Gresham College Lectures

The United States in the early nineteenth century was one of Christian history’s great moments of sectarian creativity. The religious entrepreneurs of a newly democratic society rebelled against the proliferation of denominations by creating new movements of their own, from Utopian communities to apocalyptic revivals. The most notorious such movement, the Millerites, forecast the end of the world for 1844 - in the most modern, rational and compelling terms.

This lecture will explore why Millerites believed the predictions, what effects they had, and how they responded to the ‘Great Disappointment’. And it will look at how two very different but almost equally successful modern Christian movements, the Seventh-day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, emerged from the wreckage.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/americas-advents

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Rapid economic growth in the emerging worlds has taken many families out of poverty but has placed downward pressure of manufacturing wages in the advanced world. Along with increasingly lower real interest rates that have placed upwards pressure on asset prices, these twin forces have the propensity to accelerate income inequality, what do the facts say?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/macroeconomics-capitalism-inequality

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

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The blight of the concrete municipal buildings of the 1960s and 70s in the historic centres of our cathedral cities is all too familiar. Everyone wants to avoid the same mistakes being made again, but there is a fissure between those who wish to build in contemporary styles and materials and those who want to adopt a local historical vernacular. There is also a tension between developers who say they have to build big and residents who want a human scale. Can we reconcile old and new in our historic cities?

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/perfection-or-pastiche-new-buildings-in-old-places

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

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Can a scientific theory ever be confirmed? https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/should-we-trust-a-theory

Must a scientific theory be falsifiable? These are deep questions that have fascinated philosophers from David Hume to Karl Popper, and continue to be at the core of scientific reasoning. Theories such as that of the multiverse or almost all string theories make no empirically verifiable predictions. Does this move them into the realm of metaphysics, or even quasiscience? Modern philosophers of science have moved on beyond the notion of falsifiability. They refer to the old school who believed in empirical testing of scientific theories as the Popperazzi. Now one applies statistical inference, pioneered by Reverend Thomas Bayes in the 19th century, to infer the likelihood that a theory is correct. Philosophers argue that while one can never prove that a theory of the universe is correct, one can increase the level confidence in the theory even without any empirical tests, if the theory satisfies certain conditions that I will explain. In this way one can provide non-empirical support for string theory and even the theory of the multiverse.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/should-we-trust-a-theory

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

'When well-appareled April on the heel/ Of limping winter treads'. A calendar month cannot dress, nor can a season walk.

This lecture will explore the magic of personification in Shakespeare's poetry.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/shakespeares-sonnets-and-the-use-of-personification

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Many creatures manipulate their fellows, their partners, their enemies and even their friends in an attempt to gain advantage for themselves. Professor Steve Jones (Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment at University College London) will talk about the crafty ways of living creatures from orchids to ourselves, and about how, beneath every beauty, lies a beast.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/cheats-liars-and-fornicators-the-hidden-face-of-mother-nature

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

Is science complete in itself, or does it act as a pointer or signpost to matters beyond its boundaries? This discussion is often framed in terms of 'natural theology', understood as a way of interpreting nature as bearing witness to the existence and nature of God.

One of the most vigorous writers on this is C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) whose arguments against naturalism will be considered, together with alternatives which he proposes, as developed in works such as Miracles and The Chronicles of Narnia.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/is-reality-limited-to-what-science-can-uncover

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

This lecture will explore and explain the difference in outcomes between cases in Crime and Care, considering the framework of 'Beyond reasonable doubt' versus 'the balance of probabilities' and the concept of the judge's role to determine the law and the jury the facts, as against the idea that the judge determines all. Rules on disclosure, hearsay, use of expert witnesses, and time scales in court will be examined to consider why a Not Guilty verdict in Crime may not be enough, in some cases, to resume being a parent.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/when-legal-worlds-collide

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

The United States in the early nineteenth century was one of Christian history's great moments of sectarian creativity. The religious entrepreneurs of a newly democratic society rebelled against the proliferation of denominations by creating new movements of their own, from Utopian communities to apocalyptic revivals. The most notorious such movement, the Millerites, forecast the end of the world for 1844 - in the most modern, rational and compelling terms.

This lecture will explore why Millerites believed the predictions, what effects they had, and how they responded to the 'Great Disappointment'. And it will look at how two very different but almost equally successful modern Christian movements, the Seventh-day Adventists and the Jehovah's Witnesses, emerged from the wreckage.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/americas-advents

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege

Support the show

The study of perspective in art has led to a branch of mathematics called projective geometry, which addresses the relationship between landscapes viewed from different locations. One of the key features of the subject is the concept of ‘point at infinity’, which represents the meeting point of parallel lines. The lecture will tackle the question of where to stand in order to photograph the restored four chimneys of Battersea power station equally spaced along the skyline. The answer will take us to the heart of projective geometry, to theorems about conics, and allow us to generate images that are around us on a daily basis.

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-mathematical-skyline

Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.

Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege