Richard Johnson Lectures

In this episode you’ll hear Amy Orr-Ewing’s 2017 lecture,

Is Christianity Bad News for Women?

The 2nd-century Greek philosopher Celsus famously dismissed Christianity as a religion of women, children, and slaves – that is to say, not to be taken seriously. But Christianity is much more likely to be condemned today, not for being a religion of women, but a religion against women. If gender equality mattered to the early church, what happened to it? What does Christianity’s chequered treatment of women mean for its credibility today? And is the Christian faith a force for the oppression of women, or for their flourishing?

---

Amy Orr-Ewing is a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, and is a widely sought-after speaker who has addressed audiences at the White House and the UK Parliament. She regularly appears on TV and radio to comment on a variety of topics relating to the Christian faith. Her doctoral studies focused on the British novelist, essayist, and “Christian humanist” Dorothy L. Sayers, and she is the author of several books, including Where is God in all the Suffering, and Why Trust the Bible?

---

Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century.

In this episode you’ll hear William Cavanaugh’s 2016 lecture,

The Myth Of Religious Violence

It’s a widely held assumption in Western societies that religion has a peculiar tendency to promote violence. Indeed, much of our domestic and foreign policy assumes this – but is it a fair assumption? Are religions more inclined to promote violence than things like nationalism and access to oil? What even counts as “religion”? And what role have “secular” ideologies as well as “religious” ones played in fomenting violence? American philosopher William Cavanaugh offers some provocative arguments.

---

William Cavanaugh is Professor of Theology at DePaul University in Chicago. He holds degrees from Notre Dame, Cambridge, and Duke University, and has worked for the Center for Civil and Human Rights at the Notre Dame Law School. His areas of specialisation include political theology and economic ethics. He is the author of The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict, and Field Hospital: The Church’s Engagement with a Wounded World.

---

Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century.

In this episode you’ll hear Peter Harrison’s 2015 lecture,

The End Of Faith: Has Science Made Religion Redundant?

The conflict between science and religion seems entrenched, even inevitable. But is it? Peter Harrison is one of the most important scholars working in the area of science and religion today, and he challenges our understanding of what has historically been meant by the concepts of "science" and "religion" - and reconstructs the true history of their turbulent relations.

---

Peter Harrison is currently an Australian Laureate Fellow at the University of Queensland. Before taking up that post he was the Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford. He has published extensively in the area of intellectual history with a focus on the historical interactions between science and religion, and has authored or edited six books, including The Territories of Science and Religion.

---

Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century.

The inaugural Richard Johnson Lecture was delivered in 2014 by Yale University’s Miroslav Volf.

Volf’s upbringing in Croatia as the only Christian in a school of 3,500 was pivotal in the development of his faith. A victim of intense and sustained interrogation by the government of then communist Yugoslavia, much of Volf's work focuses on forgiveness and reconciliation. He maintains that the Christian vision of the world entails the possibility of overcoming the past for both the victim and the perpetrator of wrongs. 

His topic for this lecture was A Public Faith: Serving the Common Good

While the place of faith in the public square is a contested, and contentious, subject, and many opponents of religion would rather it remain a private affair – and some believers are tempted to agree – Miroslav Volf believes faith can contribute to human flourishing for all people.

---

Miroslav Volf is Founding Director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture, and the Henry B. Wright Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School. He has written more than 15 books, including Exclusion and Embrace, A Public Faith, and most recently For the Life of the World.

---

Check out CPX's other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century.

Richard Johnson was the first Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales, arriving on the First Fleet in 1788. He saw no tension between his priestly duties and his calling to serve the public good in the colony.

He was perhaps Australia’s first exponent of Public Christianity!

The Richard Johnson lecture, named in his honour, is an annual public event that seeks to highlight Christianity's relevance to society and to positively contribute to public discourse on key aspects of civil life.

This podcast is produced by CPX. Please also check out our other podcast Life & Faith, a weekly conversation about the beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century, and if you’d like to know more about CPX, our website is publicchristianity.org