Job Titles: DIRECTOR OF LEARNING AND TEACHING DEVELOPMENT: Principal Lecturer in Theology & Pastoral Theology

Departments: Student Learning; Theology, Philosophy & Religious Studies

Extension: 0151 291 3577

E-mail: cheatla@hope.ac.uk

I am proud to be a Northerner, born in Bolton, and completed an Engineering apprenticeship before moving to Denmark and working as a coded welder. I have a great respect for the skilled professions, with the shop floor life leaving a warm and indelible impact. Following a clear call to the ministry, my Danish wife and I moved to theological college on the border of Germany and Switzerland, where I completed a BA in Theology and Religion. I have pastored churches just outside Copenhagen and in Manchester. 

I am an ordained minister in the British Methodist Church and served for seven years as one of the University's senior pastors, having primary managerial responsibility of the chaplaincy team. I preach in local and regional churches and function as a guest preacher across denominational lines. I have a passion for homiletics and preaching, which is my current area of research and which plays into a cross-disciplinary appreciation of Learning and Teaching, particularly oral and public communication. I have had a life long interest in the mid-Twentieth century Methodist preacher W.E. Sangster who I have published regularly on since 2010.

At Liverpool Hope I am course leader of the D.Min and M.Min programmes. I teach courses in Biblical theology, Christian theology, and pastoral theology across all levels, and also contribute to the RS programme.

Before being appointed as Director of Learning and Teaching Development in 2022, I was Assistant Head of Subject for TPRS. My new role (70%) reflects my longstanding commitment to and keen interest in Learning and Teaching and quality assurance. I am an experienced  external examiner both at undergraduate and doctoral level, serving as the external examiner for the D.Min programme at Spurgeon's College and the University of Chester and have examined numerous PhDs. I have lived in three countries and speak fluent Danish and have taught Danish at FE level for many years.

Teaching Specialisms:

Fundamentalist and Evangelical Groups and Movements

Reformation Theology & Methodism

Religious Experience & Spirituality

Sacred Land and Spaces

Preaching/Homiletics

The Bible in Preaching

The Acts of the Apostles

University Roles

Director of Learning and Teaching Development (2022 -)

Research Areas of Interest

Methodism, Homiletics/Preaching, Evangelical sects and movements, Spirituality and Place, Death and the Afterlife

Publications

'W.E. Sangster' Chapter in British Evangelical Theologians of the Twentieth Century (IVP: 2022)

W.E. Sangster, Sermons in America (Wipf & Stock: 2018)

'Reflections on the Creation of a Research Archive on one of the mid-twentieth century's most renowned religious figures,' Fieldwork in Religion (2014)

 'W.E. Sangster: Heir of John Wesley?' Wesley Fellowship Annual Lectures Series (2013)

 'W.E. Sangster and Doctrinal Preaching,' Wesley and Methodist Studies (2012) 

W.E. Sangster: Herald of Holiness (Paternoster 2011)

Recent Academic Conference Papers

'Jesus and the Gathering of the Dead: a re-imagination of Christ’s ministry to the dead ('harrowing of hell.’),' Tyndale Fellowship Annual Conference, 2023