Friday, August 29, 2008

Tribute to Paul

From the Lancaster Guardian,

"A Lancaster University lecturer has died suddenly during an academic trip to Australia. Religious Studies lecturer Dr Paul Fletcher, 43, died in Sydney and leaves a partner, Deborah, and a baby daughter, May.


Paul had led a very active and committed life. As a young man he served with The Irish Christian Brothers, working in the most deprived inner city areas of Liverpool and in war-torn Liberia. He then trained as a theologian at Durham University before being appointed as lecturer in Christian theology at Lancaster in 1997.


An enquiring and demanding scholar, Paul was also a very popular teacher and supervisor of research students. Director of Undergraduate Studies for Religious Studies, and one-time convenor of its research seminars, Paul also served as a board member of the university's Institute for Advanced Studies.


Steeped in the tradition and theology of the Christian church, he was especially interested in the relationship between religion and politics in modern times. Pursuing that interest in the most collaborative and engaging of ways, Paul rapidly formed a wide alliance of intellectual friends and collaborators across the university from the Faculties of Arts and Social Science to the Management School. Paul's work was inter-disciplinary, and his research took him into many different areas of academic life from modern theology and continental philosophy to popular culture and global politics.


His openness, lively conversation and quick wit earned him many friends among staff and faculty on the campus. Generous with his time and his learning, among his closest collaborators Paul was cherished with the deepest respect and affection.


In addition to his work on Christian theology, he published in political theology, international politics and cultural research. His first publication at Lancaster typically arose out of a collaborative conference on violence and the sacred. He currently has a book, Disciplining the Divine, in press and another, The Messianic, Now, in preparation."
I think about him at least once a day. All of the philosophy that I'm reading and writing about at the moment reminds me of him. We've been told that there will be a memorial service for Paul when the new university term starts in October.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to read about this loss and the others mentioned below.

Rodney

Katharine Sarah Moody said...

Thanks, Rodney. Katharine x

preacherman said...

You are in my thoughts and prayers.
I enjoy reading your blog.
It is inspiring and encouraging.
I pray that God will give the strength and comfort that only God alone can give.
Keep up the great work you do with this blog.
Again, you are in my thoughts and prayers.
If there is anything we can do let us know.

Anonymous said...

Ho Katherine,

you blog has died - are you no longer posting?
I recently reread your summary of weak theology which was great - I now understand it a bit more!! I still hope you are getting plenty of critical distance from Caputo!!!
How is your thesis going - do you have another year?


rodney
(rodneyneill@hotmail.com)

Katharine Sarah Moody said...

Hi Rodney,

No, the blog hasn't died. I've just been hibernating for a while.

Sim and I recently moved to Lichfield where he's started his new job as a secondary school teacher and that has been a little hard for both of us to adjust to. It's hard moving away from our Lancaster friends, and even harder making new ones!

I'm managing to get some reading done, and a little transcribing - although I have a wrist injury. Loosing Paul has also thrown me quite a bit because what I'm working on makes me think about him a lot. He was such a strong support for me.

I'm going to spend at least the next four or five months writing up. I have a very detailed thesis structure so I know exactly where everything is going, but I've still got to write quite a lot of the actual, you know, words!

Anonymous said...

Hi Katherine,

it seems that you have through the mill with difficult personal circumstances in the last few months.

I hope you and Sim settle in Lichfield - it is hard to move away from good friends

all the best with thesis

Rodney

Katharine Sarah Moody said...

See the latest post (thanks for kicking me up the arse every once and a while to get posting again!) for an update on the thesis! Katharine x

DANIEL said...

Hi,

Sorry this comment is so late.

I was a friend of Paul's back in 1995-96 in Durham. We poured over texts together in the union...I remember the laughter and his incredible gift of making others feel at ease.

I was sorry to hear of this.
Daniel McFee
USA

Katharine Sarah Moody said...

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for leaving a comment here about Paul. I know he would have been a really good person to have as a friend. Lots of people at the memorial service expressed how good. He certainly made me feel more confident and capable by believing in me and making me feel at ease.

One of Paul's brothers (Martin Fletcher) is on facebook if you wanted to get in touch with him. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. (At the moment his profile picture is a baby reading the newspaper on the toilet, but he changes it quite often!) Alternatively, feel free to email me at k.moody1 at lancaster.ac.uk and I will pass your email address on to him.

Katharine x