Public Debates 2011

Moses is the great prophet, leader, liberator; the man who sees God face to face and lives. Above all, he is the one to whom God entrusts the Law, the foundation of the sacred covenant between God and humanity. But he is also the abandoned baby, the stammerer, the founder of the nation who never sets foot in the promised land. What can we learn of our pilgrimage as the people of God from this towering figure?

Speakers:

The Revd David Shosanya is the Regional Minister for the London Baptist Association, co-founder of the Street Pastors Initiative and host of The State of Black Britain Sympasium, an annual forum for conversations across African and Caribbean communities in the UK.

Job’s is one of the most uncomfortable stories in the Bible. God puts Job through terrible suffering, apparently to prove a point with Satan. His friends insist his suffering must be punishment for his sin while Job rails against the apparently meaningless injustice of God.Many regard it as one of the great mystical books of the Bible which takes our understanding of suffering to a whole new level, but does it really offer a coherent understanding of the relationship between God’s love and human suffering?

Speakers:

Canon Dr Andrew Shanks is Canon Theologian of Manchester Cathedral, having previously been an inner city parish priest, an academic theologian, and lived in Ethiopia and Upper Egypt. His books include God and Modernity and Faith in Honesty. 

Salley Vickers is the best selling author of the novels Miss Garnet's Angel, Mr Golightly’s Holiday (which includes a running reference to Job), The Other Side of You and Dancing Backwards. She has worked as a university teacher of literature and a Jungian analyst but now writes full time.

Due to the closure of St Paul's Cathedral this event is now cancelled. 

Mother of God and perpetual virgin, object of huge devotion and source of deep theological controversy: few figures in the Church’s history have divided opinion so starkly or so passionately. Is there a way for us to see Mary in her historic context, as a courageous woman with her own voice to whom God entrusts so much, and for which she suffers so greatly?And what does the story of this, the first apostle, say to us of our own lives of faith?

Speakers:

Professor Marina Warner is a writer of fiction, criticism and history and the author of Alone of All Her Sex: the Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary. Her many other books include novels and short stories as well as studies of art, myths, symbols, and fairytales.

Dr Jane Williams is a Tutor in Theology at St Mellitus College and Visiting Lecturer at King's College London. Her many books include Bread, Wine and Women, Perfect Freedom, Approaching Christmas and Faces of Christ.

Due to the closure of St Paul's Cathedral this debate was originally postponed and it has not been possible to reconvene the event. 

Is there anything good to say about Judas? He was, after all, one of Jesus’ chosen disciples and closest followers. Was his betrayal of Jesus predestined, a part of the divine plan from the beginning, or is this just a very human story of a disappointed man? Should we to feel any compassion for him, or was he just a traitor who got what he deserved? And in the darkness of this story, are there lessons for us today?

Speakers:

Canon Mark Oakley is Treasurer of St Paul’s Cathedral and the author of The Collage of God. He speaks and publishes widely in the area of faith, poetry and literature.

Adam Phillips is a psychoanalyst, philosopher, broadcaster and author of numerous books including On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored, Houdini’s Box: the Art of Escape, The Beast in the Nursery and On Kindness.

The story of Jesus’ brief and explosive public life is so familiar that we can forget both how revolutionary and how mysterious it is. How can it be that God lived on earth in a human body; spoke, breathed, slept, cried? And what of the revolution he preached? Even non-believers now think him a good man, but in his day he was thought so dangerous that he could only be silenced by death. What on earth does this story mean?

Speakers:

Dr Robert Beckford is an educator who is currently a Visiting Fellow at Warwick University. A prolific documentary-maker, broadcaster and author, his books include God and the Gangs and his films for Channel 4 and the BBC include God is Black and Decoding the Nativity.

The Revd Lucy Winkett is Rector of St James’s Piccadilly. She writes, speaks and debates on a wide range of issues reflecting on culture, gender and religion and her books include Our Sound is our Wound, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book for 2010.