Lord Harries Lecture

November 16, 2016

On Thursday 10 November a group of Philosophy pupils, accompanied by the College’s scholars and many Old Bradfieldians, attended a lecture by renowned speaker Lord Harries, Former Bishop of Oxford, focusing on his latest book The Beauty and the Horror.

After meeting the pupils beforehand, Lord Harries took to the stage to speak on several key theological and philosophical issues, breaking down the arguments on all sides of religion-based debates. He talked in depth about the idea of suffering as an argument for the existence, or lack of existence of God and his narrative showed both his own clear faith in God as well as his compassion towards those who lose their faith through suffering.

Lord Harries also covered several other key questions such as the ideas of souls and heaven and the comparative need for suffering in our complex and broken world.

Following the talk, Lord Harries opened the floor for questions from the audience, answering on topics including faith conversion and personal beliefs of heaven with one old Bradfieldian even asking a very detailed question on what it may mean to get into heaven, a common disagreement and theological problem in Christian Theology.