Public Theology Programme

How does the Christian faith affect our involvement in the public life? What is the role of Christianity in a pluralistic society? Is there a distinctive ethos that Christians can bring to the communal aspects of our living? Does theology have a role to play beyond the four walls of our church buildings?

This programme, through conversation with leaders who help to shape society in various ways, will be a unique opportunity to reflect on our own commitment to the values of our faith and to the well-being of others.

Public Theology Programme 2009/2010

These lectures are held on Saturdays at 4 pm followed by a 5pm break and a 5.30 debate

How does Christian faith affect our involvement in the public life? What is the role of Christianity in a pluralistic society? Is there a distinctive ethos that Christians can bring to the communal aspects of our living? Does theology have a role to play beyond the four walls of our church buildings? This programme, through conversation with leaders who help to shape society in various ways, will be a unique opportunity to reflect on our own commitment to the values of our faith and to the well-being of others. These lectures are held on Saturdays at 4 pm followed by a 5 pm break and a 5.30 pm debate.

2009 Niblett Memorial Lecture
Leadership: Is It a Calling?
19 September
Speaker: Tim Livesey Archbishop of Canterbury's Head of Public Affairs

View a transcript of Tim Livesey's speech

International Relations and the Role of the Churches
17 October
Speaker: Riccardo Larini, Acting Director of Studies, Sarum College

How Does the Gospel Question Our Policies?
14 November
Speaker: Simon Barrow Co-director of the Religion and Society Think-tank Ekklesia

In the Christendom era, churches have sought to resolve the obvious tension between political practice in a violent, corruptible world and the core Gospel message of peaceable and compassionate persuasion by developing a variety of ‘interim ethics’. In this lecture a radically different vision is offered, based on the vocation of the church to witness to a different set of loyalties, practices and aspirations to those that constitute ‘the powers that be’.

Faith and the World’s Money
30 January
Speaker: The Right Rev’d Peter Selby Former Bishop of Worcester

The last two years of turmoil in the money markets and the world economy might have been avoided if individuals, nations and financial institutions had noticed what had been happening to the place of money in our lives. This lecture will examine the character of money as it now is, its effect on us, and the way in which faith enables us to address these issues. The wisdom of the ancients, in scripture and the Church's history, turns out to be as relevant as ever.

Diplomacy with Saint Benedict
27 March
Speaker: Sir David Goodall Former British High Commissioner to India

Drawing on his own experience as a professional diplomat, David Goodall uncovers some possibly surprising parallels between the diplomatic career and the monastic life as envisaged in the Rule of St Benedict and suggests how the central precepts of the Rule can be relevant to the practice of diplomacy.

Public Ecclesiology: Understanding the Church in a Secular Age
Saturday 12 June 2010
Michael DeLashmutt

What is the role of the Church in a secular age? The American religious experiment, as exemplified by the Establishment and Free-Exercise clauses of the American Constitution, aimed to prevent one's private religious devotion from being impinged upon by an interfering state or an established church. In the British context, the de facto, if not de jure, separation of faith and politics is intended to protect the state from interference by the church. Though originating from different perspectives, both approaches to navigating the relationship between the Church and a secular state reflect a tacit relegation of the Church to the margins of society. Despite this, the Church exists to offer Christ for the 'life of the world' and it is fundamentally charged with engaging in transformative social action. This lecture will explore the shape of such action, in dialogue with secularisation theory and examples taken from contemporary British and American public life.

Prices
The 19 September Niblett Memorial Lecture is free but requires pre-booking.
Subsequent public theology lectures are £12 each; the series of five is £50.

Contact Alison Ogden for further programme information.

Send an email to book the Public Theology Programme