Dr Lois W. McFarland (MA, MScR, PhD, AFHEA)
Lecturer in Religion and Literature
Address
- Street
-
School of Divinity, Mound Place
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH1 2LX
Background
Dr Lois McFarland is a lecturer in Religion and Literature. Her research focuses on biblical re-vision in contemporary speculative fiction, asking how technology, societal change and climate crisis can trouble what it traditionally means to be human. Her work highlights feminist and womanist re-vision and theory, queer theory, postcolonial theory, ecocriticism, and affect theory. She is the co-director of the New College Festival of Books and Belief and current director of the Scottish Network for Religion and Literature.
Monographs and Co-authored Books:
- Creation and Apocalypse in Feminist Speculative Fiction. Bloomsbury Academic, available August 2026. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/creation-and-apocalypse-in-feminist-speculative-fiction-9781350568945/
- The Routledge Introduction to Religion and Literature. Lois McFarland, Linden Bicket and Alison Jack. Routledge, forthcoming.
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles:
- ‘“Lesbians at the End of the World” in Naomi Alderman’s The Future (2023) and Gabrielle Korn’s Yours for the Taking (2023)’, forthcoming Foundation special issue.
- “Suspicion Is More Likely To Keep You Alive Than Trust:” Affective Relationships with the Bible in Octavia Butler’s Parables.” Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, vol. 3, no. 1, 2021, pp. 95–121, https://doi.org/10.17613/f3wp-m042.
Encyclopedia Entries:
- 'Rapture' (Literature). Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. De Gruyter Brill, forthcoming.
- 'Reli-thriller' (Literature and Television). Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. De Gruyter Brill, forthcoming.
Reviews:
- The Hebrew Bible in Contemporary Fiction and Poetry, edited by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer. Routledge, 2025, 378pp. Hardback, £155. ISBN 9781032248356. Literature and Theology, https://doi.org/10.1093/litthe/fraf045.
- Reading as if for Life: Spirituality for Booklovers, by David Dickinson. Lutterworth Press, 2025, £22.50, pp: 155, ISBN: 9780718898175. Expository Times, forthcoming.
Qualifications
PhD in Literature and Religion (2023)
MScR in English Literature (2018)
MA in English Language and Literature (2013)
Responsibilities & affiliations
Director of the Scottish Network for Religion and Literature
Co-Director for the New College Festival of Books and Belief
Undergraduate teaching
Ethical Encounters with the 'Other' In Speculative Fiction
The Bible in Literature
Religion, Violence and Peacebuilding
Religion and Ethics in Literature
Postgraduate teaching
Ethical Encounters with the 'Other' In Speculative Fiction
Science, Religion and Literature
Issues of Religion and Ethics in Literature
AI and Theology
Religion and Literature: Exploring the Connections
Religion and Literature: Approaches to Research
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes