Dr Férdia Stone-Davis
BA (Hons), MPhil, PhD and MMus
DoS for Theology, Religion, and the Philosophy of Religion (Years 1 & 2)
My research interests lie at the intersection of theology, philosophy, and music, focusing on the different ways in which music allows us to “make sense”. I have written about musical beauty as well as the sublime, as well as about musical “worldmaking”. I am currently working on a project “The Epistemic Power of Music”, funded by the FWF, and based at the University of Music and the Performing Arts, Graz. I have a developing interest in music and freedom. In 2025 I will become part of the AHRC-funded 24-month Abolition Song and Its Legacies (ASaiL) Scholar’s Network.
Theology and philosophy of music (systematic and historical), music aesthetics, early music, ethics, philosophy of religion.
I have taught in theology, music and philosophy departments. Most recently, I lectured for the first and second-year ethics courses in the Faculty of Divinity. I supervise for the TRPR tripos for ethics and philosophy of religion papers.
I am committed to thinking across disciplines and facilitating their interaction. I’m currently the chair of the Royal Musical Association Music and Philosophy Study Group, which provides a forum offering opportunities for those interested in music and philosophy to share and discuss their work.
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF P 34449-G) Stand-Alone research grant, The University of Music and the Performing Arts, Graz (current)
- Plater Trust Award, Flourishing Inside: Developing Theological and Ethical Resources for Pastoral Work in Prison, with Dr Elizabeth Phillips
- Research Award, Graduate School of Humanities, The University of Göttingen, Germany
- Visiting Fellowship, Moore Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
- John Clementi Collard Fellow, The Worshipful Company of Musicians, London
- MMus Scholarship, Trinity College of Music, London
- Arts and Humanities Research Board doctoral award
F. J. Stone-Davis, ‘Vivaldi Recomposed: Musical Borrowing, Worldmaking, and Musical Listening’, in Max Richter: History, Memory and Nostalgia, ed. Delphine Vincent, 79–96 (Brepols 2024, forthcoming).
F. J. Stone-Davis, ‘Cultivating Desire and Musical Dwelling’, in Approaching a Sensitive Thinking with Luce Irigaray, eds. Jennifer Carter and Andrea Wheeler (Palgrave MacMillan 2024, forthcoming).
F. J. Stone-Davis, ‘An Adorative Posture towards Music and Spiritual Realities’, in Music and Christian Spirituality: Theological Approaches, Empirical Methods, and Worship Practices, eds. George Corbett and Sarah Moerman (Open Book Publishers 2024).
F. J. Stone-Davis, ‘Call and Response: Negation and the Configuration of Desire’, in Art, Desire, and God: Phenomenological Perspectives, eds. Kevin Grove, Christopher C. Rios, and Taylor J. Nutter, 13–27 (Bloomsbury 2023).
Faculty of Divinity
