McDonald Centre

The McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics & Public Life is a research institute in the University of Oxford, which is based within the Faculty of Theology and Religion. Its director is Luke Bretherton,[1] Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, who took up the post in 2025.

In 2017, the McDonald Centre attracted controversy after receiving funding from Oxford University for its project Ethics and Empire,[2][3] which Director Nigel Biggar said aimed to "pay careful attention to the historical variety of things that empire can be, and work out a more sophisticated way of evaluating them morally.” In response, more than 170 scholars of imperialism signed a joint letter condemning Oxford University's support for the project. The signatories stated that “We are not surprised that such an approach should be recuperated by Prof Biggar – a long-time apologist for colonialism – but we are alarmed that the University of Oxford should invest resources in this project.”[4]

References

  1. ^ "Luke Bretherton | McDonald Centre". www.mcdonaldcentre.org.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  2. ^ O'Halloran, Erin. "Ethics and empire: an open letter from Oxford scholars". The Conversation. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  3. ^ "Oxford scholars oppose empire project". BBC News. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  4. ^ Adams, Richard (22 December 2017). "Oxford University accused of backing apologists of British colonialism". the Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2018.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.