PhD MA BMus LRAM
Christopher Grey
Lecturer in Theological Aesthetics
Chris has been part of the Music and Worship department since 1997 and a faculty member since 2009. He has pioneered undergraduate modules in theological aesthetics and music theology-philosophy, and also teaches historical studies in church music history, principally from the Patristic era to the Gothic age.
Having studied initially at the Purcell School of Music, Chris then trained at the Royal Academy of Music. Later, he completed an MA in Music Education at University College London, also working in secondary music education for 20 years, directing chamber orchestras and teaching the piano and violin.
In 2017, Chris was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council scholarship through the Open University, and completed a PhD in June 2021. His studies revolved around the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, exploring the idea of musical beauty from a theological and philosophical perspective. His research interests lie in aesthetics, theories of beauty and/or any conjunction of philosophy, theology and art. Chris is a Thomist in outlook and method – firmly located in the realist tradition – and he avidly believes in giving students the freedom to observe and inquire.
Outside LST, Chris is a Research Fellow at Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, where he is engaged in a project to promote the intellectual and spiritual legacy of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain, and writing a monograph in musical aesthetics. He has an abiding love for the English metaphysical poets, J.S. Bach, Robert Schumann, and jazz music. Chris lives in Norwich, he is married to Liz, a nurse, and they have 6 children aged between 12 and 29.
Julie McKee. Singing and the Heavenly Realm
Chris welcomes postgraduate inquiries in any area that broadly lies within his research emphases.
2025, ‘Maritain, Jones, and Ratzinger on Art and Liturgy.’ Thomism, Creativity and the Arts, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford.
2023, ‘A Music Which Only the Intellect Can Understand.’ American Maritain Association, University of Dallas.
2022, ‘Reason Hears: Music, Goodness and the Virtuous Aesthetic Experience.’ American Maritain Association, DeSales University.
2022, ‘Maritain and Music: Developing a Thomist Philosophy of Music.’ Postgraduate Research Seminar, Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts, University of St Andrews.
2020, ‘Realist Solutions to the Problem of Music and the Ineffable.’ American Maritain Association, Franciscan University and Byzantine Catholic Seminary of SS. Cyril and Methodius.
2019, ‘Thomist Foundations for a Theological Aesthetic of Musical Beauty.’ Theology, Creativity and the Arts, Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology, Cambridge.
2019, ‘Thomist Foundations for a Theological Aesthetic of Musical Beauty.’ American Maritain Association, DeSales University.
2019, ‘Understanding Tragedy Truthfully: J.S. Bach’s Zerfliesse Mein Hertze.’ Plenary at American Maritain Association, DeSales University.
2019, ‘Musical Beauty, God and the Church: Early Historical-Ecclesiological Contexts.’ Music Research Conference, The Open University, UK.
2017, ‘Events in the Life of Christ in Art: John Donne, Josef Ratzinger and a Few Painters.’ Michaelmas Public Lectures, The Parish Church of St Michael, Highgate.
2017, ‘The Musical Aesthetic Inside Maritain’s Notion of Poetic Knowledge.’ American Maritain Association, Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans.
2015, ‘The Melodic, Harmonic and Rhythmic Decline of Vocal Memory in Congregational Singing.’ Christian Congregational Music Conference, Ripon College, Oxford.
2010, ‘The Dynamics of Knowing: Process in the Experience of Composer, Performer and Listener.’ The Society for the Study of Theology, Manchester University.
- The American Maritain Association
- The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
- PhD (Philosophy and Music), Open University, UK
- MA (Music Education), University College London
- BMus Hons (Music), London, Royal Academy of Music
- LRAM Royal Academy of Music
