In the post-war period, Jewish-Christian relations have been characterised by an increase in dialogue and mutual respect, and a spirit of post-Holocaust contrition on behalf of church leaders. In this atmosphere, the Catholic Church’s Nostra Aetate declaration of 1965, among other similar Church statements, set out new terms for Jewish-Christian engagement. In Britain, the Council of Christians and Jews, established in 1942, led educational and community work to build bridges between the two faiths.
Join Professor Gavin Schaffer on this Chaplaincy Lecture, as he considers this post-war atmosphere as a model of interfaith relations, focusing on its successes as well as ongoing tensions and challenges.
Date: Tuesday 10 May 2022Time: 6pm-7.30pmLocation: St Francis Hall, building O2 on the campus map.Book your place
For further information, please contact Alex Ferranti.
About the speaker
Professor Schaffer joined the School of History and Cultures as Lecturer in British history in September 2010. At the beginning of his career, he studied for his PhD under the supervision of Tony Kushner at the Parkes Centre for Jewish/Non-Jewish Studies at the University of Southampton, where he remains an Honorary Fellow. Prior to joining this department, Professor Schaffer worked for seven years as lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Portsmouth.
Professor Schaffer is a specialist in race and immigration history and has a particular interest in racial science, race and the media and the history of racial violence.
His present research also focuses on constructions of Jewish history and the treatment of minorities in Britain during the Second World War.
The History of the Chaplaincy Lecture Series
The Chaplaincy Lectures were first delivered in the early 40’s by leading academics, who discussed some aspect of their own subject in the light of their faith, to an predominant Christian audience at the time.
Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr of New York was prevented by war conditions from delivering the first lecture in May, 1943, but the lecture of Mr. Charles Williams on “The Idea of Hell in Literature” in the following autumn proved to be a most memorable inauguration to the series.
As the demographic and religious landscape of Britain changed in the post-war era, so did chaplaincy and topics of the Chaplaincy Lecture.
Four lectures were given on World Religions in the 60’s for example: Scripture and Tradition in Contemporary Judaism, by Dr. Louis Jacobs); The Hindu idea of the Soul, by Swanni Ghanananda; African Religion by Dr. Gooffrey Parrinder) and Islam today, by Dr. Said Ramadan.
The last lecture on the series was delivered by the University’s current Chancellor, Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, titled “The Everlasting Flame of Zoroastrian Identity”, in February 2016.