PAUL BILLINGHAM Magdalen College

Oxford, OX1 4AU

ORCiD profile: 01865 276 015
paul.billingham@magd.ox.ac.uk

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Associate Professor of Political Theory, Department of Politics and International
Relations, University of Oxford, and Official Fellow and Tutor in Politics, Magdalen
College (April 2018 - present)
Junior Research Fellow in Political Philosophy, Christ Church, University of
Oxford (October 2015 - September 2018)

EDUCATION
University of Oxford (St Anne’s College)
DPhil Politics (Political Philosophy), 2015
− Thesis title: Justification to All: Liberalism, Legitimacy, and Theology
− Supervisor: Stuart White
− Examiners: Simon Caney & Cécile Laborde
University of Oxford (Lincoln College)
MPhil Politics: Political Theory, Distinction, 2012
University of Oxford (The Queen’s College)
BA Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, 1st class honours, 2010

PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
1. Does Faith Belong in Politics?: A Debate. Under contract with Routledge, within the
series Little Debates About Big Questions. Debating with Marilie Coetsee.

JOURNAL ARTICLES
1. ‘Religious Political Arguments, Accessibility, and Democratic Deliberation’, Notre
Dame Law Review, 98(4) (forthcoming, July 2023).
2. ‘Can Civic Friendship Ground Public Reason?’, The Philosophical Quarterly, online
first (doi: 10.1093/pq/pqad037). (Co-authored with Anthony Taylor.)
3. ‘Sharing Reasons and Emotions in a Non-Ideal Discursive System’, Politics,
Philosophy & Economics, online first (doi: 10.1177/1470594X231167594).
4. ‘A Framework for Analyzing Public Reason Theories’, European Journal of Political
Theory, 21(4) (2022): 671–691. (Co-authored with Anthony Taylor.)
5. ‘Can Christians Join the Overlapping Consensus? Prospects and Pitfalls for a
Christian Justification of Political Liberalism’, Social Theory and Practice, 47(3)
(2021): 519–547.

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6. ‘Enforcing Social Norms: The Morality of Public Shaming’, European Journal of

Philosophy, 28(4) (2020): 997–1016. (Co-authored with Tom Parr.)
7. ‘Reasonable Disagreement About, and Within, Watson and Hartley’s Political
Liberalism’, Journal of Applied Philosophy, 37(5) (2020): 836–845.
8. ‘Online Public Shaming: Virtues and Vices’, Journal of Social Philosophy, 51(3)
(2020): 371–390. (Co-authored with Tom Parr.)
9. ‘The Scope of Religious Group Autonomy: Varieties of Judicial Examination of
Church Employment Decisions’, Legal Theory, 25(4) (2019): 244–271.
10. ‘State Speech as a Response to Hate Speech: Assessing ‘Transformative Liberalism’’,
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 22(3) (2019): 639–655.
11. ‘State Sovereignty, Associational Interests, and Collective Religious Liberty’, Secular
Studies, 1(1) (2019): 114–127.
12. ‘Consensus, Convergence, Restraint and Religion’, Journal of Moral Philosophy,
15(3) (2018): 345–361.
13. ‘Liberal Perfectionism, Moral Integrity, and Self-Respect’, The American Journal of
Jurisprudence, 63(1) (2018): 63–79. (Co-authored with Anthony Taylor.)
14. ‘Public Reason and Religion: The Theo-Ethical Equilibrium Argument for Restraint’,
Law and Philosophy, 36(6) (2017): 675–705.
15. ‘Convergence Liberalism and the Problem of Disagreement Concerning Public
Justification’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 47(4) (2017): 541–564.
16. ‘Liberal Perfectionism and Quong’s Internal Conception of Political Liberalism’,
Social Theory and Practice, 43(1) (2017): 79–106.
17. ‘How Should Claims for Religious Exemptions be Weighed?’, Oxford Journal of Law
and Religion, 6(1) (2017): 1–23.
18. ‘Can My Religion Influence My Conception of Justice? Political Liberalism and the
Role of Comprehensive Doctrines’, Critical Review of International Social and
Political Philosophy, 20(4) (2017): 403–424.
19. ‘Does Political Community Require Public Reason? On Lister’s Defence of Political
Liberalism’, Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 15(1) (2016): 20–41.
20. ‘Convergence Justifications Within Political Liberalism: A Defence’, Res Publica,
22(2) (2016): 135–153.
− Previously shortlisted for the 2014 Res Publica postgraduate essay prize.

BOOK CHAPTERS
1. ‘Religion, Democratic Deliberation, and the Requirement of Fallibilism’, in James
Dominic Rooney and Patrick Zoll (eds.), Freedom and the Good: Beyond Classical
Liberalism (Routledge, forthcoming).
2. ‘Should We Shame Those Who Ignore Social Distancing Guidelines?’, in Aveek
Bhattacharya and Fay Niker (eds.), Political Philosophy in a Pandemic (Bloomsbury
Academic, 2021), pp. 205–216. (Co-authored with Tom Parr.)

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3. ‘State Responses to Incongruence: Toleration and Transformation’, in Mitja Sardoč

(ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Toleration (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), pp. 229–
247.
4. ‘Shaping Religion: The Limits of Transformative Liberalism’, in Jonathan Seglow and
Andrew Shorten (eds.), Religion and Political Theory: Secularism, Accommodation
and The New Challenges of Religious Diversity (ECPR Press / Rowman & Littlefield
International, 2019), pp. 57–77.
5. ‘Exemptions for Religious Groups and the Problem of Internal Dissent’, in John
Adenitire (ed.), Religious Beliefs and Conscientious Exemptions in a Liberal State
(Hart Publishing, 2019), pp. 51–69.
6. ‘Law, Religion, and Public Reason’, in Russell Sandberg, Norman Doe, Bronach Kane,
and Caroline Roberts (eds.), Research Handbook on Interdisciplinary Approaches to
Law and Religion (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019), pp. 128–148. (Co-authored with
Jonathan Chaplin.)

BOOK REVIEWS
1. ‘Review of Benjamin R. Hertzberg, Chains of Persuasion: A Framework for Religion
in Democracy’, Journal of Moral Philosophy, 18(5) (2021): 537–541.
2. ‘Review of Christine Sypnowich, Equality Renewed: Justice, Flourishing and the
Egalitarian Ideal’, Ethics, 129(1) (2018): 144–149.

INTRODUCTIONS TO JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES

1. ‘Introduction to the Special Issue on Religious Diversity, Political Theory, and
Theology: Public Reason and Christian Theology’, Social Theory and Practice 47(3)
(2021): 451–456. (Co-authored with Jonathan Chaplin.)
2. ‘Introduction: Diverse Religious Responses to Pluralism’, Political Theology, 21(4)
(2020): 279–283. (Co-authored with Jonathan Chaplin.)
3. ‘Introduction: Hate, Offence and Free Speech in a Changing World’, Ethical Theory
and Moral Practice, 22(3) (2019): 531–537. (Co-authored with Matteo Bonotti.)
4. ‘Introduction to the Symposium on Matthew Kramer’s Liberalism with Excellence’,
The American Journal of Jurisprudence, 63(1) (2018): 1–7. (Co-authored with
Anthony Taylor.)

BLOG POSTS
1. ‘A Sackable Offence? Employers’ Responses to Public Shaming’, The Ethical War
Blog, 9th July 2020. (Co-authored with Tom Parr.)
2. ‘Should We Shame Those Who Ignore Social Distancing Guidelines?’, Justice
Everywhere: A blog about philosophy in public affairs, 13th April 2020. (Co-
authored with Tom Parr.)

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PRESENTATIONS (SINCE 2017)

‘Corporate Corporate Religious Liberty’, Freedom, Equality, and Religion conference,
Nuffield College, University of Oxford, June 2023.
‘Subsidiarity, Sphere Sovereignty, and State Sovereignty’, Friday Faith & Politics group,
online, May 2023.
‘Sovereignty, Subsidiarity, and Competence-Competence’, Political Theologies After
Christendom conference, New College, University of Oxford, March 2023.
‘Online Public Shaming and the Case for Regulating Social Media Platforms’,
Interdisciplinary Conference on Social Norms, Nuffield College, University of Oxford,
March 2023 (co-presented with Tom Parr).
‘Corporate Religious Liberty, For-Profit Businesses, and Group Action’, Colloquium on
Corporate Personhood in Law and Christian Theology, Pusey House, Oxford, February
2023.
‘Religious Political Arguments, Accessibility, and Democratic Deliberation’, Symposium
on Liberalism, Christianity, and the Constitution, University of Notre Dame, November
2022.
‘Defending the Place of Religion in Democratic Discourse’.
− The Future of European Religion-State Regimes conference, Wesley House,
Cambridge, November 2022
− United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, April 2022.
− Canterbury Institute, Oxford, January 2022 (manuscript workshop).
‘The Morality of Public Shaming’, Freedom of Expression summer school, University of
Warsaw, Poland, July 2022 (co-presented with Tom Parr).
‘The Scope of Religious Group Autonomy’, Discrimination By/Against Religion
conference, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, June 2022.
‘Comments on A Perfectionist Theory of Justice, by Collis Tahzib’, Political Theory
Workshop, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, January 2021.
‘Comments on Democratic Speech in Divided Times, by Maxime Lepoutre’, Political
Theory Workshop, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, October 2020.
‘Comments on Equal Citizenship and Public Reason: A Feminist Political Liberalism, by
Lori Watson and Christie Hartley’, PPE Society Third Annual Meeting, New Orleans,
March 2019.
‘How (Not) to Think About Public Reason’ (co-presented with Anthony Taylor).
− ‘Themes from the Political Philosophy of Gerald Gaus’ Workshop, Nuffield College,
University of Oxford, March 2019.
− Centre for the Study of Social Justice, University of Oxford, February 2019.
‘The Scope of Religious Group Autonomy: Varieties of Judicial Examination of Church
Employment Decisions’.
− Cambridge Forum for Legal and Political Philosophy Public Lecture, University of
Cambridge, February 2019.

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− ‘A Tolerant Society?’ Workshop, Morrell Centre for Toleration, University of York,

September 2018.
− MANCEPT Workshop on Religion in Liberal Politics, University of Manchester,
September 2018.
− Association for Social and Political Philosophy Annual Conference, LUISS Guido
Carli / Sapienza University of Rome, June 2018.
‘Laborde on Collective Religious Liberty’, Symposium on Liberalism’s Religion by Cécile
Laborde, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, May 2018.
‘Shaping Religion: Assessing ‘Transformative Liberalism’’.
− Association for Social and Political Philosophy Annual Conference, University of
Sheffield, June 2017.
− Workshop on Religion and Public Life, European Consortium for Political Research
Joint Sessions of Workshops, University of Nottingham, April 2017.
‘Kramer on Edification and Primary Goods’, Symposium on Liberalism with Perfection
by Matthew Kramer, Christ Church, University of Oxford, June 2017 (co-presented with
Anthony Taylor).

AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Shortlisted for the 2016 Oxford University Student Union teaching award for
‘Outstanding Tutor, Social Sciences Division’.
Awarded first prize in the 2016 Robert Davies Memorial Essay Contest, an annual
competition run by the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, for a co-authored essay
entitled ‘The Democratisation of Accountability in the Digital Age: Promise and Pitfalls’.
Arts and Humanities Research Council Studentship – full DPhil funding (2012-14).
University of Oxford Vice-Chancellors’ Fund and Andrew Smith Memorial Foundation
grants (June 2014).
University of Oxford Department of Politics and International Relations Studentship
(2014-15).
Arts and Humanities Research Council Studentship – full MPhil funding (2010-12).
Achieved the highest thesis mark (81) in Oxford’s MPhil in Politics in 2012, and the
highest mark in both second year papers taken.
Achieved one of the top 10 highest marks in PPE finals examination in 2010 (out of 238
students), with an average mark of 75.
Gibbs Prize in Politics, for achieving the highest mark in undergraduate politics exams,
and John Hicks Foundation Prize, for achieving the highest mark in undergraduate
macroeconomics (2010).
Michel Studentship and Alan Webster Prize, The Queen’s College, Oxford (2008-10).

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TEACHING
Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
− Awarded in March 2014, based on completion of the ‘Developing Learning and
Teaching’ programme run by the Oxford Learning Institute.
Associate Professor of Political Theory (2018-)
− Introduction to the Theory of Politics (undergraduate first year paper; tutorials and
revision classes; examining).
− Theory of Politics (undergraduate finals paper; course convenor; lectures, tutorials,
and revision classes; examining).
− Advanced Paper in Theories of Justice (undergraduate finals paper; course convenor;
lectures and tutorials; examining).
− Reasonable Disagreement & Political Argument (MPhil optional paper; course
convenor; seminars and revision classes; examining).
− Theory of Politics core course for MPhil in Politics: Political Theory (seminars).
− Supervision of students on the MPhil in Politics: Political Theory.
− DPhil supervision and examining.
− Marking undergraduate and MPhil theses and exams.
− Undergraduate admissions for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and History and
Politics at Magdalen.
− Graduate admissions for DPIR for the MSc, MPhil, and DPhil programmes.
College Lecturer in Political Theory, Christ Church, Oxford (2015-18)
Seminar Leader in Political Philosophy, Blavatnik School of Government,
Oxford (2015-16)
− Shortlisted for the 2016 Oxford University Student Union ‘Outstanding Tutor’ award.
Career Development Lecturer in Political Theory, Trinity College, Oxford
(2014-15)
College Lecturer in Political Theory, Queen’s College, Oxford (2011-15)

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Editor of Online Resource Centre of widely used textbook, Issues in Political Theory (4th
edition, Oxford University Press, 2019).
Referee for American Political Science Review; Analysis; Australasian Journal of
Philosophy; British Journal of Political Science; Canadian Journal of Philosophy;
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy; Erkenntnis; Ethical
Theory and Moral Practice; European Journal of Philosophy; European Journal of
Political Theory; Hart Publishing; Journal of Applied Philosophy; Journal of Ethics and
Social Philosophy; Journal of Social Philosophy; Moral Philosophy and Politics; Noûs;
Pacific Philosophical Quarterly; Philosophy & Social Criticism; Polish Political Science
Yearbook; Politics, Philosophy & Economics; Politics and Religion; Polity; Religious
Studies; Res Publica; Routledge books; Social Philosophy Today; Social Theory and
Practice; Studies in Christian Ethics; The Journal of Political Philosophy; The Journal of

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Politics; The Journal of Value Inquiry; The Philosophical Quarterly; The Review of
Politics; The Southern Journal of Philosophy; Utilitas.
Editor or co-editor of five journal special issues and book symposia, in Social Theory and
Practice (2021), Journal of Applied Philosophy (2020), Political Theology (2020),
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice (2019), and The American Journal of Jurisprudence
(2018).
Co-director of The Centre for the Study of Social Justice, University of Oxford (2022-).
Harassment Advisor, Department for Politics and International Relations, University of
Oxford (2023-).
Academic Policy Committee, Magdalen College (2019-).
Widening Participation Fellow, Magdalen College (2023-).
Conferences/workshops (co-)organised:
− Workshop on ‘Themes from the Political Philosophy of Gerald Gaus’ (March 2019).
− Workshop on ‘Religious Diversity, Political Theory, and Theology’ at a conference
on Public Life and Religious Diversity (University of Oxford, September 2017).
− Symposium on Liberalism with Excellence by Matthew Kramer (June 2017).
o Secured funding totalling £7,850 for this event, from the Society for Applied
Philosophy; Christ Church, Oxford; the Cambridge Forum for Legal and
Political Philosophy; The Mind Association; and Oxford’s Department of
Politics and International Relations.
− Oxford Political Theory Research Seminar, Hilary (Spring) Term 2017.
− MANCEPT Workshop on Theories of Public Reason (September 2015 & 2016).