The Work of Theology

The Work of Theology: Thinking, Writing and Acting Politically

The 2013 New College Lectures were given by Professor Stanley Hauerwas from Duke University over three nights from the 17-19 September. The overall theme of the lecture series was ‘The Work of Theology: Thinking, writing and acting politically’.

Professor Stanley Hauerwas

In the series Professor Hauerwas reflected on his own life and development as a theologian set against the work of other theologians, literary theorists, philosophers and ethicists.

Professor Stanley Hauerwas

An American theologian, ethicist and public intellectual. He currently teaches at Duke University serving as the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School with a joint appointment at Duke University Law School. He is considered by many to be one of the world's most influential living theologians and was named "America's Best Theologian" by ‘Time Magazine’ in 2001. His work is frequently read and debated by scholars in fields outside of religion, theology, or ethics, including political philosophy, sociology, history and literary theory. 

Lecture 1 | How I Think I Learned to Think Theologically’ 

In this lecture he explored the character of practical reason as an exemplification of the kind of reasoning that is intrinsic to the theological task.

Lecture 2 | ‘How To Write a Theological Sentence’

Drawing on Stanley Fish’s book ‘How to Write a Sentence,’ he explored how difficult it is to write a sentence that expresses what we should say theologically about God.

Lecture 3 | ‘How to (Not) Be a Political Theologian’ 

In this final lecture Professor Hauerwas showed how politics has been at the heart of the first two lectures by drawing attention to current developments in political theology and the ways he does not consider himself to be a political theologian.