Professor Wendy Dossett

Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies

+44 (0) 1244 513975
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
w.dossett@chester.ac.uk
Prof Wendy Dossett

My research and knowledge transfer work explores a variety of religious, spiritual and secular responses to anxiety and dislocation associated with modernity, especially in relation to the phenomenon of recovery from addiction. I am also interested in the interface between religion, society and education, and have been an advocate for Religious Education and the study of religion and worldviews at all levels of education. I was secretary of the Shap Working Party and I represented the TRS-UK community on the Religious Education Council of England and Wales.

I am Principal Investigator of The Higher Power Project – a qualitative study of the concepts of Higher Power used by people in recovery from addiction through Twelve Step Programmes. I’m an activist in the Visible Recovery Movement and an advocate for greater understanding and cooperation across addiction recovery modalities. In retirement, in addition to these activities, I’m developing my skills as a writer of reflective non-fiction with a personal and social-justice angle.

 

X/Twitter: @WEDossett

Personal website: www.wedossett.com

The Higher Power Project – a qualitative study of the concepts of Higher Power used by people in recovery from addiction through Twelve Step Programmes.

Edited Volumes

2020    Schmidt, B., Burns, A., Dossett, W. (eds). Festschrift: Essays in Honour of Peggy Morgan. Lampeter: Religious Experience Research Centre.

2015   Bacon, H., Dossett, W., & Knowles, S. (eds). Alternative Salvations: Engaging the sacred and secular. London:  Bloomsbury

Edited Journal Special Issues

2021   Religion and Worldviews. Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions. 23 1-4

2020   with L. Metcalf-White.  Religion, Spirituality and Addiction Recovery Implicit Religion. 22.2

2014   with Cook, C. C. H, Religion and Addiction. Religion.  MDPI Open Access

Chapters

2023   Metcalf-White L., & Dossett, W. (forthcoming). Addiction Recovery at the Intersections of Religion, Gender and Sexuality. in Llewellyn, D., Sharma, S. and Hawthorne, S. (eds) Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion, Gender and Sexuality. London: Bloomsbury ISBN 9781350257177.

2021   Are alcohol and drugs ever acceptable to Buddhists? In Harris, E. (ed). Buddhism in Five Minutes. Sheffield, Equinox. pp337-340

2021   What is Pure Land Buddhism? In Harris, E. (ed). Buddhism in Five Minutes. Sheffield, Equinox. pp207-11

2020   ‘Spiritus contra spiritum’: Spirituality, belief and discipline in Alcoholics Anonymous. in Schmidt, B and Leonardi, J. Spirituality and Wellbeing: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Religious Experience and Health. Sheffield, Equinox. pp113-134

2018   co-authored with Cook, C.C.H., Addiction and Forgiveness., in Hance, S.(ed) Forgiveness – Personal, Professional, Political. London & Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley. pp 221-235

2018   Twelve Step Mutual Aid: Spirituality, Vulnerability and Recovery. in Beckford, J., Harvey, S.  & Steidinger, S. (Eds.).  New Religious Movements and Counselling: Academic, Professional and Personal Perspectives. Routledge Inform Series on Minority Religions and Spiritual Movements New York; London: Routledge. pp.221-235

2015   ‘Reflections on the language of salvation in twelve step recovery’ in Bacon, H., Dossett, W., & Knowles, S. (2015) Alternative Salvations: Engaging the sacred and secular. London: Bloomsbury. pp21-30

2008   ‘Learning About and Learning From’: Reflections on the significance of T/RS method debates for modern Religious Education’: in M. Warrier and S. Oliver (eds), Theology and Religious Studies: The Disciplines and Their Boundaries. Edinburgh: T and T Clark.

2000   ‘Education: Religious Studies’ in Kramarae, C. & Spender D. (Eds) Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women’s Issues and Knowledge. Vol 2. New York; London: Routledge

1999   'East Asian Traditions' in Ninian Smart (ed) World Atlas of Religions. London: Calmann and King. (2nd edition 2007 Oxford University Press)

1997   ‘Teaching Buddhism’ in Kay, W. K., & Francis, L. J. (1997). Religion in Education. Leominster: Gracewing

1994   'Japanese Religions' in Human Nature and Destiny, (Themes in Religious Studies series) edited by Jean Holm and John Bowker, London: Pinter

1994   'Japanese Religions' in Picturing God, (Themes in Religious Studies series)   edited by Jean Holm and John Bowker. London: Pinter

 

Journal articles

2021   Introduction: Religion and Worldviews. Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions. 23 1-4

2021   with Burns, A., & Schmidt, B. E. Peggy the Tutor, Mentor, Colleague and Friend. Journal for the Study of Religious Experience, 7(3), 4–9.

2020   Kleśas and Pretas: Therapy and Liberation in Buddhist Recovery from Addiction. Implicit Religion: Religion, Spirituality and Addiction Recovery, 22(2), 215–242. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/imre.40694

2020   with Metcalf-White, L. (50%). Religion, Spirituality and Addiction Recovery: Introduction. Implicit Religion: Religion, Spirituality and Addiction Recovery, 22(2), 95–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/imre.40695

2019   Religious Education and Worldviews British Association for the Study of Religion BASR Bulletin 134, May 2019 pp7-8

2019   ‘Narratives on their own terms: My encounter with Alister Hardy.’ De Numine 66 Spring. 50th Anniversary Edition  

2017   ‘A daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.’ A commentary on Kelly, J. F. (2016). Is Alcoholics Anonymous religious, spiritual, neither? Findings from 25 years of mechanisms of behavior change research: How AA works. Addiction. 112. 6 pp 942-943 http://dx.doi/10.1111add.1373  

2013   ‘Addiction, Spirituality and the Twelve Steps’ in International Social Work. May, Vol. 56, No.2. http://dx.doi/10.1177/0020872813475689  (article selected by Psychology Progress as a ‘Key Research Article’, Sept 2013: ‘selected from a wide variety of peer reviewed journals and … judged to be of major importance in their respective fields’.)

2013   ‘The workings of the Higher Power…’ QAADRANT (Journal of Quaker Action on Alcohol and Drugs), Spring, 71:2-3 (http://www.qaad.org/qaadrant/spring-2013).

2007   ‘Shin and the Diversity of Buddhism’ Shap Journal, London: Shap Working Party for World Religions in Education

1996   ‘Speaking for the Buddha: phenomenological and confessional approaches in teaching Buddhism’ Journal of Beliefs and Values Vol 17 no.1

1994   ‘A Foretaste of the Pure Land: The Great Buddha of Ushiku ARCADIA’ The Middle Way.  Vol 69. No 2. pp67-75

Text Books

2009   Religion in Contemporary Society (AS) (Text book and teachers handbook). Cardiff, UWIC Press. (jointly authored with Karl Lawson, Andrew Pearce and Roger Owen)

2006   Religious Experience (A level Text Book and teachers’ handbook) Cardiff, UWIC Press.

2003   Buddhism For AS Students (Text Book and teachers handbook for the New Advanced Subsidiary (AS) in Buddhism) UWIC Press.

2003   Judaism For AS Students jointly authored with Lavinia Cohn Sherbok (Text Book and teachers’ handbook for the New Advanced Subsidiary (AS) in Buddhism) UWIC Press.

Media and online public engagement

 

  • 2007 Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
  • 2007 PGCertHE (University of Bangor)
  • 1997 PhD (University of Wales, Lampeter)
  • 1995 PGCE Secondary Religious Education (Trinity College, Carmarthen)
  • 1990 BA(hons) (University of Wales, Lampeter)