Dr Declan Kelly

Biography

I currently work as a Gifford Post-doc, having joined the faculty in 2025. I am originally from Galway, Ireland, where I first began my theological studies. I then moved to Belfast, where I did both an undergraduate in theology and an MTh. I moved to Aberdeen in 2015 to begin doctoral studies, and completed my dissertation in 2020.

My thesis explored the "three-agent" account of salvation in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics, and was published by T&T Clark in 2022 under the title The Defeat of Satan: Karl Barth's Three-Agent Account of Salvation. I have published several articles on both Karl Barth and apocalyptic theology, and am currently exploring Barth's account of evil in his early sermons and lectures.

I serve as managing editor for the Cambridge Elements in Christian Doctrine, and am also a Fellow in the Karl Barth Translation Seminar at the Centre for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Research Overview

My research interests lie in the field of systematic theology, with particular interest in the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of evil, and the intersection of biblical and systematic theology.