Professor John Swinton to deliver May Macleod lecture

Professor John Swinton will deliver the 2020 May Macleod lecture, on the subject of “What does it mean to be normal?”

Professor Swinton is a Scottish theologian and a global leader in the area of disability theology. He is Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Aberdeen and founder of the university’s Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability.

He has published a number of books, including Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness (with Jean Vanier and Stanley Hauerwas, 2008), Dementia: Living in the Memories of God (2012), and Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefullness, and Gentle Discipleship (2016).

On the subject of dementia, Professor Swinton writes, “Even in something as apparently hopeless as dementia you can find possibilities, because God is a God who never forgets us, who says: ‘I will always be with you, I will always be for you, in all things at all times’.”

Canapés will be served from 6:30pm, and the lecture will begin at 7pm.

 The May MacLeod lecture is an annual event. Its namesake, May MacLeod (1913-1984), was a committed Uniting Church layperson. The lecture is intended to present issues of concern to the church and to be accessible to ordinary people. Previous speakers have included Tim Costello, Peter Rollins, and Lowitja O’Donoghue.

The lecture will also eventually be uploaded online.

The 2020 May MacLeod Lecture takes place at United Theological College on Friday, 6 March from 6:30pm.

For more information about the lecture series, visit the official website. To register, visit the Eventbrite page here.