroke, as my JRF research builds on my previous work in important ways. While my first project looked at conservative religious activism in a nation which maintains an established Christian church, my new focus is on the relationship between political activism and progressive politics in the ostensibly disestablished United States.

Pembroke is a wonderful place from which to conduct this research, and I’m looking forward to collaborating with my colleagues on the Religion and the Frontier Challenges programme and throughout the College more broadly.”

Pembroke tutorial fellow in Theology and Religion, Justin Jones, adds "Méadhbh will be an asset to The Religion and the Frontier Challenges programme. Not only has she just published an excellent first book on religious activism, but her next project – concerning religious activist organisation and litigation on the US-Mexico border – could hardly be more timely. We look forward to seeing her work develop."