Dimbleby Lecture 2002: Dr Rowan Williams

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Dimbleby Lecture by Dr Rowan Williams: one of the best 'public lectures', at least on eg BBC, for ages; and surely the best talk I have ever heard from a 'religious [holy?] man'. He was lucid, accessible, friendly; he was progressive, critical, wise. He worried about 'the market state', and what happens to shared values in ever-more individualized world.

He didn't name names or overstep marks, but by the standards of 'public debate' it was way out there in the realm of good sense.

It won't save us from the dark times that grow daily darker. But I was left with so much darned respect for this Archbishop. And I wanted to say so.

― [email protected], Thursday, 19 December 2002 23:44 (twenty-three years ago)

despite my deep suspicions of the church, I'd agree with you.

plus he's worked all his life where the church is disestablished, so hopefully it will finally happen in England during his tenure.

*but* is this the real Pinefox? the address is different, as is the sig. I do hope this isn't a malicious pisstaker.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Friday, 20 December 2002 05:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Robin C: yes, it was the real pinefox; just a clerical error.

I'm as anti-religious as they come, but this fellow earned my respect. His vision for the church was the most 'secular' I can remember - it was essentially about community. In effect, it was a critique of post-Thatcherite / neo-liberal politics, delivered in an unusually high-profile context; the status of the church was a kind of excuse for that.

He didn't sound keen on the idea of disestablishment; but I may have misinterpreted.

― the pinefox, Friday, 20 December 2002 11:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Ooh, so you think he might be preaching antidisestablishmentarianism? (Sorry, I just have to grab the rare opportunity to use the longest word that I can spell and explain its meaning.)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 20 December 2002 18:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Props to you Martin - I mean, has there *ever* been another context (ilx or indeed practically anywhere else) in which that word has been as plainly relevant? Seriously, I marvel at your opportunism.

― the pinefox, Friday, 20 December 2002 19:04 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember doing the same thing once before verbally, but I had needed to do some clever nudging of the conversation.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 20 December 2002 20:53 (twenty-three years ago)

thanks, Reynard.

of course that "secular / community" vision of the Church of England has been put over before - it was the basis for their 1985 "Faith in the City" report, which *really* pissed off Norman Tebbit and a lot of other Tory Anglicans (can't imagine Bill Westwood agreed with it) but which was generally more warmly received within the Methodist church. So died the strict Tory / Labour polarisations of Old Britain ...

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Saturday, 21 December 2002 15:16 (twenty-three years ago)

I always thought Faith In The City was 1986.

I have come to enjoy the ambiguities of its title.

― the pinefox, Saturday, 21 December 2002 20:49 (twenty-three years ago)

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