Gresham College provides outstanding educational talks and videos for the public free of charge. There are over 2,500 videos available on our website. Your support will help us to encourage people's love of learning for many years to come.
Can we give a purely scientific account of human nature in terms of its physical, chemical and biological components. Richard Dawnkins' 'The Selfish Gene' is considered to see how a scientific narrative about selfish genes might correlate with a theological narrative about sin.
In the line, 'The Western wave was aflame', the 'Western wave' refers to the sea. But is it this simple? What do forms of substitution, synecdoche for example, lend to this magnificent and shadowy poem?
Science and technology creates moral problems in being able to both improve life and destroy it. How might Tolkein's 'Lord of the Rings' offer us reflections on scientific and religious frameworks which enable us to respect nature on the one hand, while transcending its limits on the other?
'When well-appareled April on the heel / Of limping winter treads'. A calendar month cannot dress, nor can a season walk. This lecture will explore the magic of personification in Shakespeare's poetry.
Is science complete in itself, or does it act as a pointer or signpost to matters beyond its boundaries? C.S. Lewis argued that nature bears witness to the existence and nature of God, and developed the idea in works such as 'Miracles' and 'The Chronicles of Narnia.'
This lecture will explain why Scott’s romanticised representations of Scotland were such a hit, and how his enduring legacy has helped or hindered Scotland as it seeks to define its place in Britain today.