Events > The Clark Lecture Series
The Clark Lecture Series
Named in honour of eminent scientist, Old Boy of The Scots College, and inventor of the bionic ear, Professor Graeme Clark AC, the Clark Lecture Series aims to inspire the best of thinking about faith, learning and leadership by bringing to Sydney the world’s finest scholars.
The inaugural Lectures in 2014 were delivered by distinguished theologian and public commentator Professor John Stackhouse, formerly of Regent College, Vancouver, on the theme of ‘Faith and the Intellectual Quest in the 21st Century’. The public lectures are accompanied by the two-day Ethos Conference at St Andrew’s College within the University of Sydney, which gathers bright students, teachers and academics to explore the intersection of faith, learning and leadership. The Clark Lecture Series makes a significant contribution to the understanding of education, formation and the common good in Australia and is a flagship initiative of The Scots College.
More information about The Clark Lecture Series can be found at www.clarklectures.org
The inaugural Lectures in 2014 were delivered by distinguished theologian and public commentator Professor John Stackhouse, formerly of Regent College, Vancouver, on the theme of ‘Faith and the Intellectual Quest in the 21st Century’. The public lectures are accompanied by the two-day Ethos Conference at St Andrew’s College within the University of Sydney, which gathers bright students, teachers and academics to explore the intersection of faith, learning and leadership. The Clark Lecture Series makes a significant contribution to the understanding of education, formation and the common good in Australia and is a flagship initiative of The Scots College.
More information about The Clark Lecture Series can be found at www.clarklectures.org
Previous Lectures
2019: Law, Religion and Education - Pathways to the Good Society
with Professor Nicholas Aroney
Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Queensland
While Australia has no Bill of Rights, its Constitution does protect certain rights. The foundation of Australian civil society was formed and shaped by a legal and religious tradition that sought to equip its people towards a robust and good society. With the rise of secularism and divergent public opinion pertaining to the role and influence of religion in Australian Schools, the pathways to a good society has splintered. Does Australia's current legal framework still help its people contribute to a just society? What role does religion play in the formation of Australia's population? Is our education system helping form young Australians holistically?
In his fascinating lecture, leading Professor of Constitutional Law, Professor Nicholas Aroney explored these realities and highlighted the various modalities in which the law, education and religion contribute to serve that which is common and good.
Professor Nicholas Aroney is Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Queensland. He is also a Fellow of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, a Research Fellow of Emmanuel College at The University of Queensland, a Fellow of the Centre for Law and Religion at Emory University and an External Member of the Islam, Law and Modernity research program at Durham University.
His visit to the College culminated with his keynote address at the annual Clark Lecture. Held at the Sydney Opera House, Professor Aroney explored the intersectionality of Law, Education, and Religion, discussing the manner in which these pathways of formation shaped a good society in Australia’s current day and age. It was a tremendous honour hosting Professor Nicholas Aroney as the 2019 Clark Fellow, and we look forward to seeing many members of our community at the 2020 Clark Lecture with distinguished parent educator Professor Nancy Hill, who holds the Charles Bigelow Chair of Education at Harvard.
For recordings on Professor Nicholas Aroney's talk, please click here.
with Professor Nicholas Aroney
Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Queensland
While Australia has no Bill of Rights, its Constitution does protect certain rights. The foundation of Australian civil society was formed and shaped by a legal and religious tradition that sought to equip its people towards a robust and good society. With the rise of secularism and divergent public opinion pertaining to the role and influence of religion in Australian Schools, the pathways to a good society has splintered. Does Australia's current legal framework still help its people contribute to a just society? What role does religion play in the formation of Australia's population? Is our education system helping form young Australians holistically?
In his fascinating lecture, leading Professor of Constitutional Law, Professor Nicholas Aroney explored these realities and highlighted the various modalities in which the law, education and religion contribute to serve that which is common and good.
Professor Nicholas Aroney is Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Queensland. He is also a Fellow of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, a Research Fellow of Emmanuel College at The University of Queensland, a Fellow of the Centre for Law and Religion at Emory University and an External Member of the Islam, Law and Modernity research program at Durham University.
His visit to the College culminated with his keynote address at the annual Clark Lecture. Held at the Sydney Opera House, Professor Aroney explored the intersectionality of Law, Education, and Religion, discussing the manner in which these pathways of formation shaped a good society in Australia’s current day and age. It was a tremendous honour hosting Professor Nicholas Aroney as the 2019 Clark Fellow, and we look forward to seeing many members of our community at the 2020 Clark Lecture with distinguished parent educator Professor Nancy Hill, who holds the Charles Bigelow Chair of Education at Harvard.
For recordings on Professor Nicholas Aroney's talk, please click here.
2018: Character and the Common Good
with Professor John Haldane
J.Newton Rayzor Sr. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews in Scotland
In our current day and age the amount voices influencing the thoughts, ideas, and practices of civil society is influencing dramatically the character development of all people. Attempts to comprehend divergent, relative thinking embedded in 21st Century practices has witnessed a shift away from a common philosophical and religious consensus despite the growing challenges that face contemporary society. Subsequently, the ideas of ancient, modern, and contemporary thinkers have created a mosaic of opinions regarding what is considered reasonable, common, and just in the way of personal and social morality. Such complexities have clouded society's ability to re-imagine their contribution to and for the common good.
Leading Philosopher Professor John Haldane was welcomed as the 2018 Distinguished Professorial Fellow Professor as he explored the ramifications of such realities and highlight the various modalities in which we are called to serve that which is common and good. At the Clark Lecture, Professor Haldane gave a masterful analysis of the way in which the terms ‘character’ and ‘the common good’ are often imprecisely used, and the importance of having a robust understanding of them if we are to form young people as future leaders. He challenged the audience with several historical and contemporary examples, while also signalling a hopeful vision of the future through continued attention to the vital work of developing character.
Professor John Haldane is the J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, Texas and a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He received his higher education in the Visual Arts, initially at Medway College of Design. Thereafter, he attended Wimbledon School of Art (University of the Arts London) (BA in Fine Art) and studied and trained for Art Education at the University of London, Institute of Education (PGCE). After graduating, he began studying philosophy at the University of London, Birkbeck College, receiving a BA Philosophy and PhD.
A proponent of analytical approaches to the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, Professor Haldane has authored or edited dozens of articles and books, including "An Intelligent Person's Guide to Religion", "Faithful Reason: Essays Catholic and Philosophical", "Reasonable Faith", and "Atheism and Theism". He has also appeared on several BBC radio and television programs and contributed to the Times, the Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman, and several other outlets.
Professor John Haldane has well over 200 publications that deal with subjects such as Art and Aesthetics, Education, Ethics, the History of Philosophy, the Philosophy of the Mind, Epistemology and Metaphysics, Political and Social Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Theology.
For recordings of Professor Haldane's addresses, please click here.
with Professor John Haldane
J.Newton Rayzor Sr. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews in Scotland
In our current day and age the amount voices influencing the thoughts, ideas, and practices of civil society is influencing dramatically the character development of all people. Attempts to comprehend divergent, relative thinking embedded in 21st Century practices has witnessed a shift away from a common philosophical and religious consensus despite the growing challenges that face contemporary society. Subsequently, the ideas of ancient, modern, and contemporary thinkers have created a mosaic of opinions regarding what is considered reasonable, common, and just in the way of personal and social morality. Such complexities have clouded society's ability to re-imagine their contribution to and for the common good.
Leading Philosopher Professor John Haldane was welcomed as the 2018 Distinguished Professorial Fellow Professor as he explored the ramifications of such realities and highlight the various modalities in which we are called to serve that which is common and good. At the Clark Lecture, Professor Haldane gave a masterful analysis of the way in which the terms ‘character’ and ‘the common good’ are often imprecisely used, and the importance of having a robust understanding of them if we are to form young people as future leaders. He challenged the audience with several historical and contemporary examples, while also signalling a hopeful vision of the future through continued attention to the vital work of developing character.
Professor John Haldane is the J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, Texas and a Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He received his higher education in the Visual Arts, initially at Medway College of Design. Thereafter, he attended Wimbledon School of Art (University of the Arts London) (BA in Fine Art) and studied and trained for Art Education at the University of London, Institute of Education (PGCE). After graduating, he began studying philosophy at the University of London, Birkbeck College, receiving a BA Philosophy and PhD.
A proponent of analytical approaches to the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, Professor Haldane has authored or edited dozens of articles and books, including "An Intelligent Person's Guide to Religion", "Faithful Reason: Essays Catholic and Philosophical", "Reasonable Faith", and "Atheism and Theism". He has also appeared on several BBC radio and television programs and contributed to the Times, the Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman, and several other outlets.
Professor John Haldane has well over 200 publications that deal with subjects such as Art and Aesthetics, Education, Ethics, the History of Philosophy, the Philosophy of the Mind, Epistemology and Metaphysics, Political and Social Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Theology.
For recordings of Professor Haldane's addresses, please click here.
2017: The World We Think We Live In: Schooling and Christian Imagination
with Professor David I. Smith
Director of Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, Director of Graduate Studies in Education, Calvin College, USA
At this moment in cultural history most of us are quite aware of being part of a material world of economic forces and neural processes that constrain who we can become. Yet the world we think we live in – the ways in which we interpret our surroundings, the expectations we have of others, our dreams, fears, hopes, and regrets – also plays a major role in guiding our choices and trajectories. This “social imaginary,” our shared way of imagining what we are doing and why, shapes the way we think of schooling and is in turn shaped in part by our experiences of schooling. This complicates discussions of religion and education, suggesting that they cannot be reduced to arguing about whether and when religion should be mentioned in school.
Eminent Professor David I. Smith was welcomed as the 2017 Distinguished Professorial Fellow Professor by the Scots College, as he sought to explore the interaction between faith and imagination. He also demonstrated the increasingly materialist and utilitarian themes in language textbooks since the Enlightenment and challenged teachers and school leaders to rethink the habits in our classrooms and in our school life to better orient them towards the formation of character, service and a vision for human flourishing.
David Smith has an international reputation as a thinker and practitioner at the intersection of faith and teaching. He is the founding Director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning and Director of Graduate Studies in Education at Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
After undergraduate studies at the University of Oxford, Professor Smith began his career teaching French, German, and Russian in public secondary schools in the United Kingdom, where he became fascinated by the question of how our beliefs, values, and commitments can shape and guide our approaches to teaching and learning. After graduate work in philosophical theology, philosophy of education, and curriculum studies he moved to Calvin College, where he has received the College’s Award for Innovative Teaching. He is the Senior Editor of the Journal of Education and Christian Belief, and has served on the Values Education Council of the United Kingdom.
His original questions – how does my identity as a Christian affect how I teach? What other values and convictions are implicitly embedded in our actions as teachers? – have continued to guide his work. He has spent more than two decades exploring the implications of rethinking the language classroom in terms of hospitality to strangers and investigating the wider relationship between pedagogy and spiritual and moral formation. In recent years he has traveled widely as a speaker and consultant to schools, universities, and conferences in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. His books include, among others, Learning from the Stranger: Christian Faith and Cultural Diversity, and Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning.
For recordings of Professor Smith's addresses, please click here.
with Professor David I. Smith
Director of Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning, Director of Graduate Studies in Education, Calvin College, USA
At this moment in cultural history most of us are quite aware of being part of a material world of economic forces and neural processes that constrain who we can become. Yet the world we think we live in – the ways in which we interpret our surroundings, the expectations we have of others, our dreams, fears, hopes, and regrets – also plays a major role in guiding our choices and trajectories. This “social imaginary,” our shared way of imagining what we are doing and why, shapes the way we think of schooling and is in turn shaped in part by our experiences of schooling. This complicates discussions of religion and education, suggesting that they cannot be reduced to arguing about whether and when religion should be mentioned in school.
Eminent Professor David I. Smith was welcomed as the 2017 Distinguished Professorial Fellow Professor by the Scots College, as he sought to explore the interaction between faith and imagination. He also demonstrated the increasingly materialist and utilitarian themes in language textbooks since the Enlightenment and challenged teachers and school leaders to rethink the habits in our classrooms and in our school life to better orient them towards the formation of character, service and a vision for human flourishing.
David Smith has an international reputation as a thinker and practitioner at the intersection of faith and teaching. He is the founding Director of the Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning and Director of Graduate Studies in Education at Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
After undergraduate studies at the University of Oxford, Professor Smith began his career teaching French, German, and Russian in public secondary schools in the United Kingdom, where he became fascinated by the question of how our beliefs, values, and commitments can shape and guide our approaches to teaching and learning. After graduate work in philosophical theology, philosophy of education, and curriculum studies he moved to Calvin College, where he has received the College’s Award for Innovative Teaching. He is the Senior Editor of the Journal of Education and Christian Belief, and has served on the Values Education Council of the United Kingdom.
His original questions – how does my identity as a Christian affect how I teach? What other values and convictions are implicitly embedded in our actions as teachers? – have continued to guide his work. He has spent more than two decades exploring the implications of rethinking the language classroom in terms of hospitality to strangers and investigating the wider relationship between pedagogy and spiritual and moral formation. In recent years he has traveled widely as a speaker and consultant to schools, universities, and conferences in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. His books include, among others, Learning from the Stranger: Christian Faith and Cultural Diversity, and Teaching and Christian Practices: Reshaping Faith and Learning.
For recordings of Professor Smith's addresses, please click here.
2016: Faith and Fusion - An MIT Physicist Explores Science and the Sources of Truth
with Professor Ian Hutchinson
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), USA
Do faith and science fuse? Are they forever at odds, or can they both be sources of truth? Exploring these and other essential questions about knowledge, science and faith, the 2016 Clark Lectures featured eminent plasma physicist Professor Ian Hutchinson from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as the 2016 Distinguished Professorial Fellow Professor. Surveying history, philosophy and contemporary science, he pointed to the religiously-inspired origins of science and the practice of modern scientists like him as strong reasons to view this clash as a myth. He answered a number of tough questions on nuclear fusion research, Genesis and the origins of the universe, and the relationship between science, relativism and truth.
While in Sydney, Professor Hutchinson also spoke in a range of other settings, including:
Professor Ian Hutchinson works at the cutting edge of nuclear fusion and plasma physics, harnessing the power of the sun and stars to generate new energy sources. He and his MIT team designed, built and operate the Alcator C-Mod tokamak confinement device, an international experimental facility whose plasma temperatures reach beyond 50 million degrees Celsius, and are prototypical of a future fusion reactor. He directed the Alcator project from 1987 to 2003 and served as head of MIT’s nuclear science and engineering department from 2003 to 2009. He is the author of over 200 journal articles and the classic work on measuring plasmas, Principles of Plasma Physics. Becoming a Christian while an undergraduate at Cambridge, Professor Hutchinson has written and lectured extensively on the relationship between science and the Christian faith for The Veritas Forum on America’s leading universities, and is the author of the 2011 book Monopolizing Knowledge: A scientist refutes religion-denying reason-destroying scientism.
For recordings of Professor Hutchinson's addresses, please click here.
with Professor Ian Hutchinson
Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), USA
Do faith and science fuse? Are they forever at odds, or can they both be sources of truth? Exploring these and other essential questions about knowledge, science and faith, the 2016 Clark Lectures featured eminent plasma physicist Professor Ian Hutchinson from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as the 2016 Distinguished Professorial Fellow Professor. Surveying history, philosophy and contemporary science, he pointed to the religiously-inspired origins of science and the practice of modern scientists like him as strong reasons to view this clash as a myth. He answered a number of tough questions on nuclear fusion research, Genesis and the origins of the universe, and the relationship between science, relativism and truth.
While in Sydney, Professor Hutchinson also spoke in a range of other settings, including:
- 'The Interview: Prof Ian Hutchinson', ABC Sunday Nights with John Cleary, 14 August 2016
- 'Star Power! Fusion energy science frontiers', University of New South Wales Faculties of Science and Engineering, 15 August 2016
- 'Will Technology save the world?' Sydney University Evangelical Union Postgraduate and Staff Fellowship, 15 August 2016
- 'How much faith should we put in science?', ABC Religion and Ethics, 17 August 2016
- 'Faith, Knowledge and the Future of Science', The Ethos Conference on Faith, Learning and Leadership, St Andrew's College, University of Sydney, 17 August 2016
- 'Can a scientist believe in miracles?', St Barnabas Anglican Church, Broadway, 21 August 2016
- 'Going Nuclear', interview for Life and Faith podcast, The Centre for Public Christianity, October 2016
Professor Ian Hutchinson works at the cutting edge of nuclear fusion and plasma physics, harnessing the power of the sun and stars to generate new energy sources. He and his MIT team designed, built and operate the Alcator C-Mod tokamak confinement device, an international experimental facility whose plasma temperatures reach beyond 50 million degrees Celsius, and are prototypical of a future fusion reactor. He directed the Alcator project from 1987 to 2003 and served as head of MIT’s nuclear science and engineering department from 2003 to 2009. He is the author of over 200 journal articles and the classic work on measuring plasmas, Principles of Plasma Physics. Becoming a Christian while an undergraduate at Cambridge, Professor Hutchinson has written and lectured extensively on the relationship between science and the Christian faith for The Veritas Forum on America’s leading universities, and is the author of the 2011 book Monopolizing Knowledge: A scientist refutes religion-denying reason-destroying scientism.
For recordings of Professor Hutchinson's addresses, please click here.
2015: Truth and Tradition in a Fractured World: Education the whole person, past and present
with Professor David Bebbington
Professor of History, The University of Stirling, UK
Educational institutions in Australia like The Scots College were founded with a vision for forming holistic young men in ancient truths and traditions. Almost 125 years later, our culture doubts the reality of truth and questions the utility of traditions. What place might they have in educating the whole person in the fractured world of the twenty-first century?
Exploring these key questions and modelling the best of thinking about faith, learning and leadership, The Scots College was delighted to welcome as its 2015 Distinguished Professorial Fellow Professor David Bebbington.
Professor David William Bebbington – one of the most influential historians working today – is widely acknowledged as a world authority on religious history. He is also recognised for having devised the Bebbington Quadrilateral as the standard definition of evangelicalism, one of the most important global religious movements of the twenty-first century.
An undergraduate at Jesus College, Cambridge, David Bebbington began his doctoral studies there before becoming a research fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Since 1976 he has taught at the University of Stirling, where from 1999 he has held a personal professorial chair in History. He has also taught at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, at Regent College, Vancouver, at Notre Dame University, Indiana, at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and at Baylor University, Texas. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 2006-07 he was the President of the Ecclesiastical History Society.
He has written or edited seventeen books, most notably Patterns in History (1979); Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (1989); Victorian Nonconformity (1992); The Mind of Gladstone: Religion, Homer and Politics (2004); Baptists through the Centuries: A History of a Global People (2010); and, most recently, with Oxford University Press, Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts (2012). He has delivered a number of notable public lectures, most recently the Hughey Lectures at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague (2008), the Friends of Dr Williams's Library, London, Lecture (2010) and the Moule Lecture at Ridley Hall, Cambridge (2012).
For recordings of Professor Bebbington's many addresses while in Sydney, please click here.
with Professor David Bebbington
Professor of History, The University of Stirling, UK
Educational institutions in Australia like The Scots College were founded with a vision for forming holistic young men in ancient truths and traditions. Almost 125 years later, our culture doubts the reality of truth and questions the utility of traditions. What place might they have in educating the whole person in the fractured world of the twenty-first century?
Exploring these key questions and modelling the best of thinking about faith, learning and leadership, The Scots College was delighted to welcome as its 2015 Distinguished Professorial Fellow Professor David Bebbington.
Professor David William Bebbington – one of the most influential historians working today – is widely acknowledged as a world authority on religious history. He is also recognised for having devised the Bebbington Quadrilateral as the standard definition of evangelicalism, one of the most important global religious movements of the twenty-first century.
An undergraduate at Jesus College, Cambridge, David Bebbington began his doctoral studies there before becoming a research fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. Since 1976 he has taught at the University of Stirling, where from 1999 he has held a personal professorial chair in History. He has also taught at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, at Regent College, Vancouver, at Notre Dame University, Indiana, at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and at Baylor University, Texas. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 2006-07 he was the President of the Ecclesiastical History Society.
He has written or edited seventeen books, most notably Patterns in History (1979); Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (1989); Victorian Nonconformity (1992); The Mind of Gladstone: Religion, Homer and Politics (2004); Baptists through the Centuries: A History of a Global People (2010); and, most recently, with Oxford University Press, Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts (2012). He has delivered a number of notable public lectures, most recently the Hughey Lectures at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague (2008), the Friends of Dr Williams's Library, London, Lecture (2010) and the Moule Lecture at Ridley Hall, Cambridge (2012).
For recordings of Professor Bebbington's many addresses while in Sydney, please click here.
2014: Into a Far Country: Faith and the Intellectual Quest in the 21st Century
with Professor John G. Stackhouse, Jr.
Sangwoo Youtong Chee Chair of Theology and Culture at Regent College, Vancouver
The inaugural Scots Distinguished Fellow for 2014 was Professor John G. Stackhouse, Jr. who holds the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Chair of Theology and Culture at Regent College, Vancouver. Professor Stackhouse is one of Canada's leading public intellectuals and one of the world’s most sought-after writers and speakers on the intersection of Christian faith and public culture. The author of 8 books, including Need to Know: Vocation as the Heart of Christian Epistemology (Oxford, 2014), Can God Be Trusted? Faith and the Challenge of Evil (IVP, 2009) and Humble Apologetics (Oxford, 2006), as well as over 600 articles, he engages with a wide range of audiences, from CEOs to churches, musicians to major media outlets such as The New York Times, Time, ABC News and CBC Radio. He has lectured at the world's leading universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Edinburgh and Fudan.
Professor Stackhouse delivered 2 public lectures:
'Is Dawkins Right?
Are Christians Dumb, Delusional and Dangerous?'
Evening public lecture, Tuesday 12 August 2014
Verbruggen Hall, Conservatorium of Music
(Recorded and broadcast by ABC TV Big Ideas)
'You're Not Going to Heaven,
and That's a Good Thing Too'
Evening public lecture, Thursday 14 August 2014
Coote Theatre, The Scots College
(Video here)
Professor Stackhouse also gave 2 keynote addresses at The Faith, Intellect, Vocation Conference:
Irreducible Complexity: Why We Need to Think Hard
The World is Not Enough: Lessons on Mission from James Bond & Jesus Christ
Wednesday 13 - Thursday 14 August 2014
St Andrew's College, Carillon Rd, The University of Sydney
Professor Stackhouse also made a number of contributions to debates in the media over knowledge, education and religion, featuring on ABC TV's Q&A, in The Australian, Radio 2GB and 2UE, Hope 103.2 and Radio National.
with Professor John G. Stackhouse, Jr.
Sangwoo Youtong Chee Chair of Theology and Culture at Regent College, Vancouver
The inaugural Scots Distinguished Fellow for 2014 was Professor John G. Stackhouse, Jr. who holds the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Chair of Theology and Culture at Regent College, Vancouver. Professor Stackhouse is one of Canada's leading public intellectuals and one of the world’s most sought-after writers and speakers on the intersection of Christian faith and public culture. The author of 8 books, including Need to Know: Vocation as the Heart of Christian Epistemology (Oxford, 2014), Can God Be Trusted? Faith and the Challenge of Evil (IVP, 2009) and Humble Apologetics (Oxford, 2006), as well as over 600 articles, he engages with a wide range of audiences, from CEOs to churches, musicians to major media outlets such as The New York Times, Time, ABC News and CBC Radio. He has lectured at the world's leading universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Edinburgh and Fudan.
Professor Stackhouse delivered 2 public lectures:
'Is Dawkins Right?
Are Christians Dumb, Delusional and Dangerous?'
Evening public lecture, Tuesday 12 August 2014
Verbruggen Hall, Conservatorium of Music
(Recorded and broadcast by ABC TV Big Ideas)
'You're Not Going to Heaven,
and That's a Good Thing Too'
Evening public lecture, Thursday 14 August 2014
Coote Theatre, The Scots College
(Video here)
Professor Stackhouse also gave 2 keynote addresses at The Faith, Intellect, Vocation Conference:
Irreducible Complexity: Why We Need to Think Hard
The World is Not Enough: Lessons on Mission from James Bond & Jesus Christ
Wednesday 13 - Thursday 14 August 2014
St Andrew's College, Carillon Rd, The University of Sydney
Professor Stackhouse also made a number of contributions to debates in the media over knowledge, education and religion, featuring on ABC TV's Q&A, in The Australian, Radio 2GB and 2UE, Hope 103.2 and Radio National.
