The Charles Gore Lecture - Theology for Commonwealth

Join us in the Abbey as Professor Sathianathan Clarke gives the annual Charles Gore lecture on Theology for Commonwealth: God's Dreaming, Common Worth, Planetary Communion.

This lecture offers a theology for Commonwealth by turning our attention from Word to Dreaming, from wealth to worth, from common good to planetary communion. A theology for commonwealth arises from God’s Dreaming rather than just the inscribed Word. The kin(g)dom of God is the shape and drift of Trinitarian dreaming for common living. Such a Christian commonwealth is based on worth rather than wealth, and knits “bonds of affection” to bond with the afflicted. Those considered worthless in an economy of wealth (Mammon) add value (worth) to God’s kin(g)dom on earth as in heaven. Ennobling the commoner goes hand in hand with restoring the commons. God’s blessed end thus dares theology to think of the common good as more than human flourishing. It confronts our sin of being curved in on the human self and frees us to participate in salvation by becoming curved outward toward planetary communion.

Sathianathan “Sathi” Clarke, an ordained Presbyter of the Church of South India, is Bishop Sundo Kim Chair and Professor of World Christianity at Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, DC, USA) and Lecturer in Theology and Mission at United Theological College (North Parramatta, NSW, Australia). His vocation has been a unique blend of the joy of Church ministry, passion for working with communities of the oppressed and other religious faiths, and love of academic research and teaching. He is the author of several books and is presently working on Theology for World Christianity in Post-postcolonial Times (OUP, Forthcoming 2026).

Charles Gore (1853-1932) was a Canon of Westminster between 1894 and 1902. As a memorial to him an endowment fund for a series of annual lectures was established and since 1935 a lecture has been held at the Abbey almost every year.

Please register here to attend this lecture giving us your details. Please then bring the Eventbrite ticket generated following registration or bring an image of the ticket on your phone for admission.

Entry will be from 6.00pm at the Abbey's main Great West Doors and all those attending, are requested to be seated by 6.20pm.

If you have special needs, we have ramped access at the Great West Door and disabled facilities in the cloisters. If you have particular needs and wish to discuss them with us, please email special.events@westminster-abbey.org

We look forward to welcoming you to Westminster Abbey for this splendid occasion.