'Justice and Rights' - Nicholas Wolterstorff & Global Faculty Initiative

About the event

This marks the first publication for Global Faculty Iniative (GFI) and offers an exciting opportunity to celebrate the valuable scholarly work undertaken by our network of over 170 Christian scholars at research-led universities worldwide in recent years. We're also looking forward to engaging a broader audience of academics and researchers with our work in person in Oxford.

Joining us virtually, Professor Nicholas Wolterstorff (Theology, Yale) will discuss the importance of integrating questions of justice within Christian scholarship. Following this, and remarks from Co-Editor, Professor Terry Halliday (Sociology, American Bar Foundation), we will host a panel discussion and Q&A chaired by Dr Bethan Willis (Oxford Pastorate), featuring contributors to the book, Professor John Coffey (History, Leicester), Donald Hay (Economics, Oxford) & virtually, Professor Dinesha Samararatne (Law, Colombo, Sri Lanka). Together, they will explore key questions of justice, scholarship and academic life.

Refreshments will be served, with time for conversation and networking with fellow attendees. Langham Publishing will also be there and attendees will have the option to purchase the book at an event discount.

We would be delighted if you could join us for this exciting and thought-provoking event.

Key details

​Date: Monday 24th February 2025

Time: 5:15 - 6:30 pm

Venue: Wycliffe Hall, 52-54 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PW

Getting here: Wycliffe Hall is on major bus routes. Limited parking may be available on site (please contact us by email if you have any special access requirements) and pay-and-display on-street parking is available close by in Norham Gardens. 

All are welcome: the event is free to attend - booking is required

To book your place:

Please use this registration link to tell us you're coming (via Eventbrite).

About Nicholas Wolterstorff

Wolterstorff was born in 1932 to Dutch emigrants in a small farming community in Minnesota. After earning his BA in philosophy at Calvin College, he gained his MA and PhD in philosophy at Harvard University. A year at University of Cambridge followed, before becoming an instructor in philosophy at Yale University, then returning to Calvin College as Professor Philosophy - where we went on to teach for 30 years.

He now teaches at Yale as Noah Porter Professor Emeritus Philosophical Theology. He has been a visiting professor at numerous Universities and has been retired since June 2002.

In 1987, Wolterstorff published Lament for a Son after the untimely death of his 25-year-old son Eric in a mountain climbing accident. He recounts how he drew on his Christian faith to cope with his grief and published the book "in the hope that it will be of help to some of those who find themselves with us in the company of mourners."

In Wolterstorff's memoir, published in 2019, he illustrates the close relationship between his personal life and his distinguished academic career.

About Terry Halliday

TERENCE C. HALLIDAY is a research professor emeritus at the American Bar Foundation and an honorary professor at the Australian National University.

He has published extensively on globalization of law, markets and politics with recent books in the Cambridge Studies in Law and Society. With K.K. Yeo, he is co-editor of Justice and Rights.

With Donald Hay, he co-founded the Global Faculty Initiative. 

About Justice and Rights

Endorsements for the book:

"With Nicholas Wolterstorff’s profound insights at its core, this hugely stimulating and wide-ranging book weaves a dialogue between philosophy, theology, and a range of university disciplines. I am struck on the one hand how widely the concept of justice applies, and on the other hand how much more work there is left on the table for Christian scholars to explore. Highly recommended!"

ARD LOUIS
Professor of Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, UK
Co-Leader, Developing a Christian Mind, Oxford, UK

"If you seek inspiration about ways your own research relates to faith, or if you are searching for writings that will energize graduate students or early career scholars to integrate their faith and studies, then I enthusiastically recommend these creatively curated writings brought together in Justice and Rights, an all-too-rare academic volume crafted as an extended dialogue.

LORNA SMITH
Professor of Chemistry and Tutorial Fellow at St. Hilda’s College,
University of Oxford, UK;
Co-Convenor, Christians in Academia, Oxford Pastorate