Events

"God, the Brain, and Paradox"

Join us for the second in a series of three lectures at Regent College by Iain McGilchrist, renowned author of The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.

Lecture 2: Thursday March 10, 11:30 am
“What Brains Can and Can’t Teach Us about God”

What can brain science tell us about the way we conceive of the world? What are its limitations? In this second lecture, Iain McGilchrist examines space, time, and the paradoxes to which they give rise, considering what they might tell us about the ultimate nature of reality. He argues that the prevailing ethos of our society restricts our ability to understand the nature of the divine; it is accordingly unsurprising that fewer and fewer people find themselves able to embrace belief in a divine Being.

Iain McGilchrist

Iain McGilchrist came to medicine from a background in the humanities, writing about issues in literature and philosophy. He trained in medicine because of an interest in the mind-body problem and practised in psychiatry and researched in neuropsychology, including neuroimaging. He seeks to understand the mind and the brain by seeing them in the broadest possible context—that of the whole of our physical and spiritual existence, and of the wider human culture in which they arise. His most recent book, The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, explores the nature of the brain's two hemispheres, their relationship to one another, and their link to the creation of our consciousness and our culture. He is working on books about creativity and mental illness and the current plight of the humanities, and is one day hoping to complete a short book of reflections on spiritual experience.

About the Laing Lectures

The Laing Lectures began at Regent College in 1999 in cooperation with Roger and Carol Laing and in honour of their father, William John Laing. The purpose of the lectures is to encourage persons recognized for scholarship, wisdom, and creativity to undertake serious thought and original writing on an issue of significance for the Christian church and to promote the sharing of such thoughts through a series of public lectures. The material presented by Laing Lecturers is intended to move beyond an analysis of historic and current concerns to provide proposals for alternative action for the Christian church. In doing so, lecturers will be invited to explore in an interdisciplinary way the relationship between Christianity and culture, and to suggest ways in which that relationship might lead to greater flourishing of the church, the larger human household, and the whole community of creation.

Past Laing Lecturers: Neil Postman (2000), Charles Taylor (2001), Peter Berger (2002), Margaret Visser (2004), Miroslav Volf (2006), Nicholas Wolterstorff (2007), Walter Brueggemann (2008), Susan Wise Bauer (2010), Albert Borgmann (2011), Rex Murphy (2012), Dr. Ellen T. Charry (2013), and Ross Douthat (2014).