Zachary Purvis

Dr. Zachary Purvis is a Lecturer in Church History and Postgraduate Supervisor at Edinburgh Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 2021. He holds an MA in Historical Theology from Westminster Seminary California (2000s) and a DPhil from the University of Oxford (2014). His research focuses on the intersection of theology and institutional structures in 19th-century Germany, Reformation-era thought, and modern Protestant intellectual history.

Dr. Purvis has held prestigious postdoctoral fellowships including the Alexander von Humboldt (Göttingen, 2019–21), Kingdon Fellowship (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2018–19), and Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (University of Edinburgh, 2015–18). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has received grants from DAAD and the US Fulbright Program.

His scholarship includes the award-winning monograph Theology and the University in Nineteenth-Century Germany (Oxford, 2016) and peer-reviewed contributions to journals like Church History, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, and Archive for Reformation History. He explores themes such as theological education, confessional identities, and the evolution of modern Christian thought.

• Awards: Ecclesiastical History Society Best Book Prize
• Professional Affiliations: Leibniz-Institute for European History (Mainz), DAAD

Dr. Purvis’s work bridges historical theology with contemporary ecclesial practice. He advises postgraduate students on research methodologies in church history and regularly presents at international conferences.