Irishman C. S. Lewis became one of the Twentieth Century's best known writers on faith and social issues. Lewis believed Christianity should be a constant challenge to any society's easy answers or unquestioned assumptions.  This annual lecture seeks to honour his memory by continuing the process of asking hard questions on major issues.

Each year in the autumn, the Evangelical Alliance Ireland arrange this major public lecture.Please visit our Previous Lectures' menu to listen to prevois lectures.

James Joyce wrote of Ireland as the place “where Christ and Caesar go hand in glove.” But as Bob Dylan wrote and Enda Kenny has recently demonstrated, the times they are a changin’. What role does the Christian faith now have in Irish public life? Is it merely a personal and private matter with no role in the public arena? If Christianity does have a public role does it have to be one of dominance? Is it time for a discussion on the relationship of church and state?

The 2011 CS Lewis Lecture will explore some of the issues that should be addressed in such a discussion and look at what learning there might be for Ireland from other countries and other periods of history. C. S. Lewis, an Irishman, became one of the Twentieth Century's best known writers on faith and social issues. Lewis believed Christianity should be a constant challenge to any society's easy answers or unquestioned assumptions. This annual lecture seeks to honour his memory by continuing the process of asking hard questions on major issues.

This year we are honoured to have Professor NT Wright as our guest lecturer. Professor Wright was described by Time Magazine in 2008 as “one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought.”

From Northumbria, he is a theologian who has served as a University Lecturer in Oxford, a Bishop for the Anglican Dioceses of Durham and is now a Research Professor at St Andrews University in Scotland. As well as being a Bishop and a Professor he has done a little writing. Amazon currently lists 86 titles by him in paperback and 30 in hardback (though just 4 in Kindle!). He has worked in television for Channel 4, BBC, ABC and CNN and has been a guest lecturer in many universities and conferences around the world. He is known for his broad learning, clear thinking and straightforward communication style.

Topic: God in the dock - what place now for the Christian faith in public life?

Speaker: The Rt Rev. Professor N.T. (Tom) Wright, formerly Bishop of Durham and currently Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Venue: The Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 8(Just off Sth Great George’s Street, see http://www.radissonblu.ie/royalhotel-dublin).

About CS Lewis

Born in Ireland in 1898, Clive Staples Lewis, a former atheist, became one of the Twentieth Century's most influential writers on issues of faith and culture. His influence continues to this day with his many writings on such subjects remaining in print. Lewis believed Christianity should be a constant challenge to any society's easy answers or unquestioned assumptions.

He argued that Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.

For more information on C.S. Lewis visit www.cslewis.org.