Her book "Octavia Daughter of God" won the 2012 San Francisco Book Festival History Prize, sponsored by JM Northern Media LLC. It unearthed the story of a female Messiah figure living in Bedford, England in the early twentieth century. The book was praised for showing how, and under what circumstances, a religion grows. Shaw's work often appeals to doubt and the questioning of faith, saying, "If we think faith is about certainty then we can become arrogant and think we know God wholly and that is very limiting." Themes of loss, doubt, and forgiveness are explored in A Practical Christianity. She also focusses on art and spirituality, and what she calls "the moral imagination", which she describes as "a deep responsiveness to that which is different from us". In The Mystical Turn, a series of five programmes on BBC Radio 3, Shaw explored the relationship between spirituality and mysticism in the works of Russian artist Kandinsky and his contemporaries. Activism Shaw has combined the work of a church historian with active participation in the life of the Anglican churches and campaigning for the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate. She served as vice-chair of WATCH Women and the Church. She regularly writes for The Times and the Guardian on issues pertaining to politics, religion, and the arts. Shaw was an original member of a thinktank, the Chicago Consultation, advocating for LGBT Christians, and she has worked with V-Day on behalf of women who are victims of violence. In 2013, she joined the Board of the NGO Human Rights Watch in California. References Selected publications External links Profile at Harris Manchester College website People from Oxford Principals of Harris Manchester College, Oxford Pro-Vice-Chancellors of the University of Oxford Fellows of Regent's Park College, Oxford Alumni of Regent's Park College, Oxford Harvard Divinity School alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Fellows of New College, Oxford English historians 21st-century English Anglican priests Chaplains of New College, Oxford Honorary chaplains of Christ Church, Oxford English theologians Anglican writers The Guardian journalists English journalists 1963 births Living people People educated at Norwich High School for Girls