Dr Hilton Scott will be one of the youngest students to be conferred the PhD degree in Practical Theology at the April 2018 graduation ceremony, at the age of twenty-nine.

While most students only receive this degree at a later stage in life, Dr Scott is proof that it can be done early in one’s academic career. In his doctoral thesis, entitled ‘Praying, believing and being church: a ritual-liturgical exploration’ and completed under the supervision of Prof Cas Wepener and Dr Tanya Van Wyk, Dr Scott investigates how the form and content of prayer impacts the ways in which people connect with God and other people. Using qualitative research as his main methodological approach and by taking an interdisciplinary approach to theories from the fields of liturgical studies, ritual studies, and ecclesiology, he concludes by suggesting a new theory for praxis for liturgical inculturation that includes focusing on the concepts of unity and inclusivity in a multicultural context of ‘being church’.