Neil Ormerod, Ph.D.
Monday, May 2nd, 2011
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre
Various social, political, economic and cultural commentators are presently arguing that human history is reaching a decisive stage in its development, a stage marked by increased interconnection between peoples, the compression of space and time, a sharing of ideas at unprecedented levels, global trade and finance, and so on. The shorthand word used to encompass these phenomena is “globalization”. Some embrace it, others reject it, while still others dispute its existence. But with the abundance of literature and debate that it generates, the topic cannot be ignored. From its inception in the missionary mandate of Jesus (Matthew 28), Christianity has had a global dimension to its mission. Christianity is not a spectator to globalization but one of its agents, one of the forces at work which have extended interconnection between peoples, shared ideas and promoted social, political and cultural links.
Utilizing a Lonerganian-Robert Doran inspired theology of history, this lecture addresses the churches response to the impact of globalization on vital, social, cultural, personal and religious values. In particular it will explore the notion of ‘virtue’ in a globalizing world, with globalization posing a new moral context. The lecture will explore social virtues, cultural virtues and personal virtues and ask whether religion, itself, can be understood as a virtue, before exploring emergent ‘global virtues which pose a challenge to all religions. Finally, we will explore how global virtues relate to the mission of the Church today.
Professor Neil Ormerod is a systematic theologian of international repute who began his career as a mathematician and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a PhD in Pure Mathematics from the University of New South Wales. He then went on to complete his Masters and Doctorate in Theology at the Melbourne College of Divinity. Neil has worked professionally as a theologian for close to twenty five years. He is widely published in Australia and overseas with articles in leading international journals. He is married with four adult children and has two grandchildren, Caitlin and Mary.
His main areas of research interest lie in the fields of Historical ecclesiology, the Trinity, Christian anthropology, the work of Bernard Lonergan. His recent books include:
Globalization and the Mission of the Church with Shane Clifton, T & T Clark, 2090, in theEcclesiological Investigations series.
Creation Grace and Redemption, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2007. [being translated into Polish]
Trinity: Retrieving the Western Tradition, Marquette University Press, 2005.