Conference 2009

Perfect Freedom:
Liberal Faith Today and Tomorrow

Tuesday 14 to Friday 17 July 2009
at High Leigh Conference Centre

Chair: Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee

Secretary: Pat Boyd

Chaplain: Ven Jane Sinclair assisted by Rosemary Field

The conference will consider liberal faith from several perspectives:

• How is it related to liberty, to liberality?
• Is religious freedom an oxymoron?
• What of the authority of Scripture?
• How liberal can a theology be?
• Does the church need liberating for tomorrow?

Speakers (and what they said)

Tuesday

Geoffrey Rowell

For what we have received...

Rt Revd Geoffrey Rowell is Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe. He is the author of several books including Hell and the Victorians and a biography of John Keble. From a traditionalist perspective Bishop Rowell will challenge the conference on key issues.

Talk: Listen (54 mins)

Wednesday

Keith Ward

Liberalism in Science and Religion

Keith Ward is a philosopher and theologian, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University Emeritus, and an ordained priest in the Church of England.

Talk: Listen (55 mins)

Brian Smith

Liberating the Church for Today and Tomorrow

Rt Revd Brian Smith is the Bishop of Edinburgh. He studied theology in Cambridge, focusing on the philosophy of religion, and held a number of posts in the Diocese of Oxford, including that of Senior Tutor at Ripon College Cuddesdon.

Talk: Listen (56 mins)

Helen-Ann Hartley

Liberating Scripture: holding on to fundamentals without being fundamentalist

Revd Dr Helen-Ann Hartley is New Testament Tutor at Ripon College, Cuddesdon. She also acts as a consultant to BBC television in development of programme ideas in Religion and Ethics.

Talk: Listen (51 mins)

Thursday

Gary Dorrien

The Crisis and Necessity of Liberal Theology

Gary Dorrien is Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, Professor of Religion at Columbia University, and an Episcopal priest. His trilogy The Making of American Liberal Theology has been described as the definitive work in the field.

Talk: Listen (61 mins)

Lucy Winkett

Liberalism: Theological and Economic

Lucy Winkett is Precentor and Canon of St Paul's Cathedral with responsibility for music and liturgy at the Cathedral. She is a founder adviser to Theos, a think tank launched in 2006.

Talk: Listen (44 mins)

Friday

Jonathan Clatworthy

Liberal Theology - to bring peace or a sword?

Jonathan Clatworthy is General Secretary of the Modern Churchpeople's Union. He has worked as a parish priest, university chaplain and lecturer in Ethics. His latest book is Liberal Faith in a Divided Church.

Talk: Listen (40 mins), Text