Rupert Shortt in conversation with Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Join us at Holy Trinity Church Sloane Square for a conversation with Rupert Shortt and Ayaan Hirsi Ali about Rupert’s new book “The Eclipse if Christianity and Why it Matters”.
There will be a talk by Rupert Shortt followed by a moderated conversation with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a chance for audience questions and the opportunity to buy the book and have it signed by Rupert.
'Lucid, Brilliant, accessible. A must read'
Ayaan Hirsi AliThe mainstream Churches are faltering – or even at risk of dying out – in their Western and Middle Eastern heartlands. Surveys confirm that only a minority of people in a country such as Britain now claim Christian allegiance. The pattern is being matched in neighbouring societies.
At the same time many opinion formers preach secularist ideology with a self-confidence shading into dogmatism. Others, unsure of their moorings, feel some residual attachment to spirituality, while being sceptical about the existence of God and other articles of belief.
Yet church teaching remains intellectually robust, as well as inspiring a transformative global presence. In this major and wide-ranging international study – both a report on the unsettling consequences of secularisation and a defence of a creed too often belittled by its opponents – Rupert Shortt outlines Christianity’s fading profile in the present, but also argues compellingly that Europe’s historic faith remains critical to the survival of a humane culture.
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Join Lewisham Choral Society for the London premiere of Swiss composer Carl Rütti’s Requiem in the presence of the composer. This striking work was commissioned and premiered in Winchester in 2008 by the Bach Choir, who requested the same orchestration as for the Fauré Requiem: strings, harp and organ. The result was a haunting seven-movement work for double choir with soprano and baritone soloists.
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