Dinner Date with a Dean

This evening I ate dinner with an exceptional group of people. The dinner was hosted by Harold W. Attridge, Dean of Yale Divinity School /Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament. Dean Attridge is an advocate of strong church and theological engagement with issues of social significance. He was one of the four initial sponsors of the recent controversial “Yale statement” aimed at improving Christian-Muslim relations.
About 30 people from different walks of life joined in conversations about the world and faith. There was particular interest in the news which had been released at the end of last week that Tony Blair is to be the Howland Distinguished Fellow at Yale for the next academic year. We engaged in discussion about a number of topics including inter faith issues and links with the media. One of the other guests was Michael Wakelin, Head of Religion and Ethics at the BBC and a fellow Methodist. We are pictured here with Harry Attridge. It was a real privilege to be part of this August gathering and I will follow the developments at Yale with increased interest. My thanks to Kathleen LaCamera for making the introduction.