The Voice of Faith and the Challenge of Reason in National and International Politics: Susan Neiman

Over four days, our 20 plus speakers – philosophers and theologians, historians and writers, believers and non-believers – will consider what it means to be religious, and what role the voice of faith may legitimately have in the conversations of citizens in a multicultural, democratic state and the community of nations.

Across Saturday, three keynote lectures from distinguished international guests each consider the challenges posed by – and to – faith in the building of modern communities. Following the three lectures, all three keynote speakers will be in discussion with each other, exchanging and challenging one another’s views.

Too often in the public debate around religion, reason and rationality are lumped in together as a singular concept, one opposing force to faith. The third of our Saturday lectures will, in some way, redress this balance. Susan Neiman is a moral philosopher and long-time champion of the importance of reason in public life. Director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam – one of Europe’s most important centres of intellectual and cultural innovation outside the university framework – Neiman studied philosophy at Harvard and the Free University of Berlin, and taught philosophy at Yale and Tel Aviv Universities. She will present a lecture on the ‘Challenge of Reason in National and International Politics’.

For the full text of this lecture plus transcripts and recordings of the series, visit our Faith and Culture archive.