Faith & Public Policy Forum: Seminars
Print versionFaith & Public Policy Seminars
Time: 17.30-19.00
Location: The Old Committee Room (3c), Strand Campus, King’s College London (just along from the chapel)
Map: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/campuses/strand.html
Organised by the Faith & Public Policy Forum, the seminars alternate between a theoretical focus, a policy focus and a political focus. The theoretical-focused session draws on philosophers, theologians and social scientists to present critical responses to the role of faith in relation to politics and society. The policy-focused sessions draw on particular areas of expertise within King’s and elsewhere, in order to address the relationship between faith groups and a particular arena of policy. The political sessions focus on the relationship between faith groups and current or historical political, economic or social developments. These seminars are open to anyone at King’s, other academics and post-graduate students, civil servants and others with a professional interest in these areas.
Location: The Old Committee Room (3c), Strand Campus, King’s College London (just along from the chapel)
Map: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/campuses/strand.html
Organised by the Faith & Public Policy Forum, the seminars alternate between a theoretical focus, a policy focus and a political focus. The theoretical-focused session draws on philosophers, theologians and social scientists to present critical responses to the role of faith in relation to politics and society. The policy-focused sessions draw on particular areas of expertise within King’s and elsewhere, in order to address the relationship between faith groups and a particular arena of policy. The political sessions focus on the relationship between faith groups and current or historical political, economic or social developments. These seminars are open to anyone at King’s, other academics and post-graduate students, civil servants and others with a professional interest in these areas.
Forthcoming seminars 2009-10
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Paul Cloke
Professor of Human Geography, Exeter University
Title: A Postsecular Caritas? The Case of Fair Trade and Ethical Consumption (tbc)
Prof Cloke’s work seeks to ground social theory in a range of places, practices, and performances, focusing most recently on issues relating to nature-places, homelessness, ethical consumption and the staging and performativities of religious faith. Prior to Exeter he held positions at the University of Wales, Lampeter and the University of Bristol. He is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and is Founder Editor of the Journal of Rural Studies. He was elected as an Academician of the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences in 2002. As part of the ESRC/AHRC Cultures of Consumption research programme he undertook a major research project on ethical consumption. Among numerous articles his books include: International Perspectives On Rural Homelessness (Routledge, 2006); and with Johnson, R, Spaces Of Geographic Thought (Sage, 2005).
Tuesday 17 November 2009
Stephen Plant
Director of Studies, Wesley House, Cambridge
Title: The Challenges of International Development: A Practitioner's and a Theologian's Perspective
Dr Plant teaches theology at the Cambridge Theological Federation and at Cambridge University Divinity Faculty. He has previously taught theology at Durham University, and served for 6 years as Europe Secretary in the Methodist World Church Office. He edits the journal Theology and his publications include: Bonhoeffer (Continuum, 2004); Simone Weil: A Brief Introduction (Orbis, 2008). He is currently writing a book on a theology of international development.
Kirsty Smith is Director of the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, a capacity building development agency working with small, southern partners in long-term development. She is Vice Chair of the British Overseas NGOs for Development Board and is coordinator of the Development Studies Module on the Masters in Theatre for Development programme at the University of Winchester.
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Bernd Wannenwetsch
University Lecturer in Ethics, Theology Faculty, University of Oxford
Title: ‘Loving the limit: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's challenge for an ethics of medical Care’
The paper will examine the question of responsible action in the field of medicine, with particular attention to the responsibility of doctors, the limits of responsibility and (of) patients' autonomy and the cult of the professional.
Bernd Wannenwetsch is University Lecturer in Ethics at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Harris Manchester College. He is also chairman of the Theology Faculty at Oxford and Associate Director of the McDonald Center for Theology, Ethics and Public Life, Oxford. An ordained minister in the Lutheran Church, he currently serves as Dean of Chapel at Harris Manchester College. He has also held held professorships and scholarships at the universities of Erlangen, Duke, Tartu, and Mainz. Recent publications include: ‘Political Worship’ (Oxford University Press, paperback 2009), ‘Who Am I'? Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology Through His Poetry’ (T&T Cark, 2009); ‘Members of one Another. Political Ethics and Ecclesiology in Biblical Perspective’ (Eerdmans 2010/1); and ‘1 Corinthians. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible,’ (forthcoming)
Tuesday 16 February 2010
Adrian Pabst
Leverhulme Fellow, Centre of Theology and Philosophy, Nottingham University
Title: Regulating Global Finance Markets: Jewish, Christian & Islamic Perspectives
Dr Pabst has a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at Nottingham University where he is part of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He is also an Associate Research Fellow at the Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies. His areas of research focus on philosophical and political theology, with a particular interest in how these relate to economics and international relations. His academic publications include: Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy (Eerdmans, 2009); ‘Wisdom and the Art of Politics,’ in Pabst, A & Schneider, C., eds, An Encounter between Eastern Orthodoxy and Radical Orthodoxy: Transfiguring the World through the Word (Ashgate, 2008); ‘On the Theological Origins of the Secular Market State,’ in Scazzieri, R, & Simili, R., eds. The Migration of Ideas (Watson International Publishing, 2008). In addition to his academic writing, he is a frequent contributor to the opinion and editorial pages of the International Herald Tribune and The Guardian.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Basia Spalek
Senior Lecturer in Community Justice Studies, University of Birmingham
Title: Partnership and engagement within a counter-terrorism context between Muslim communities and police
Basia Spalek is the principle investigator of an AHRC sponsored research project entitled: 'An Examination of Partnership Approaches to Challenging Religiously-Endorsed Violence involving Muslim Groups and Police'. As well as numerous articles on the theme of counter-terrorism policy, Dr Spalek’s books include: Counter-terrorism: community-based approaches to preventing terror crime (forthcoming); Reader in Ethnicity & Crime (Open University Press); with F.Hussein & S.Crabtree, Islam & Social Work: International Perspectives & Practice Issues (Bristol: Policy Press); Communities, Identities and Crime (Bristol: Policy Press); and Crime Victims: theory, policy and practice (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan).
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Dr Robert Lambert MBE
Co-Director, European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC), University of Exeter
Lecturer, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV),
University of St Andrews
Title: Muslim Londoners: Tackling Terrorism and Islamophobia
Prior to commencing an academic research role Robert Lambert worked for the Metropolitan Police in London from 1977 to 2007 in the field of
counter-terrorism with the Metropolitan Police. In January 2010 he was
awarded a PhD for The London Partnerships: an insider's analysis of
legitimacy and effectiveness a research study that reflects on community
based counter-terrorism partnership work between Muslim Londoners and the Met Police Muslim Contact Unit between 2002 and 2007. His work with the Muslim Contact Unit was recognised in awards from the Muslim Council of Britain, Islam Channel, Islam Expo, Islamic Human Rights Commission and other Muslim community groups. He was awarded an MBE in 2008 for his service to policing in London. In January 2010 he co-authored the first report by EMRC 'Islamophobia and Anti-Musllim Hate Crime: a London case study' the beginning of a ten year research project that will analyse the problem in towns and cities across Europe.
Paul Cloke
Professor of Human Geography, Exeter University
Title: A Postsecular Caritas? The Case of Fair Trade and Ethical Consumption (tbc)
Prof Cloke’s work seeks to ground social theory in a range of places, practices, and performances, focusing most recently on issues relating to nature-places, homelessness, ethical consumption and the staging and performativities of religious faith. Prior to Exeter he held positions at the University of Wales, Lampeter and the University of Bristol. He is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and is Founder Editor of the Journal of Rural Studies. He was elected as an Academician of the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences in 2002. As part of the ESRC/AHRC Cultures of Consumption research programme he undertook a major research project on ethical consumption. Among numerous articles his books include: International Perspectives On Rural Homelessness (Routledge, 2006); and with Johnson, R, Spaces Of Geographic Thought (Sage, 2005).
Tuesday 17 November 2009
Stephen Plant
Director of Studies, Wesley House, Cambridge
Title: The Challenges of International Development: A Practitioner's and a Theologian's Perspective
Dr Plant teaches theology at the Cambridge Theological Federation and at Cambridge University Divinity Faculty. He has previously taught theology at Durham University, and served for 6 years as Europe Secretary in the Methodist World Church Office. He edits the journal Theology and his publications include: Bonhoeffer (Continuum, 2004); Simone Weil: A Brief Introduction (Orbis, 2008). He is currently writing a book on a theology of international development.
Kirsty Smith is Director of the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, a capacity building development agency working with small, southern partners in long-term development. She is Vice Chair of the British Overseas NGOs for Development Board and is coordinator of the Development Studies Module on the Masters in Theatre for Development programme at the University of Winchester.
Tuesday 12 January 2010
Bernd Wannenwetsch
University Lecturer in Ethics, Theology Faculty, University of Oxford
Title: ‘Loving the limit: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's challenge for an ethics of medical Care’
The paper will examine the question of responsible action in the field of medicine, with particular attention to the responsibility of doctors, the limits of responsibility and (of) patients' autonomy and the cult of the professional.
Bernd Wannenwetsch is University Lecturer in Ethics at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Harris Manchester College. He is also chairman of the Theology Faculty at Oxford and Associate Director of the McDonald Center for Theology, Ethics and Public Life, Oxford. An ordained minister in the Lutheran Church, he currently serves as Dean of Chapel at Harris Manchester College. He has also held held professorships and scholarships at the universities of Erlangen, Duke, Tartu, and Mainz. Recent publications include: ‘Political Worship’ (Oxford University Press, paperback 2009), ‘Who Am I'? Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Theology Through His Poetry’ (T&T Cark, 2009); ‘Members of one Another. Political Ethics and Ecclesiology in Biblical Perspective’ (Eerdmans 2010/1); and ‘1 Corinthians. Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible,’ (forthcoming)
Tuesday 16 February 2010
Adrian Pabst
Leverhulme Fellow, Centre of Theology and Philosophy, Nottingham University
Title: Regulating Global Finance Markets: Jewish, Christian & Islamic Perspectives
Dr Pabst has a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at Nottingham University where he is part of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He is also an Associate Research Fellow at the Luxembourg Institute for European and International Studies. His areas of research focus on philosophical and political theology, with a particular interest in how these relate to economics and international relations. His academic publications include: Metaphysics: The Creation of Hierarchy (Eerdmans, 2009); ‘Wisdom and the Art of Politics,’ in Pabst, A & Schneider, C., eds, An Encounter between Eastern Orthodoxy and Radical Orthodoxy: Transfiguring the World through the Word (Ashgate, 2008); ‘On the Theological Origins of the Secular Market State,’ in Scazzieri, R, & Simili, R., eds. The Migration of Ideas (Watson International Publishing, 2008). In addition to his academic writing, he is a frequent contributor to the opinion and editorial pages of the International Herald Tribune and The Guardian.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Basia Spalek
Senior Lecturer in Community Justice Studies, University of Birmingham
Title: Partnership and engagement within a counter-terrorism context between Muslim communities and police
Basia Spalek is the principle investigator of an AHRC sponsored research project entitled: 'An Examination of Partnership Approaches to Challenging Religiously-Endorsed Violence involving Muslim Groups and Police'. As well as numerous articles on the theme of counter-terrorism policy, Dr Spalek’s books include: Counter-terrorism: community-based approaches to preventing terror crime (forthcoming); Reader in Ethnicity & Crime (Open University Press); with F.Hussein & S.Crabtree, Islam & Social Work: International Perspectives & Practice Issues (Bristol: Policy Press); Communities, Identities and Crime (Bristol: Policy Press); and Crime Victims: theory, policy and practice (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan).
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Dr Robert Lambert MBE
Co-Director, European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC), University of Exeter
Lecturer, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV),
University of St Andrews
Title: Muslim Londoners: Tackling Terrorism and Islamophobia
Prior to commencing an academic research role Robert Lambert worked for the Metropolitan Police in London from 1977 to 2007 in the field of
counter-terrorism with the Metropolitan Police. In January 2010 he was
awarded a PhD for The London Partnerships: an insider's analysis of
legitimacy and effectiveness a research study that reflects on community
based counter-terrorism partnership work between Muslim Londoners and the Met Police Muslim Contact Unit between 2002 and 2007. His work with the Muslim Contact Unit was recognised in awards from the Muslim Council of Britain, Islam Channel, Islam Expo, Islamic Human Rights Commission and other Muslim community groups. He was awarded an MBE in 2008 for his service to policing in London. In January 2010 he co-authored the first report by EMRC 'Islamophobia and Anti-Musllim Hate Crime: a London case study' the beginning of a ten year research project that will analyse the problem in towns and cities across Europe.
Previous seminar presenters
- Lord Raymond Plant, Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Philosophy, King’s College London
- Vivien Lowndes, Professor of Local Government Studies, Department of Public Policy, De Montfort University
- Sir Jonathan Sacks, The Chief Rabbi/Visiting Professor, King's College London
- David Martin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of London
- Oliver O'Donovan, Professor of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology, Edinburgh University
- Richard Farnell, Professor of Neighbourhood Regeneration, Coventry University
- Dilwar Hussein, Head of Policy, Research Unit, The Islamic Foundation
- Gary Bouma, UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Tim Winter, Lecturer in Islamic Studies & Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge University
- Chantal Mouffe, Professor of Political Theory, University of Westminster
- Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, University of Oxford
