Fifth Silver Jubilee Lecture – Wednesday 24 November
Our final lecture in the Silver Jubilee Lecture Series is next Wednesday online only at 4.00pm GMT. If you would like the Zoom link please contact Rachel Simonson, Centre Coordinator.
Dr Irini Thabet, Assistant Professor of Ain Shims University, Cairo and Member of the Egyptian Senate, will be speaking on “Reconciliation: Figuring Out World Christianity Amidst World Conflicts: It is Good for Us to be Here”.
“Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here’” (Luke 9: 33). So too it is good for us to gather at the scene of the transfiguration of Christ to witness and learn the manifestation of reconciliation. But what does transfiguration have to do with reconciliation? How is the event of the transfiguration a manifestation and a declaration of the reconciliation of the whole world on the cross? How should Christianity be transfigured in reconciliation in a world full of conflicts? Is it possible to reconcile peoples within a Christian framework? In an attempt to figure out answers to these questions, different frameworks of reconciliation are studied. Alongside this, the transfiguration motifs of light, mountain, cloud, and tabernacle are considered in the light of the reconciliation of the nature of the Lord in a particular place and time with redeemed human identity. It is proposed that the new identity of Christians empowers them to minister reconciliation to the whole world. And yes, it is possible to have Christian reconciliation in world conflicts and a contemporary example is provided to demonstrate what this might look like.
Dr Irini Thabet is Assistant Professor of English Literature and Western Culture at Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Also, she teaches Biblical and Liturgical English at The Coptic Orthodox Church Seminary. Her research interests include Christian studies, cultural studies, and Social and Literary Criticism. Many of her published articles in Arabic, and research papers in English, cover social, cultural and personal beliefs in connection to daily life, attitude, and ethics. In the field of Christian Studies, she has translated and edited translations of Patristics from English into Arabic which has been published. She has also published a textbook of English for the Seminarians titled, Bibliturgical English; and has presented papers on topics including Saint Mark, the image of women in St. Irenaeus’ Writings, and New Feminism. She is currently a Senator in the 2020-25 Egyptian Senate.
The lecture will be chaired by Canon Sarah Snyder, CCCW Chair and Founder of the Rose Castle Foundation.
