Professor Catherine Pickstock

Catherine is an Official Fellow, and teaches our students Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion. She is Director of Studies in TRPR, and is the Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity (metaphysics and poetics) at the University. 

Biography

Catherine studied English and Divinity at Cambridge, followed by a PhD in the Faculty of Divinity. She followed this with a Research Fellowship at Emmanuel, and held a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship. She started teaching at Cambridge as a University Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion, and then as a Professor of Metaphysics and Poetics. She has been the Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity since 2018.

Teaching

She teaches our undergraduates the first year papers 'Philosophy of Religion and Ethics', and 'Metaphysics' in third year, as well as the 'Messiaen' module as part of the Music course. Catherine also teaches two Joint Tracks, the undergraduate 'Modern Religions' module—with Human, Social and Political Sciences Department—and the MPhil paper 'Gesture, Perception and Event' with the Modern and Medieval Languages Department.

Research

Catherine's current research interests lie at the intersection between metaphysics and poetics. Her most recent book is Aspects of Truth (CUP 2021), and a special issue of Modern Theology, "Metaphysics and Poetics" 40.1 (2024). She is currently writing a book entitled Platonic Poetics.