Questions of trust, probity and integrity dominate public life in contemporary Britain. These issues often coalesce around questions of character. We speak of ‘being a character’, ‘having character’, and ‘character flaws’, but how does the idea of ‘character’ enrich our understanding of what it means to be human? If character is ‘the guiding core of who we are’, how does it develop? Can it be taught? What makes a ‘good character’ and who decides? Does ‘character’ make any difference to the way in which we exercise leadership? Why should character matter?
26 October Character and Virtue
Nick Austin SJ
9 November Character and Identity
Molly Boot
23 November Character and Leadership
Michael Lamb
These sessions take place in the Old Library in the University Church at 7.30pm. Access is via Radcliffe Square.
Nick Austin SJ is the Master of Campion Hall. A Jesuit priest and spiritual director, he teaches moral theology. He has recently published a book on Aquinas on Virtue with Georgetown University Press (2017).
Molly Boot is a writer, ordinand, and a trustee of Greenbelt. They have recently contributed to a series of essays entitled Young, Woke, and Christian: Words from a Missing Generation, published by SCM Press (2022).
Michael Lamb is the F. M. Kirby Foundation Chair of Leadership and Character, Executive Director of the Program for Leadership and Character, and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Humanities at Wake Forest University. He gained his PhD from Princeton and studied as a Rhodes scholar at the University of Oxford. His book, A Commonwealth of Hope: Augustine’s Political Thought will be published later this year by Princeton University Press.