‘The word “character” can mean a person (as in “he’s a sleazy character”), or someone of unusual probity and integrity, or a printed or written letter. In fact, the word originally meant not a person but the sign or description of a person. Your character wasn’t the kind of human being you were but an image of it, and this image could be either true or false to your inner nature. Your outward appearance could either reveal or conceal your inward reality.’   Terry Eagleton

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?

On Wednesday 26 October, the first session of our Michaelmas Term series on Character begins. Fr Nick Austin SJ, the Master of Campion Hall, will talk about Character and Virtue. Future sessions will include Molly Boot on Character and Identity on 9 November and Michael Lamb on Character and Leadership on 23 November. Molly is a writer, ordinand, and a trustee of Greenbelt. 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.

These sessions take place in the Old Library in the University Church at 7.30pm. Access is via Radcliffe Square. There is no need to book a place. We do hope that you will join us.