The University of Edinburgh Gifford Lectureships Committee would like to thank you for your interest in our Gifford Lectures and for visiting and commenting on our blog. We trust you have enjoyed Professor Kathryn Tanner’s series and this opportunity to engage with the themes and questions arising from her lectures. We are grateful to Professor […]

This post offers a shorter summary of Professor Kathryn Tanner’s final lecture, after which I have invited three contributors to help us conclude the series: Professor David Fergusson will offer his ‘vote of thanks;’ Dr. Lydia Schumacher will contribute her statement from the New College Giffords seminar; and a postgraduate student, Rev. Russell Almon, will […]

This post provides a summary of Kathryn Tanner’s fifth Gifford lecture, entitled ‘Another World?’ Afterwards, my New College colleagues Evan Graber and Clement Wen will be providing their appraisals of Tanner’s depiction of the future as seen by both finance-disciplined capitalism and Christianity. As always, we invite your own contributions to our discussion (see my […]

In this post I offer a summary of Tanner’s fourth Gifford lecture, followed by a brief critique of her characterisation of the present moment in Christianity. Two of my New College colleagues, Jo Schonewolf and Amy Plender, will also offer responses to the material, then it’s over to you for questions and commentary. The lecture video […]

In this post I will first offer a summary of Kathryn Tanner’s third lecture, aiming to stay as close to her terms as possible. I will then open a critical line of inquiry on the discussion thread, asking how Tanner’s promised ‘Protestant anti-work ethic’ succeeds given its continuing (albeit ‘converted’) use of terms such as ‘project’ […]

What follows is a summary paraphrase of Kathryn Tanner’s second Gifford lecture (see also the night’s live twitter feed at #GiffordsEd). It is necessarily brief, lacking many of the vivid examples Tanner uses, but I hope it will provide a refresher for those who attended the lecture as well as a preview (of the video […]

We had a lively opening Gifford lecture with Professor Tanner at the Business School tonight! If you missed it, you can review the ‘live’ rendition at the Twitter hashtag #GiffordsEd. Also, as of Wednesday, May 4th, the lecture video has been available at this link. For this and subsequent discussion threads, consider responding to the following questions: Is there a technical […]

Our 2016 Gifford Lectures begin next week! You are invited to join a number of contributors who will be responding to Professor Kathryn Tanner, and one another, on this blog. We’re hoping to develop a lively community discussion, both at the lectures and online, so we want you to take part. Here’s how to join the discussion in three […]

In Professor Kathryn Tanner’s introduction to this year’s Giffords theme, she states that contemporary capitalism can ‘hinder the development of any critical perspective on it.’ Given this situation, we are looking forward to her lectures as a mode of resistance to the influence of finance-dominated capitalism on our societies, workplaces, and ‘spiritualities’. This weblog offers the […]