Social Sciences & LAW Stream

FriDay 17th March : The Social Sciences and the Christian World View

SAturday 18th March : The christian perspective on human rights

Fri 17th March (12:00 pm - 8:30 pm) and Sat 18th March (9:00 am - 2:00 pm)

Magdalen College, Oxford

Senior Conveners: Donald Hay (Economics, Jesus College)

Convener: Andrew Marshall (Politics, New College)

The Social Sciences and Law Stream is one of five disciplinary streams that make up Seeking Wisdom, the spring conference of Developing a Christian Mind. It includes law, business, and all other subjects in the University of Oxford Social Sciences Division. Past attendees are encouraged to come, listen to new talks, and take part in discussion with new attendees.

Please note our eligibility criteria: This event is for University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes postgraduates, postdocs, academic staff and DCM Alumni.

If you do not fit these criteria, please complete this form and we will review your request.

Registration is now CLOSED.

Friday March 17th : The Social Sciences and the Christian WorldView

What does it mean to be human?  How should societies be governed? How should we situate our Christian worldview within a pluralistic society? Two sessions with break out groups to discuss the issues:

12:00 pm Registration in Magdalen College’s Old Kitchen Bar with coffee & tea

12:15 pm – 1:00 pm  Introductions and gathering in break-out groups

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Lunch in the Old Kitchen Bar

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm  Social scientific and Christian understandings of human beings in society - Donald Hay (Economics, Jesus College)

This session compares and contrasts Christian anthropology with evolutionary psychology, rational choice theory, and social theory.

3:30 - 4:00 pm Coffee and tea in the Old Kitchen Bar

4:00 - 6:00 pm Social ethics in the social sciences: theological and secular approaches - Tom Simpson (Philosophy & Public Policy, Blavatnik School of Government)

In this session we explore the broad issue of how society should be structured. By the ‘structure of society’ is meant those laws and policies that govern how people interact with each other. The task of social science is avowedly descriptive, aiming to identify and understand how people interact. But it seldom stops there; accurate description is a precursor to intervention and change, through such policies. We address three questions. First, in what way does the practice of social science have implicit commitments about the way society should be structured? Second, is there a Christian view on how society should be structured, and if so, what is it? Third, what are the dominant secular proposals about how society should be structured, and what should a Christian make of them?

The following events are held jointly with all streams at New College.

6:00 pm Walking together from Magdalen College to New College

6:15 pm Drinks at the New College Bar

6:45 pm Dinner in the New College Dining Hall

Saturday March 18th : The Christian Perspective on human rights

9:00 am Registration in Magdalen College Old Kitchen Bar with coffee & tea

9:15 am Prayer in Magdalen College Chapel

9:45 – 11:15 am A roundtable discussion on the Christian perspective on human rights, with Thiago Alves Pinto (Law), Stephanie Barclay (Associate Professor of Law Director, Religious Liberty Initiative, Notre Dame), Nigel Biggar (Christian Ethics), and Richard Ekins (Law and Constitutional Government), chaired by Timothy Endicott (English Law).

We will discuss what rights human beings have in virtue of being human, and we will also discuss what the law of a country like the UK (and/or international law) can do and must do to give legal effect to those rights. As a focus for the discussion, panellists will be asked to respond to Nicholas Wolterstorff’s book Justice: Rights and Wrongs (2008); it will be helpful if participants in the discussion can read Chapters 14 to 16 of that book in particular. You can access the book via Solo.

11:15 – 11:30 am Coffee & tea in the Old Kitchen Bar

11:30 am – 1:00 pm Roundtable discussion continued

1:00 – 2:00 pm Lunch in the Old Kitchen Bar

2:00 pm Closing