Wollaston Research Seminar August

Please join us at 2pm AWST on Monday 17 August, either in person at Wollaston Theological College or online via the link below.

The Naturalisation of Providence: William Harvey on Reproduction

William Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of blood has been understood as a crucial moment in the secularisation of Europe. No longer did life operate according to divine order, but could be explained mechanically, with the heart acting as a simple pump. This talk will take a closer look at Harvey’s later work on animal reproduction to argue for a more complex narrative, where the medieval divine ordering of creation is not replaced but reframed as intrinsic to nature by the methods developed during the scientific revolution.

Presenter | Chloe Anastasia

Chloe has recently submitted her PhD in Theology, entitled Spinoza’s Woman Problem: A Reading of Subjective Autonomy. She specialises in the relationship between medieval theology and the birth of the modern world in the 17th century. Her research engages with a broad range of fields, including mysticism, political theology, the history of science, psychoanalysis, madness, trans philosophy, feminism, medieval Aristotelianism, and representation. During her doctoral study, she presented papers both in Australia and overseas, particularly on the concept of sovereignty and on Freud and Lacan through their readings of Daniel Schreber’s madness.

Her work sees theology not just as a set of abstract problems for academics to ponder, but as something that has profoundly shaped the world around us, from the grand span of world history, through our political, legal, and medical institutions, to our everyday use of land and space. She is particularly interested in the ways that race and gender are created and articulated in the history of theology, and how the disinherited articulate their lives outside the limits of legal or political representation.

Time and Date

2pm AWST, Monday 17 August 2026

Location

Gerald New Room, Wollaston Theological College, Mt Claremont 6010 or use the button below to join online via Zoom.

View the full seminar series line up for Semester 2 here.