Eric Symes Abbott Lecture | Professor Anthony Reddie
Professor Anthony Reddie delivering the 2023 Eric Symes Abbott Lecture
From Black Theology to Black Lives Matter and Back Again
Eric Symes Abbott (1906-1983) was, successively, Dean of King’s College, London, Warden of Keble, and Dean of Westminster. Following his death, his friends established an annual lecture in his memory to focus on his particular interests in spirituality and pastoral theology (the work of relating theology to human life). The first lecture was given in 1986 by Cardinal Basil Hume, and all three institutions continue to be involved in the project. The lecture is hosted on Thursday at the Abbey and then on Friday in Keble, and King’s is responsible for doing all the hard work of administration and organisation. An ideal combination!
This year’s lecturer, Professor Anthony Reddie, is a leading figure in the area of Black Theology in the UK and beyond. His books include Is God Colour-Blind? Insights from Black Theology for Christian Faith and Ministry, and he is currently based here in Oxford as Director of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture at Regent’s Park College.
Professor Reddie’s talk, From Black Theology to Black Lives Matter and Back Again, explored the importance of taking account of racial injustice in contemporary theology and Church life. He spoke powerfully of how even his own surname derives from someone who owned one of his ancestors as a slave, and how the injustices of the past continue to shape the injustices of society today.
His talk ended with a stirring call to recognise the holiness of Black bodies, bodies that have been despised and diminished by the outrage of slavery and by prejudice in contemporary societies:
“As a Christian theologian, I remain convinced that all lives matter, that all of us are created in the image and likeness of God; but until Black Lives Matter – until Black bodies are viewed as sacred – then our talk of seeking holiness and indeed our construal of what is holy remains a form of cheap grace, a blasphemous outrage to the God that created Black bodies in the first place.”
The full text of the talk and a video recording can be accessed at:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/dean/eric-symes-abbott-memorial-lecture-archive
