Since the turn of the decade there have been a range of globally-impactful world events which have unsettled long-held confidences: in the global economic system, in the durability of the earth’s interconnected life systems, and in the future of liberal democracy. One outcome of political, ecological and economic instability has been an unsettling of hope in familiar things, and this in turn provides an appropriate occasion for a theological re-appraisal of where our contemporary hope(s) lie: for the theological academy, as a horizon for moral deliberation, and with respect to our pursuit of common good. For our conference this year we will take up this theme of hope through a variety of modes, reflecting on the role of hope in biblical exegesis, in orienting theological reflection, and in anchoring moral deliberation.

Plenary Speakers will include:

• Valerie Cooper (Associate Professor of Religion and Society and Black Church Studies, Duke Divinity School)
• David P. Gushee (current SCE president and Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer University)
• Michael Northcott (Professor of Ethics, University of Edinburgh)
• Beth Philips (Tutor in Theology and Ethics, Westcott House, Cambridge University)
• Janet Martin Soskice (Professor of Philosophical Theology, Cambridge University)