05/02/2024
Save the Date: The 2024 Ferguson Lecture takes place on Thursday 7 March 2024. There are two parts; a presentation at Manchester Cathedral at 12 noon, and a lecture in the Department of Religions and Theology at the The University of Manchester at 4 PM. The Ferguson Lecturer this year is Niels Henrik Gregersen (University of Copenhagen). Information on his talks is given below.
Both talks are free; no ticket required. Please join us!
Ferguson presentation, ‘The role of the cathedral in contemporary culture: Danish experiences’, Thursday 7 March, 12 – 1 PM, St Denys’ Room, Visitors’ Centre, Manchester Cathedral, followed by lunch.
Due to their urban setting, cathedrals are open to a wider sense of sociality and transcendence in comparison with other church buildings. In his presentation, Professor Gregersen will speak about Danish experiences with different kinds of rural and urban church buildings, about the life that flows through church doors, and about the fluid relations between the churches and public life in Denmark. What are the similarities and differences to English experiences – in terms of ecclesial models, and in terms of participation, Christian identity, and cultural identity?
Ferguson lecture, ‘What does it mean to have a home? From deep incarnation to deep inhabitation’, Thursday 7 March, 4-5.30 PM, conference room C1.18 in the Ellen Wilkinson building (no. 77 on the campus map) at the University of Manchester, followed by a reception.
Diverse fields such as phenomenology, anthropology, and ecology have increasingly emphasized the importance of finding and making home(s) in a chaotic world. In this Ferguson Lecture, Gregersen expands the theological view of “deep incarnation” into the idea of a “deep inhabitation”. Deep incarnation argues that the Word or Wisdom of God not only became human but conjoined with the Earth in its full extension. Correspondingly, deep inhabitation finds the dwelling places of the ubiquitous God in the always limited and often broken habitations of life. The view of deep inhabitation argues that we are not thrown into a foreign world but homed by a world of creation that welcomes its inhabitants, human as well as more-than-human life-forms. So, how do we inhabit the world in ways that are both hospitable and constructive?
