Type: Free public lecture

Format: Online (via Zoom)

Speaker: Dr Emmanuel Nathan, Monsignor Denis Edwards Visiting Fellow at the LSRI

Audience: Theologians, ethicists, philosophers, and anyone interested in critical analysis of contemporary social theory

Action: Register for free. The LSRI will send the Zoom link separately the day before.

Content: In this lecture, Dr Nathan will analyse how and why the COVID crisis has managed to galvanise us, as a species, into immediate and sometimes radical action. He will argue that this difference is related to human conceptualisations of the future. By exploring resources from the theological tradition, as well as recent philosophical work on themes such as memory and forgetting, Dr Nathan will present a radical new interpretation of the shift that has been wrought by the global pandemic.

Biography: Dr Emmanuel Nathan is currently Monsignor Denis Edwards Visiting Fellow at the Laudato Si' Research Institute, based at Campion Hall, University of Oxford. This annual visiting fellowship has been established in memory of the late Monsignor Denis Edwards, who was a pioneer in the engagement of theology, science, and ecology. It is open to scholars living in Australia, New Zealand, or Oceania. Dr Nathan is Director of the Research Centre for Studies of the Second Vatican Council at the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy, Australian Catholic University. Based in Sydney, he is a senior lecturer in biblical studies and comparative theology. He holds a PhD (STD) from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.