One summer day in 2009, fresh from my viva at Manchester University, I locked my bike at the Grange Road entrance to MBI, took a few nervous steps through the gravel courtyard into the building, and, ushered by Ela Wolbek (MBI’s wonderfully welcoming administrator at the time), entered the office of the Principal, Dr Susan O’Brien. Little did I know that this one brief conversation would begin a long-lasting friendship with the Institute, which has since become my intellectual home.

I had lived in Cambridge throughout most of my PhD programme. I had been blessed with a rented desk at Tyndale House Library, used the UL, frequented the Divinity Faculty seminars, and made friends with fellow theology and biblical studies students, but it was through my association with the Institute that I finally felt grounded and legitimate in my vocation, and found my first job as Assistant Director of the MA in Pastoral Theology at the Cambridge Theological Federation.

Since then, despite my relocation to my native Poland, I’ve remained in close contact with the Institute—teaching courses in Hebrew Bible, assuming the title of Research Associate in 2018, and now serving as Visiting Lecturer. The encouragement and support of Principal Dr Anna Abram allowed me to organise, in 2019, a symposium entitled New Vision of Biblical Formation in the Roman Catholic Church. The event—its papers, discussions, and atmosphere—deeply informed my thinking and sustained me during the pandemic, as did the online research seminars, as well as pastoral care and friendships from within the Institute community.

In 2023, the Institute supported my application to the Psychology Cross-Training Fellowship Programme for Theologians at the University of Birmingham, co-led by MBI’s former Director of Studies, Dr Amy Daughton, and funded by the John Templeton Foundation. This fellowship allowed me to integrate my various academic and professional interests and, through deepening my engagement with psychology and theology in dialogue, to forge a new identity: that of a practical theologian.

Today, I’d like to share one of the outcomes of that journey—the Theological Measures website. As part of the fellowship, each participant developed an individual project. Mine was an empirical one. It focused on the collaborative creation of a measure of God’s Where-Being and its connection to contemplative prayer, under the mentorship of Dr Kathryn Johnson, a psychologist of religion. In this context, I found myself navigating the tensions between theological depth and psychological precision; between the desire to honour lived faith and the need for analytical clarity. I began to explore how structured, quantitative tools might not only be used in theology, but shaped by theology.

The first fruit of this collaborative work is the emerging scale of God’s Where-Being. Its psychological variant is currently under review, with the theological variant to follow in autumn 2025. But the larger outcome is the idea of Theological Measures itself: a research approach in which methodologically sound quantitative tools emerge from theological reflection and stay responsive to the life, language, and practices of Christian communities.

The website I’m launching introduces the idea of Theological Measures, its origin, and methodological underpinnings—but it is designed to grow. In future, it will also host full scales, starting with God’s Where-Being in its theological variant, as open-access resources, together with guides on their application in research and teaching. I’m also planning to include interviews with theologians working with quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as blog posts and news updates.

Last month, I had a chance to visit the Institute in its new home in the beautiful surroundings of the Woolf Building. The purpose of this was to present the website at the final seminar of the academic year. Reconnecting with the community in such a new, hybrid format created space for me to reflect on MBI’s vitality and adaptability. It also helped me realise that the website—and the idea behind it—are also fruits of something I’ve come to value profoundly: the Institute’s commitment to nurturing theological vocation beyond institutional or disciplinary borders. Even though I’m not currently a UK-based academic, nor do I hold a traditional university post, what I’ve received from MBI over the years is continuity, trust, and support in pursuing meaningful interdisciplinary work.

I see the theology “done” by and at the Institute as an embodiment of the vision of theology promoted by the late Pope Francis—one that is not confined to academic disputes or distanced observation, but combined with various forms of public or ecclesial service, and/or grounded in empirical and field-based research.

My hope is that in the same spirit, as the Theological Measures project develops and new theological measures are added, the site can become a resource hub for practical theologians, social scientists, church leaders, teachers, and researchers interested in using quantitative tools shaped by theology—a platform where interdisciplinary dialogue can flourish, and theology and science can serve each other in encountering embodied faith in real-life communities, facilitating discernment and expanding understanding.

Dr Elżbieta Łazarewicz-Wyrzykowska 

MBI Visiting Lecturer