I very much enjoy conversations with students about the meaning of life, and anything to do with how we understand ourselves and our place in the universe. I’m happy to engage with members of Downing College approaching these questions from any angle: big philosophical questions, personal experiences, ethical dilemmas, thoughts about careers and life plans, belief systems, or matters of faith and spirituality. I studied Physics as an undergraduate, before moving to the History and Philosophy of Science and then eventually to Theology, so I have wide-ranging interests. You can set the boundaries and parameters of any conversation. I’m not going to aim to convert you, but I’m happy to help you explore religious ideas if you’d like me to. Students tend to find that I enjoy answering the strangest of questions and am very hard to offend.
In the past, I used to deliver programmes of weekly talks to groups of students, but we lost the momentum behind those groups during Covid and haven’t got it back again yet. Nevertheless, I’ve found that individuals are still keen to discuss important issues. I’m always happy to chat with them, either as a one-off meeting or a series of weekly conversations.
I have lots of resources from my two books and from many talks and discussions I’ve led over the years. I’d be happy to guide you through relevant reading if there are specific things you’d like to learn about, or simply to talk in a chat open-ended way.
Here are some of the things that I’ve written about.
- The relationship between faith and all areas of human knowledge and experience, including science, rationality, politics, the arts, our sense of meaning and purpose.
- The main controversies in the history of Christianity, including historic divisions between Protestants and Catholics, and modern debates about sexuality, women’s ministry and styles of worship.
- The main areas of Christian theology, including looking through the Nicene Creed or going through the key areas of Christian doctrine.
- Christian spirituality, including ways of praying, music and liturgy, baptism and confirmation, communion.
- An overview of the whole Bible, or a detailed look at John’s Gospel, Matthew’s Gospel, the Psalms, the Letters of Paul.
But I’m also interested in non-religious approaches to philosophy, ethics, science and wellbeing, and am happy to talk about anything that’s on your mind.
Members of Downing can book times to see me here: https://calendly.com/eyeons