Chaplaincy Week
Questions like… does truth exist and does it matter? Who am I… and what gives me self-worth? and …what makes me special in a world of 7.7 billion?… were posed during Headington’s recent Chaplaincy week.
A team from the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics presented in PSHE, boarders’ services and in Chapel Prayers as well as taking Philosophy and Religious Studies and giving lunchtime talks.
The aim of the Chaplaincy week was to ensure that every Headington pupil had an opportunity to wrestle with some of the bigger, deeper questions of life – and the place of the Christian faith in seeking to frame a response to these challenges and questions.
Among the highlights were Q&A sessions where any question was asked to a panel of apologists, including tutors of philosophy at Oxford University.
The standout moment from the week was “The rise of the moral machines – equipping AI robots with a moral compass”. This was a lecture by Nigel Crook, Professor of AI and Robotics and founder and co-director of the Institute for Ethical AI. The connections between AI and faith have never been so compellingly made.
School Chaplain and Biology teacher the Rev Tom Howell said: “Although the term inevitably rushes headlong towards Easter, the hope is that the questions posed during Chaplaincy week will not be forgotten and indeed, Easter itself might be remembered as the best paradigm by which we understand ourselves and God.”
Thanks go to the team at OCCA and Nigel Crook.
