Pretence and Personhood: Theology and the Question of Authenticity Inaugural Lecture by Professor Judith Wolfe

Professor Judith Wolfe of the School of Divinity will give her Inaugural Lecture on ‘Pretence and Personhood: Theology and the Question of Authenticity'.

Austrian by birth, Israeli by descent, and American by adoption, Judith Wolfe grew up in Vienna, studied in Jerusalem and Oxford, and taught in Berlin and Oxford before joining St Andrews in 2014. She became fascinated by the complex relationship between role-play and authenticity during formative years in Vienna's theatre district, and remains interested in the allure and incoherencies of the ideal of authenticity in art, philosophy, and religion.

In her lecture, Professor Wolfe will ask about the necessity, challenges, and risks of role-play — that is, of the inhabitation of social and narrative roles — in forming authentic relationships to oneself and others. She will then discuss the many ways in which both role-play and the search for authenticity are related to questions of faith.

The Lecture will be followed by a Reception in Upper College Hall.

All are welcome.