Dr Jessica Eastwood

Teaching Fellow in Philosophy

School of Education, Humanities and Languages

Jessica Eastwood

Role

Jessica is a Teaching Fellow in Philosophy at Oxford Brookes University, where she teaches a diverse range of subjects including Philosophy of Religion, Ethics in the 21st Century, Feminist Philosophy, and Evil in response to Climate Change and Transhumanism. She has been in this role since 2024.

Previously, Jessica was a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Lincoln (2023-2024), where she earned her HEA Fellowship (D2). During her tenure, she convened and lectured on five undergraduate modules, covering ancient Greek philosophy, aesthetics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.

From 2020 to 2023, Jessica led and taught modules in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, including ‘Atheism, Belief and the Edge of Reason’ and ‘Introduction to Christian Theology’. She completed her PhD in Philosophy of Religion at Durham University (2017-2020).

Jessica also holds an MA in Religion from the Paris School of Arts and Culture, University of Kent, and a BA (Hons) Degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the University of Kent.

Teaching and supervision

Courses

Modules taught

  • PHIL5010: Ethics in the 21st Century [team taught]
  • PHIL5006: Philosophy as a Way of Life
  • PHIL5007: Continental Philosophy of Religion
  • PHIL6004: Thinking in Dark Times
  • PHIL4009: Philosophical Voices [team taught]

Research

Jessica's recent publication with Bloomsbury, Transcending Fictionalism: God, Minimalism and Realism (June 2024), explores new, authentic ways of understanding the divine beyond traditional metaphysical ideas. In this book, she examines religious fictionalism, arguing that it resonates both intellectually and emotionally. While highlighting its strengths, Jessica also discusses its limitations compared to the ‘humane turn’. She presents a minimalist religious realism that maintains God’s reality without additional beliefs.

Currently, Jessica is part of the active research group ‘Progressive Christianities’ (2022-2026), which explores the future landscape of religious belief in our contemporary context. Her article, ‘Don Cupitt and the Realism/Non-Realism Debate’, offers an original position on minimalist religious realism and conception of God.

In Jessica's forthcoming chapter for the edited volume Rethinking Atheism with Palgrave (2025), titled ‘Rethinking Atheism: Expanding the Boundaries of Naturalism’, she explores how naturalism has expanded to include moral values as non-reducible to naturalistic terms. Jessica suggests that space can also be made for some conception of divinity. She argues that it is possible to maintain a scientifically rigorous worldview while being a moral realist and accommodating a belief in the divine without reverting to a “spooky” supernaturalistic worldview.

Jessica has published numerous articles in international peer-reviewed journals on these topics, as well as on emotion theory. Additionally, she has presented her research at international conferences.

Publications

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Professional information

Conferences

2024

  • Religion in the Digital Age. Gladstones Library | Funded Research Project ‘Progressive Christianities’

2023

  • Teacher Conference. Durham University | Department of Theology and Religion
  • Atheism and Naturalism. Durham University | Leverhulme Trust Interdisciplinary Workshop

2022

  • Naturalism and Minimalism. Oriel College, Oxford |The European Society for Philosophy of Religion
  • Descartes and Epistemology. Durham University | Academic Taster Session

2021

  • Diversity in Leadership. Durham University | St Chad’s College

2020

  • Nature and Naturalism. Durham University | EDI Committee, Department of Theology and Religion

2019

  • Ontology and Mathematics. University of Leeds | Centre for Philosophy of Religion
  • (Anti-)Realism and Fictionalism. University of Cambridge | International Journal of Philosophy and Theology

2018

  • Fictionalism and Religion. Durham University | St. Hild and St. Bede College Seminar Evening
  • Inter-faith Dialogue. Durham University | Postgraduate Research Activity Panel Pitch