2022 Laing Lectures
John Milbank
John Milbank is an Anglican theologian, philosopher, and poet. He is a co-founder of the Radical Orthodoxy movement, which traces its origins to his seminal work, Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason, published in 1991. Radical Orthodoxy calls for a hopeful and constructive response to the pervasive secularism of the modern era. Rather than despair at the modern downfall of truth, Radical Orthodoxy sees within this downfall a supreme opportunity to reclaim the world by situating it again within a theological frame. Over the past decades, Milbank's theological work has integrated numerous disciplines, including political philosophy, metaphysics, and aesthetics. He has published major works on Aquinas, Henri de Lubac, and Giambattista Vico, amongst others. Milbank is President of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy at University of Nottingham.
Lecture
At this year’s Laing Lecture, Dr. Milbank joined us remotely from the UK to explore the theoretical foundations of Radical Orthodoxy, an ongoing theological movement that originates in Milbank's landmark work, Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason. In response to the modern tendency to distance God from creation, Milbank aimed to re-ignite the traditional view that the properties of creation owe their ongoing existence and operation to the Creator. Dr. Milbank isolated three realities each of us encounters every day—time, motion, and mystery—teasing out how each finds its roots in the Trinity. What is the fruit of this endeavour? That our day-to-day life can lead us into more constant awareness and wonder at the ever-present reality of our Triune God.
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Response
Dr. Ross Hastings, Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology at Regent College, delivered an in-person response to Dr. Milbank's lecture. He also hosts this video introduction to Milbank's theology.
Dr. Hastings is an expert in Trinitarian Theology, Pastoral Theology, Karl Barth, and the author of several books including Pastoral Ethics: Moral Formation as Life in the Trinity (Lexham, 2022), Total Atonement: Trinitarian Participation in the Reconciliation of Humanity and Creation (Fortress Academic/Lexington, 2019), Echoes of Coinherence: Trinitarian Theology and Science Together (Cascade, 2017), among many other titles.
About the Laing Lectures
The Laing Lectures began at Regent College in 1999 in cooperation with Roger and Carol Laing and in honour of their father, William John Laing. The purpose of the lectures is to encourage persons recognized for scholarship, wisdom, and creativity to undertake serious thought and original writing on an issue of significance for the Christian church and to promote the sharing of such thoughts through a series of public lectures.
The material presented by Laing Lecturers is intended to move beyond an analysis of historic and current concerns to provide proposals for alternative action for the Christian church. In doing so, lecturers are invited to explore in an interdisciplinary way the relationship between Christianity and culture, and to suggest ways in which that relationship might lead to greater flourishing of the church, the larger human household, and the whole community of creation.
The following speakers have delivered Laing Lectures: Neil Postman (2000), Charles Taylor (2001), Peter Berger (2002), Margaret Visser (2004), Miroslav Volf (2006), Nicholas Wolterstorff (2007), Walter Brueggemann (2008), Susan Wise Bauer (2010), Albert Borgmann (2011), Rex Murphy (2012), Ellen T. Charry (Spring 2014), Ross Douthat (Fall 2014), Iain McGilchrist (2016), Marilynne Robinson (2017), Stanley Hauerwas (2018), Malcolm Guite (2019), John Milbank (2022), Curt Thompson (2023), George Yancey (2024), and Janet Martin Soskice (2025).
