Stephen Torr

I am currently doing PhD research at the University of Birmingham. My subject area is a critical evaluation of Pentecostal/Charismatic approaches to healing/suffering. My work will combine Practical Theology with Philosophical Theology. On the practical front my research will take a phenomenological hermeneutical approach as I carry out practical research on approaches to suffering found in a particular congregation and the epistemology/ies and ontology/ies that underpin those approaches. On the philosophical front it is my intention to place my findings in critical dialogue with Radical Orthodoxy and other postmodern philosophies and theologies in order to examine how these approaches may challenge and change the approaches uncovered in the practical research. The general aim of this is to examine whether a more authentically Christian approach to healing/suffering can be created in the light of this research and dialogue and question how this may be applied to the congregation researched and the wider Pentecostal/Charismatic community.