Speaker: Dr Steve Knowles

Title of the talk:” The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church: In the World but not of the World.”

Date: Friday, 17 May 2024

Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm

Bio: Dr Knowles is a Senior Lecturer in Religion and Popular Culture at the University of Chester, where he has worked for 14 years. He is currently undertaking research on the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (Exclusive Brethren). His other research interests include examining the interface between religion and popular culture with a specific focus upon contemporary apocalyptic beliefs. Related to this is an interest in the correlation between notions of risk in contemporary Western society and apocalyptic ideologies. 

In this plenary presentation, Dr Knowls will think through some of the challenges of researching a closed community: the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. He will focus on complex questions of positionality, inter-personal relationships, and communication with the field and consider the ethical implications for researching a group who are averse to engaging with outsiders due to misinformation. Indeed, for those in wider society who have heard of the PBCC it is usually in the form of negative publicity. Dr Knowls will dispel some of the myths around this group whilst providing insight into the exclusive nature of the community and the reasons for it.