Gerald O. West to deliver May Macleod Lecture

United Theological College has announced that Gerald O. West will deliver the 2022 May Macleod Lecture.

The lecture, an annual tradition, will take place on Thursday, 21 July.

Professor West will speak on the subject, Discerning Different Voices in Scripture.

He will contend that, despite readers’ frequent attempts to harmonise biblical texts and flatten out differences, scripture contains contending voices and authors who disagree with one another.

Biblical scholarship offers resources to explore these discordant perspectives, in ways that can help us understand and engage the world. Professor West will speak to his experiences in South Africa, where biblical scholarship has been a valuable tool for participating in struggles relating to race, economics, gender, HIV, disability, sexuality, and ecology.

Professor West is Professor Emeritus in the School of Religion, Philosophy, and Classics in the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

He has worked with the Ujamaa Centre for Community Development and Research for more than thirty years, a project in which socially engaged biblical scholars and ordinary African readers of the Bible from poor, working-class, and marginalised communities collaborate for social transformation.

The May Macleod lecture is an annual event that first began in 1989. Named for the late May Macleod (1913-1984), the lecture aims to bring theological insights to the wider church and to celebrate the church’s ministries.

Prior speakers include Dr Meredith Lake in 2021, Professor John Swinton in 2020, and Rev. Dr Sathianathan Clarke in 2017.

The 2022 May Macleod Lecture takes place at the Centre for Ministry on 21 July. Canapés will be served at 6:30pm and the lecture will start at 7pm. For more information and to RSVP, visit the official Eventbrite page here.