
About the 2024 Laishley Lecture
It is often said there is too much faith – or, at any rate, too much ‘religion’ - in our suffering world and not enough love. But what of hope? The scourge of religiously inspired violence has not destroyed ‘God-language’; indeed, it has focussed attention not only on the familiar questions of philosophical coherence but on more ethical and political questions arising from life in an increasingly pluralist and contested multi-faith culture. Dialogue and hospitality have always played an important role in building better relations between people of faith. This lecture will focus on certain aspects of hope precisely as an interreligious as well as theological virtue which attends to the whole of life as a series of intellectual and spiritual exercises in which the Mystery of God is implicated.
The Laishley Lectures are generously funded by a bequest from the family of the Heythrop College lecturer, Joe Laishley SJ, who taught systematic theology at the College for more than 25 years. They were inaugurated in 2023.
About the 2024 Laishley Lecturer
Michael Barnes SJ taught at Heythrop College for nearly forty years. He is the author of several books on the theology and spirituality of religions, most recently Ignatian Spirituality and Interreligious Dialogue (2021). He is Emeritus Professor of interreligious relations at the University of Roehampton and a research associate at the School of Advanced Study in the University of London.
Commentaires