In the run up to Valentine’s Day, 8 February 2016 saw fourteen budding Theologians accompanied by Mr Lawrence attend the topical ‘All you need is love’ conference at Bloomsbury Baptist Church in London hosted by Dr Peter Vardy.

The conference explored major ethical issues including: “It’s all about Sex…”, “Making Babies” and “Love… and do what you will?” The main session explored the place of love in ethics.  Starting with the challenge to traditional ethics laid down by Joseph Fletcher, explaining his approach to decision making and the major criticisms it attracted, the session examined the nature of love and how it could be understood to play a central role in Kantian Ethics and some contemporary versions of Utilitarianism and also Christian Ethics.

Dr Vardy explored questions arising from sex and human relationships, considering if and how Kantian Ethics, Situation Ethics, Utilitarianism and Christian Ethics can guide decision making in this complex and important area.  On one level deontological and teleological approaches seem to offer widely different advice about matters of sex outside of marriage or using pornography – but on another, there may be real commonality when human flourishing is taken seriously.

Following these enriching talks, the floor was opened up to the many students in attendance. Dr Vardy proposed a debate on the motion: “This house believes that everyone has the right to a child”. Arguments for and against the motion were presented before the students who took to the floor, drawing on ideas covered during the day to inform their contributions and extending the range of possible viewpoints on this core issue. Special mention must be given to Covi Franklin who made an outstanding point in the debate.

Guest speaker Dr David Webster opened the afternoon with a riveting talk on Immanuel Kant; a central theologian to the AS and A2 Theology courses. This attempted to restore Kant’s reputation and improve our understanding of his moral theory. Drawing on the ‘Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals’ the imperative governing moral action for Kant was shown to be one of love for all other human beings, unconditionally. This enriching event reinforced our understanding of the AS Theology course, allowing us to explore beyond the syllabus and enhance our learning even further.

Written by Gabriel Wheway