About
Esmé Lily Katherine Partridge is a researcher and writer working at the intersection of religion, philosophy and politics. She holds a First Class BA in the Study of Religions from SOAS, University of London and an MPhil in the Philosophy of Religion from Clare College, University of Cambridge.
Esmé’s academic interests include Platonism, Renaissance thought, and perennial philosophy. She wrote her MPhil dissertation on the 16th Century French jurist Jean Bodin’s philosophy of religious pluralism, with a focus on his Colloquium Heptaplomeres. She is particularly interested in the application of his ideas to modern society, having recently authored a paper on the interfaith ethos of King Charles III.
Esmé’s work has appeared in the Temenos Academy Review and the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society. Outside of academia, she is also a freelance writer who has contributed to The Critic, The European Conservative, First Things, Renovatio, the Royal Society of Arts, Theos Think Tank, Times Literary Supplement and UnHerd among other publications.
She has also worked as a researcher and consultant for a number of think tanks and non-profit organisations. Most recently, she authored a report for Civitas on ‘Restoring the Value of Parishes: The Foundations of Welfare, Community and Spiritual Belonging in England’, which investigates the crisis facing parish churches and makes the case for their revival. Prior to that, she authored a report on UK Freedom of Religion or Belief policy and the Marrakesh Declaration.
As a Consultant for the Good Faith Partnership, Esmé worked on a range of interfaith and religious freedom initiatives for clients such as the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, the International Community of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. For two years she was also on the secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Christianity in the Holy Land.
Esmé currently works as a parliamentary researcher in the UK House of Commons. She continues to write and speak on podcasts and at events, most recently at the Realisation Festival and the UnHerd Club. Her work has been featured in Church Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Irish Catholic, Jewish News, The Spectator, and The Week.