On his return to Oxford in 1985, Biggar became librarian and research fellow at
Latimer House, a
conservative evangelical think tank in Oxford. For most of the 1990s, he was chaplain and fellow of
Oriel College, Oxford. In 1999, he took the Chair of Theology at the
University of Leeds, and in 2004, he moved to the Chair of Theology and Ethics at
Trinity College Dublin, where he became a fellow in 2005. In 2007, he became
Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at the University of Oxford. He also became a
canon of
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. He retired in September 2022.
Ethics and Empire project In 2017, Biggar initiated a five-year project at Oxford University, entitled "Ethics and Empire". Its stated aim was to scrutinise critiques against the historical facts of
Empire. Historians and academics widely criticised the project, claiming that it was "attempting to balance out the violence committed in the name of empire with its supposed benefits". The project also received criticism for failing to engage with the wider scholarship on empire and not submitting itself to peer scrutiny and rigorous academic debate.
Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning Biggar's 2023 book,
Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, which examines the morality of colonialism, was initially accepted by
Bloomsbury, but it chose not to publish it, with the suggestion that "public feeling on the subject does not currently support the publication of the book". It was eventually published by
HarperCollins, in 2023. The book has received both praise and criticism.
Kenan Malik of
The Guardian said that while
Colonialism "claims to be a 'moral reckoning', moral questions are rarely taken seriously", and "in seeking to challenge what he regards as cartoonish views of imperial history, Biggar has produced something equally cartoonish, a politicised history that ill-serves his aim of defending '
western values'."
Rudrangshu Mukherjee wrote in
The Wire that
Colonialism is an "immoral book" that ignores "the structural logic of empire" linking "the development of capitalism and prosperity in Britain with the political control, the economic exploitation and the impoverishment of the colonies", and that it fails "the most elementary test of scholarship". In contrast,
Trevor Phillips in
The Sunday Times said that it "carries the intellectual force of a
Javelin antitank missile", stating that he "find[s] it hard to disagree" with Biggar's thesis.
Jonathan Sumption in the
Literary Review described it as "an important book as well as a courageous one" and said that "in general, [Biggar's] approach is objective and he fairly addresses the contrary arguments". In
The Daily Telegraph,
Tim Stanley considered the book "thoughtful" and "compelling", one that introduced facts, some of which he was unaware of, indicating that "much that is benign about our civilisation has been forgotten", but concluded that Biggar "is spoiling for a fight, and I fear he's going to get one". Biggar replied in the same journal, accusing Lester of "
political bias, smearing by association, the erection of
strawmen, careless reading, misrepresentation, misunderstanding, unsupported assertions, a disappointing absence of open thoughtfulness, and a striking lack of critical self-awareness". ==Honours==