Brendan McCarthy to lead course on Christian Ethics

Friday February 13th 2015

Brendan McCarthy will lead the five week course on Christian Ethics taking place in St Anne’s Cathedral.

The Rev Brendan McCarthy will return to St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, to deliver a five week course on Christian Ethics starting on March 4.

This course – ‘How do we do the right thing? A five week course in practical ethics,’ is a follow up to the very successful God Enquiry which Brendan facilitated in St Anne’s last Autumn.

The God Enquiry was a 10 week course examining issues of philosophy, theology, science, history, intuition and experience.

The course was well attended every week by a broad mix of people including those of faith and people of no faith, and each session was conducted in an atmosphere of graciousness and laughter. It was very well received and those who participated stressed how helpful they had found it, as the comments below indicate.

While the Christian Ethics course will follow on from the God Enquiry, there is no requirement to have attended the first course, and everyone is welcome to sign up for this next course which will run in the Cathedral halls from 7.30pm-9.30pm on consecutive Wednesday nights. The course fee is £50. You can dowload a Christian Ethics registration form.

It will explore the following areas:

Week one – major ethical theories
Week two – the role of the Bible and the ‘ethical spectrum’
Week three – beginning of life issues
Week four – issues of love and hate (including sexuality and war)
Week five: end of life issues

Brendan McCarthy has a primary degree in divinity as well as Master’s degrees in theology, history and human rights law and a doctorate in Christian Ethics. He is an ordained Anglican Priest and is currently the Church of England’s national adviser on Medical Ethics and Health and Social Care Policy.

Comments from those who participated in the God Enquiry

“It was a fascinating journey! A real ‘mind stretcher’. And it soon became apparent that Brendan has a deep well of ‘reason, intuition and experience’ from which to draw.” John Burns

“The questions ‘why are we here, and what responsibilities do we have to one another?’ are too important not to be explored in the company of others whose views do not mirror your own.” Ciaran Mulgrew

Brendan led a diverse group of individuals through a well thought out series of questions. It was very thought provoking and the interaction from the group was essential to bring out the ideas and themes in a meaningful way.” Jenny Ebbage