LECTURE: CHRISTIAN ECUMENISM, OTHER FAITHS, AND THE PEACE OF THE WORLD

The theological vision of world peace drives conversations between Christian denominations and conversations between Christianity and other faiths. This lecture explores how approaches devised within Christian ecumenical dialogue can be brought to the discussion of the competing truth-claims of other world religions, particularly Islam. This will include a discussion of some much publicized views of the Archbishop of Canterbury concerning the use of Shariah law for the development of the British legal system and the creation of a cohesive society of reconciliation and peace. Then, conversely, what has recently been learned from the practical experience of dialogue with Islam will be brought to the (largely stalled) work of Christian ecumenical dialogue.

PETER CARNLEY was the Anglican Archbishop of Perth from 1981 to 2005 and Primate of Australia from 2000 to 2005. He studied theology at St John’s College, Morpeth, NSW and graduated from the University of Melbourne with a first class honours degree in history, before doing a Ph.D in theology at Cambridge. He holds a number of honorary degrees, including an Hon D. Litt from the University of Western Australia, and is an Honorary Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge, Emmanuel College, Cambridge and Trinity College in the University of Melbourne. He continues as Anglican Co-Chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and is a member of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM).