Peter is the Director of Faith in Business, a centre at Ridley Hall for almost 30 years before it became an independent charity based at Westminster College, Cambridge. He is passionate about the positive potential of business in human flourishing. As the world is God’s world, he believes this potential is greatest when God’s ways are observed in the commercial sphere (whether or not business leaders are believers).

Peter pursues this vision with a commitment to missional discipleship in every area of life, and to enterprise solutions to poverty. This drives his research, which includes two areas of special interest: the interface of business, faith and development; and the life and work of the public intellectual, social entrepreneur and statesman Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920).

Peter’s interdisciplinary scholarship reflects his academic background in social science, history, and ethics. After serving as a Director of Studies in the Cambridge Theological Federation and a Tutor at Ridley Hall, he joined the faculty of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). During that time, he convened JustShare, a consortium of major anti-poverty organizations. He has since held various appointments at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge (his alma maters), and as a visiting professor at several research institutions around the world. A major international study of faith-driven entrepreneurs he has conducted was funded by the Templeton Foundation.

An international speaker and the recipient of several awards, Peter has served as an adviser to the Journal of Markets and Morality and to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He has also been a judge in various international business competitions and is a Senior Research Associate of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide; a Fellow of the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology, Cambridge; a Visiting Fellow of the Mockler Center for Faith and Ethics in the Public Square; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; and a Doctoral Supervisor at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies.

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Personal background
With a keen interest in the arts, Peter is delighted to have trained at Ridley with supervision from the musician and theologian of the arts Jeremy Begbie, and to serve his curacy in the Huntingdon benefice alongside the poet-priest and theologian of the arts Malcolm Guite. He has also been involved in hospice, prison, expatriate and college chaplaincy; in rural and urban parish ministry; and in Cathedral ministry to business leaders.

Peter has a broad spiritual background, having been active in the World Council of Churches and having lived in a Carmelite monastic community in the Netherlands. He has a keen interest in Catholic Social Teaching and has worked as an Authorized Minister in a local ecumenical church plant. He is an assistant priest at St John’s Church in Cambridge and is the founder and editor of God on Monday, short weekly work-related biblical reflections, co-produced by Faith in Business and the Church of England.

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Amongst Peter’s passions are the visual arts (especially Dutch, Flemish and Nordic painting), music (especially classical and contemporary piano), and poetry (especially of George Herbert). Prior to academia he worked in tourism, retail and hospitality. He still loves spending time in the business world, both in the UK and further afield. Despite recently having suffered a major fraud by an unscrupulous building firm, he retains his faith in business as a crucial sphere of society. With a Dutch wife, his is pleased to have cycling as his favourite sport.

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Books

Heslam, P.S., Creating a Christian Worldview: Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism (Cambridge/Grand Rapids: Paternoster/Eerdmans, 1998).

Heslam, P.S., Globalization: Unravelling the New Capitalism (Cambridge: Grove, 2002) Globalization and the Good, edited (London: SPCK, 2004).

Heslam, P.S., Transforming Capitalism: Entrepreneurship and the Renewal of Thrift (Cambridge: Grove, 2010).

Edited Books

Heslam, P.S., Abraham Kuyper on Business and Economics. An edited and introduced anthology of Kuyper writings (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2021).

Heslam, P.S. and Spieker, M., Integral Human Development (Grand Rapids, MI: Acton Institute, 2013). A special themed issue of the Journal of Markets and Morality, 16.1, 400 pages (Grand Rapids, MI: Acton Institute, 2013).

Heslam, P.S., Globalization and the Good (London: SPCK, 2004).

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Most of Peter’s writings appear in peer-reviewed publications. For a select list of his publications, click here

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