Annual Theological Lecture
Since 1957, the Church of Ireland has organised annual lectures at Queen’s to stimulate and contribute to the discussion of public theology on campus.
Guest lecturers, typically eminent thinkers in their field, have ranged from theologians to scientists, authors to Archbishops.
The Church’s Board of Education remain grateful to Queen’s University for their contribution in hosting the lectures each year.
2024 Annual Theological Lecture
Artificial Intelligence - Religious Friend or Foe
The title is provocative: Artificial Intelligence means more than one thing; there are different religious traditions; and 'friend or foe' may be false alternatives. Admitting the complexity of the issues, the lecture sets out the challenge of AI to our understanding of what it is to be human, highlighting its critical nature. It ranges from discussion of the nature of the brain to Western culture and to the significance of the church in an attempt to answer the question posed in the title.
Stephen N Williams is a theologian, author and lecturer who, after retiring from a teaching career was appointed Honorary Professor of Theology at Queen's University Belfast in 2017.
Stephen Williams gained his Master of Arts degree in Modern History at the University of Oxford and his Master of Arts degree in Theology from the University of Cambridge. After a period as Henry Fellow in Yale University, he received his PhD through the Department of Religious Studies of the University in 1981. He has mostly spent his professional life in Presbyterian seminaries in the United Kingdom, firstly as Professor of Theology in the United Theological College, Aberystwyth (1980–1991) and then as Professor of Systematic Theology in Union Theological College in Belfast (1994–2017). He was appointed Honorary Professor of Theology at Queen's University Belfast in 2017 and elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW) in 2018.
Although his main professional areas are theology and intellectual history, he has an interest in the field of bioethics. During 2018 he held a Research Fellowship at the Henry Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School "researching the connection between a Christian understanding of creation and philosophies undergirding developments in artificial intelligence."
Previous Lectures
2023 - The Church and Public Education by Professor Trevor Cooling
2022: ‘Theology: Why it matters to the academy and the churches’ - Professor Alister McGrath
2020: ‘Talking Climate: Why Facts Are Not Enough’ by Professor Katharine Heyhoe
2019: ‘Science, Religion and the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence’