Interview - 2024:

Post-graduates in Focus Series - Rachel Wilkowski

An interview with Rachel Wilkowski who began the Ph.D. programme in 2021. Pdf of interview available to read here: Ph.D Student in Focus - Rachel Wilkowski

Leszek Lech

My Ph.D. thesis investigates aspects of religious experience in early Christian apocalyptic writings, especially in the Ascension of Isaiah which originates with a Jewish text. This composition is particularly important because it is widely considered to be important for the study of early Jewish and Christian apocalyptic. I am analyzing fragments of the writing that may be expressions of ancient Christians and how they expressed their encounters with the divine. This research is based on the observation that these texts often have as their raison d’être in some religious experience of author and/or of community.

Supervisor: Professor Benjamin Wold

Recently Completed Doctorates

Stephen Huws

PhD Title: The Virgin Mary in the Lucan Corpus: Biblical Reception in Dublin’s Stained Glass, 1850-1931

My thesis looks at the reception of biblical stories featuring the Virgin Mary which are found in the Lucan corpus, that is, the Gospel of Luke and book of Acts of the Apostles. The approach is one of iconography and of reception, looking at how these windows relate to the art history of their respective subjects and how they related to the biblical text, and later textual tradition. The case study covers the period from 1850, when stained glass begins to appear in greater numbers in Ireland up until 1931 and the death of Harry Clarke, one of Ireland’s highest regarded artists. This encompasses significant changes in Irish history, including the disestablishment of the Anglican Church of Ireland, and independence movements resulting in the partition of the island and emergence of an independent state. This study will examine the varying depictions of the Virgin Mary during a period in which the far larger Catholic church rose from poverty to wealth and prominence and many significant Irish artists began and finished their careers. Mary is both a fruitful and highly revealing subject matter for the purpose of this study, given both the prolific depictions of her in Christian art and the diverse choices made in portraying her, which allow us insight into understandings of the Bible and faith of artists, patrons and congregations.

I completed my BA in Film Studies at the University of Kent in 2013 and my MA in Medieval Studies at the University of York in 2019. I am the recipient of the Provost PhD Award from Trinity College. When I’m not working on my PhD I enjoy photography, Gilbert and Sullivan, and cricket.,

Supervisor: Professor David Shepherd