Inaugural Lecture. Towards a theological ethics of inclusive and transformative higher education.

In his inaugural lecture Professor Richard Bourne offers a series of reflections on how theological ethics might give some substance to the often too rhetorical talk of the transformative power of higher education. After tracing his development as a political theologian through themes of poverty and injustice, nonviolence, church and state, crime and punishment, and politics and the arts. Prof. Bourne will explore his development of an experiential theological pedagogy. Drawing on these diverse themes he will provide some tentative suggestions of a theological ethics of inclusive and transformative higher education.

Biography:

Richard Bourne is a Professor of Pedagogy and Theological Ethics and Pro Vice Chancellor of Learning and Teaching. He has a BA and MA in Theology and a PhD in Theological Ethics from the University of Exeter. He taught at the University of Cambridge, the Open Theological College (University of Gloucestershire), the University of Lancaster, the University of Cumbria, and Leeds Trinity University before coming to York St John University in 2015. He serves on the committee of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics, AdvanceHE’s Strategic Advisory Group on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, and is a trustee of the York City of Sanctuary. He has published widely in political theology and theological ethics. He is the author of “Seek the Peace of the City: Christian Political Criticism as Public, Realist and Transformative” and co-author of “A New Introduction to Theology: Embodiment, Experience and Encounter.” His recent writing focuses on a political theology of criminal punishment, and political theology through the arts.