News
Events

For the latest events in a simple calendar format please click here.

'Putting Principles-based Ethics in Proper Perspective: Appeals  to Covenant as the Basis for a Bioethical Framework': October 24, 2011

A special seminar on medical ethics led by senior medical oncologist, Dr Jim Rusthoven, from Canada. Talk followed by discussion. Professor John Wyatt (emeritus, UCL) participated.

"For three decades, principles-based ethics has been the dominant  paradigm for biomedical ethics.  Recently, appeals have been made  among health professionals of diverse beliefs and vocations within  medicine for a developing a covenantal ethical model.  In response, a  covenantal framework taken from a biblical perspective will be presented.   Its creational grounding gives validity to its appeal by persons of different  belief traditions."

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'Big Society - Bigger Nature?': October 1, 2011

60 people attended this conference on civil society, big society and the ecological crisis, organised by Dr Peter Scott, director of the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester. The event was co-sponsored by KLICE and two other organisations. Jonathan Chaplin gave a lecture entitled 'Can "nature" tell us how big society should be?'

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Sustainability in Crisis: Cambridge, 26-28 September 2011

100 people registered for this extremely lively and unique interdisciplinary, international, and inter-faith conference on the contribution of religion to issues of sustainability in consumption, production and governance. Full details of all 20 speakers, and the programme, can be viewed on the conference website: Sustainability in Crisis.

All sessions were filmed and will be available soon on the Faraday Institute website - watch this space.

Visit the conference blog for pre-conference reflections and post-conference follow-up.

Media coverage: here and here and here and here

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Summer Schools: Cambridge 2011

Medical ethics summer school

18 medical practitioners and health care workers attended ‘Medical Ethics for the 21st Century’, a two-day summer school offered by the KLICE Public Leadership programme in partnership with the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF). The main speaker was Professor John Wyatt, author of Matters of Life and Death (IVP 2009). Dr Pablo Martinez (CMF) spoke about recent developments in the work of CMF, KLICE Associate Director Joshua Hordern presented a literature review on medical ethics, and Dr Robert Song, president of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics participated in a panel on bio-ethics.

Law & Ethics summer school

15 lawyers and others involved in legal work gathered in partnership with The Lawyers Christian Fellowship, held in the peaceful surroundings of Tyndale House.  The school helped Christian lawyers who wish to engage more effectively and more theologically in the challenging climate of contemporary law and ethics. We looked at topics such as natural law, biblical law, international law, justice, justice mission, human rights, equality and the role of government. The course leader and academic coordinator was Dr David McIlroy, barrister, theologian and author of A Biblical View of Law and Justice and A Trinitarian Theology of Law

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'The Challenge of a Secular Age' - IOCS 12th Summer School: Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, 24-29 July 2011

KLICE Director Jonathan Chaplin spoke on 'Between Theocracy and Secularism: Religion and the State in Britain Today'.

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Ethics and Social Theology Study Group: Cambridge, June 30 - July 2, 2011

Theme: Missional Ethics

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The Economics of Good and Evil: From the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Credit Crunch, 21st June 2011

Tomas Sedlacek, Charles University (Prague). Member of the Czech Republic’s National Economic Council, senior banker & former adviser to President Václav Havel.  Co-sponsored by Transforming Business.  Further details here.

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God and Government Conference November 13 2010

KLICE was active at a conference in London hosted by the think-tank Theos on the theme of the book God and Government (SPCK 2009), co-edited by Nick Spencer (Theos) and Jonathan Chaplin (KLICE). The book is the fruit of a joint Theos-KLICE project. 140 attended the event, which was co-sponsored by Conservative Christian Fellowship (CCF), Christian Socialist Movement (CSM) and Liberal Democrat Christian Forum. Jonathan Chaplin gave a plenary lecture (available in text and audio), and a presentation in a CSM session, and Joshua Hordern gave a presentation on his publication One Nation but Two Cities (one of the 'Partisan' series) in a CCF sesion.

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Ethics and Social Theology Group Meeting July 1-3 2010

Futher information available here.

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Consulation on Equality and Religious Liberty June 14 2010

KLICE hosted an invited inter-denominational seminar on the growing tensions between equality laws and religious liberty, held on 14 June at the London offices of the Evangelical Alliance. The event was motivated by the desire to develop credible, balanced and informed responses to the questions arising in this area, and which are attracting increasing media attention. The event was a working consultation designed to produce a document of direct use to practitioners facing questions on these issues on a regular basis. Sessions addressed the current state of the law, the issue of ‘discrimination’, and the positive contribution of religion to society. Over 20 experts participated, representing 15 different bodies engaged with the questions. KLICE will steer the drafting process for the document over the next months.

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Conference on Sexual Ethics co-sponsored with Jubilee Centre 15 May 2010

Over 60 people attended this joint conference on Saturday 15 May 2010, held at Eden Baptist chapel. Keynote speakers were Rev Dr Dale Kuehne (St. Anselm College, NH, USA), author of Sex and the iWorld (Baker 2009), and Dr. Jonathan Burnside (Chair of KLICE Council). Workshops were led by Guy Brandon (Jubilee Centre), author of Just Sex (IVP 2009), David Instone-Brewer (Tyndale House), author of Divorce and Remarriage in the Church (Paternoster 2003), and Rachel Gardner (Creative Director, Romance Academy). At a pre-conference supper on Friday evening, held at Tyndale House and attended by 25, Dale Kuehne gave a talk on contemporary American politics under President Obama. Conference resources available here.

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Parliamentary launch 2010

The Director’s recent publication, Talking God: The Legitimacy of Religious Public Reasoning (London: Theos, 2009), was officially launched at a breakfast seminar for MPs and Peers from all political parties on 23 June in the House of Commons. The Director introduced the report and a lively discussion followed. The event was organised by Theos and hosted by John Battle MP.

Talking God is available on the Theos website:
www.theosthinktank.co.uk

A recent issue of Ethics in Brief is a summary of Talking God.

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'Responding to Secularism: Christian Witness in a Dogmatic Public Culture' 2009

24 April 2009, Tyndale House, Cambridge - Programme

65 people attended a day conference on mission and contemporary culture co-sponsored with the Gospel and Our Culture Network

Speakers:

Dr Dominic Erdozain (King’s College, London) on the growth of secularity in modern British culture click here for text of lecture

Prof John Stackhouse (Regent College, Vancouver) on public engagement in a secularised culture click here for audio of lecture (under repair)

Rev J Andrew Kirk (formerly University of Birmingham) on Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age click here for text of lecture

Dr Elaine Storkey (TEAR Fund) on responding to the secularist worldview.



'Justice: Rights and Wrongs. A Colloquium' 2009
with Prof Nicholas Wolterstorff (Emeritus, Yale University)

May 21-22 2009 Christ Church, Oxford - Programme

Sponsored by the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life
(Oxford) and the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics

Speakers:
Prof Onora O’Neill (British Academy, Philosophy)
Prof Roger Crisp (Oxford, Philosophy)
Prof Timothy Endicott (Oxford, Law)
Prof Julian Rivers (Bristol, Law; former KLICE Advisory Council Chair)
Dr Bernd Wannenwetsch (McDonald Centre, Theology)
Dr John Perry (McDonald Centre, Theology)

Co-chairs:
Prof Nigel Biggar (McDonald Centre)
Dr Jonathan Chaplin (KLICE)

KLICE doctoral grantee Joshua Hordern (Edinburgh) prepared a precis of the book for conference registrants. Prof Wolterstorff’s book was published by Princeton University Press in 2008. Richard Bernstein of the New School for Social Research describes it as "the most impressive book on justice since Rawls's A Theory of Justice". The conference papers, plus a response by Prof. Wolterstorff, appear in a special issue of Studies in Christian Ethics in Spring 2010, guest edited by Jonathan Chaplin.

An extended version of Professor Wolterstorff's response to his commentators is available here.

70 people registered for the event, which was also the 2009 KLICE Annual Book Colloquium.

McDonald Centre website: http://www.mcdonald.ox.ac.uk/


Lunchtime Seminars on Political Ethics

Wednesday 8 October 2008 12.30pm-2.00pm
What is Economic Justice? (Paternoster 2007), with author Rev. Dr. Andrew Hartropp (Oxford Centre for Mission Studies)

Wednesday 19 November 2008 12.20pm-2.00pm
What is Economic Justice? with author Rev. Dr. Andrew Hartropp

Wednesday 3 December 2008 12.30pm-2.00pm
What is Economic Justice? with author Rev. Dr. Andrew Hartropp

Lunchtime Seminars meet occasionally as announced. For further information contact:

Jonathan Chaplin
01223 566625 or
klice@tyndale.cam.ac.uk



2008 KLICE Book Colloquium

A one-day colloquium on KLICE Advisory Council member Brian Brock’s book, Singing the Ethos of God: On the Place of Christian Ethics in Scripture (Eerdmans 2007).

Date: 3-4 September 2008
Location: Tyndale House

Speakers:

30 people participated in the event. The papers appear in a special issue of European Journal of Theology, November 2009, for which Dr. Simon Woodman (South Wales Baptist College) also wrote a precis of the book.



2007 KLICE Book Colloquium

A one-day colloquium on Oliver O'Donovan's book, The Ways of Judgment (Eerdmans, 2005)

Date: 3-4 July 2007 - Programme

Location: Newnham College, Cambridge

Speakers:

25 people attended the event. The papers were published in a special issue of Political Theology in 2008 on the work of Oliver O'Donovan.



2007 Seminar on Public Theology

“Theological Visions and Public Languages” - Programme

An invited seminar for public policy practitioners and public theologians, discussion focusing on documents recently produced by each organisation (listed below). 35 people attended, representing 20 organisations.

Date: 18 April 2007

Location: Tyndale House

Participating organisations:

Centre for Faith and Society at the Von Hügel Institute (CFS): Louder Than Words, by Andrew Bradstock (then co-director of the Centre for Faith and Society)

Evangelical Alliance Public Affairs Department (EA): Faith and Nation

Jubilee Centre: Jubilee Manifesto

Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics (KLICE): ‘Speaking from Faith in Democracy’ (Jonathan Chaplin’s KLICE inaugural lecture)

Theos: Doing God, by Nick Spencer

 

1. Colloquium on Biblical Law will take place on 19-20 March. Click here for booking form.

2. Latest KLICE News published for January 2012.

3. Video: Director interviewed on PM’s speech on ‘Christian Britain’.

4. Audio and video recordings of 'Sustainability in Crisis' conference now available on Faraday Institute website.