Speakers

Professor the Lord Parekh of Kingston-upon-Hull, Centennial Professor, London School of Economics

Dr. Amira Bennison, University Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Fellow of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge

Professor John Coffey, Professor of Early Modern History, University of Leicester

Professor Peter Harvey, Professor of Buddhist Studies, University of Sunderland

 The second Zutshi-Smith memorial lecture is on the topic of religious toleration. Our lecturer, Professor the Lord Parekh will be speaking on ‘A Comparative Perspective on Religious Toleration’. Lord Parekh will consider the place of religious toleration in different religious traditions, and what religions can offer to the creation and maintenance of traditions of toleration. A distinguished panel of experts will respond to his lecture before the floor is opened to question and comment. The evening will close with a drinks reception in the conference foyer.

The late Derek Zutshi (1930-2007) studied medicine at the University of Bristol before embarking on a glittering medical career. His long-standing and tireless support of the university culminated in a number of endowments in memory of his, and his wife’s, parents, including the one memorialised in this lecture series. His will established a series of public lectures or symposia to take place biennially, given by persons of international reputation, on the subjects of the improvement and understanding of current international relations, the promotion of religious tolerance and understanding, and the reasons for and possible solutions to conflicts with a religious character. The first memorial lecture was given in 2009 by Professor Lord Plant of Highfield on ‘Religion in a Liberal State’ and was followed by an interdisciplinary academic symposium on the lecture, the proceedings of which will be published by Cambridge University Press.