Nigel Biggar

 

Nigel Biggar 2024Nigel Biggar

Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology, University of Oxford

Oxford, UK

 

 

 

About the Presenter

Nigel Biggar is an Anglican priest, theologian and ethicist, Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Pusey House, Oxford. He holds a B.A. in Modern History from Oxford and a Ph.D. in Christian Theology & Ethics from the University of Chicago.

Nigel Biggar was recently named as one of the world’s top thinkers by Prospect Magazine of the UK, because “Biggar’s willingness to question prevailing ideologies and contextualise moral concerns within a historical framework make him a valuable thinker in our polarised times.” He has been described as “one of the leading living Western ethicists” (by John Gray, formerly Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, New Statesman, 25 November 2020). He was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) “for services to higher education” in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Nigel Biggar was also an adjunct instructor at the ELO Oxford Leadership Program in 2024. 

Some of his books include: Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (2023), What’s Wrong with Rights? (2020), In Defence of War (2013), Between Kin and Cosmopolis: An Ethic of the Nation (2014) and Behaving in Public: How to do Christian Ethics(2011).

In the press, he has written on the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Spectator (London), colonialism in the National Post (Toronto), freedom of speech in the Times (London), the ‘Culture Wars’ and illegal migration in the Daily Telegraph (London), the Iraq War in the Financial Times (London) and the Straits Times (Singapore), and the possibility of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Northern Ireland in the Irish Times (Dublin).

He has lectured at the Royal College of Defence Studies, London; the UK Defence Academy, Shrivenham; the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr, Hamburg; the US Military Academy, West Point; the US Naval Academy, Annapolis; and the National Defense University, Washington, DC.

About the Presentation

Title: Cultivating Intellectual Virtues: A Way to Engage With Different Viewpoints
 
In his recent book, The New Dark Age, Nigel Biggar discusses the importance of cultivating intellectual virtues which can be a framework to engage with others of differing views. Grounded in a Christian perspective, Biggar highlights and defines  the following virtues: temperance; respect, carefulness; patience, charity, humility, teachableness, thoughtfulness and courage. Biggar's experience of engaging with those of very different views is specifically in relation to universities, which often offer ideologically-driven perspectives. Biggar's approach has appeal beyond the university context. Bigger will review the intellectual virtues and the cohort will be able to draw upon their own context to make their own practical applications to business and elsewhere.