Posted on 23 September 2013
On the 16th September, the Theology Section of the University of Wales Alumni Association held their annual lecture in Cardiff.
The guest lecturer this year was Dr Carys Moseley of the University of Edinburgh. Dr Moseley has studied Classics and Theology at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh, and was British Academy research fellow at the School of Divinity at the latter from 2008-2011.
Here, the Revd Dr Elwyn Richards, Section Secretary, gives a report on the evening and Dr Moseley’s lecture:
"In his introduction, the Section President, Rev Derwyn Morris Jones, referred to Dr Carys Moseley’s upbringing in Cardiff and her brilliant educational career which took her from Cardiff to Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh. The breadth of her scholarship is evidenced in her two recent volumes Nationhood, Providence and Witness: The State of Israel i'n Modern Protestant Theology and Social Theory (Wipf and Stock, 2013) and Nations and Nationalism i'n the Theology of Karl Barth (Oxford University Press, 2013).
The lecture was held at the City Church and a worthy audience of over fifty attended to hear a scholarly and lively lecture on the contribution of Johannes Wallensis OFM (Siôn o Gymru) to Welsh life in the Middle Ages and the theology of the Franciscan Order.
His journey from Llanfaes monastery in Anglesey to the Universities of Oxford and the Sorbonne was followed and his theology and ethical beliefs were discussed, with the suggestion of his possible influence on the thinking and politics of Wales and other nations in his own lifetime. He was a substantial figure but one who has been neglected by scholars in later periods. Indeed, it was suggested that he was just as important a theologian and scholar as the Scot John Duns Scotus.
The lecture was delivered with brio, enthusiasm and imagination and the lecturer was thanked by Dr Alun Tudur, minister of Ebeneser chapel in Cardiff, where Dr Moseley was brought up.
The lecture will be published in the 2014 edition of Diwinyddiaeth – a copy can be secured by contacting the editor Professor Euros Wyn Jones, Y Coleg Gwyn, Ffordd Ffriddoedd, Bangor LL57 2EH."