Theology turns the other cheek

At least two members of my department satisfy Graham Ward's requirement of belief in the virgin birth of Christ and they are both Muslims. We have a professor with a DSc in psychology even if he is also a canon of the Church in Wales.

I thought that academic freedom for British theologians was won with the acquittal of my predecessor Rowlands Williams from a charge of heresy in 1864. At Lampeter four Anglican clergymen, a Jewish rabbi, at least four atheists, and scholars from Confucian, Sikh, Buddhist, Catholic, Non-conformist, and New Age backgrounds all work cheerfully together in trying to understand the phenomenon of the human religious quest.

Paul Badham

Professor of theology and religious studies University of Wales, Lampeter