13.04.2010
Archbishop's Address in Trinity College at Trinity Monday Commemoration and Thanksgiving
Following is the text of the address by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr John Neill at the order of Commemoration and Thanksgiving in Trinity College Chapel on Trinity Monday (12 April 2010).
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“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit” I Corinthians 12;4
Variety and diversity on the one hand, and an underlying unity on the other are set out in this short sentence from one of the earliest Christian letters. Gifts and abilities, skills and attributes vary, but what enables and underlies each is expressed as a unity – the action of the Spirit of God. So much division, so much conflict, so much damage, is caused by the attempt to limit the endless possibilities in creation and in humankind, and to deny the rich variety of truth.
At times, Christian apologists have tried to “batten down the hatches”, and to deny and even silence the advances of science. At other times, the secular agenda has been equally limited, denying a role for faith and religious expression as being worthy of consideration.
This great Institution, the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity near Dublin, bears in its very title, given it at its foundation over four centuries ago, a reminder of the unity at the heart of all that is.
There is a sense of pride in the tradition of the College, in the great scholars, statesmen, churchmen, lawyers, medical doctors and leaders in every discipline that it has formed. Traditionally, though much younger than Oxford and Cambridge, it has held in these islands a standing akin to those ancient foundations. More significantly today, Trinity College Dublin is ranked in the top fifty universities in the world.
To celebrate centuries of a great institution is not simply to name people or events, but it is to reflect also on some of the core values for which a university stands. Written deep into the Foundation documents of this College is the teaching of Divinity – something which sets it apart from other universities on this island. In a secular age, this may be regarded as a mere hangover from the past, or it could be saying something very profound concerning the unity of truth. It is the latter that speaks to me of the authenticity of the Trinity experience across four centuries.
The link between faith and learning may in the past sometimes have been expressed by the attempt of institutional religion to control and limit access to truth, and to define the indefinable. But religion is a part of Truth, and truth is impoverished without this vital aspect. The debate about the role of religion in education is very much alive in Irish society today and it is very easy for arguments to be formed that would remove all issues of, and traditions of, faith from the educational system. The human spirit is impoverished if its spiritual and indeed religious dimension is ignored. New ways may well have to be found at the Primary and Secondary level in education to express a place for the faith dimension, without the aspects of ownership and limited control that have been inherited from the particular history of Irish education. The evolution of this University witnesses a willingness by a church to enter into such a dialogue. This chapel itself stands as an expression for example of the willingness of the Church of Ireland to allow control to give way to active and enthusiastic participation in something bigger than any one Christian tradition.
The historical experience of the university is surely that the religious and the secular must interact; that a mutual respect can be established and that a proper humility can be observed by all in the realisation that truth is greater than any of us can conceive. The joy of learning is that it is an exciting route of discovery.
Developments in Trinity in the area of the teaching of Theology and Religion – moving from a model based only on training for the Anglican priesthood, through a wider ecumenical approach, but also into a rich multi-faith discipline is something to be welcomed. This is an exploration that this University appears to have taken very seriously.
If at one time, the fear was that the institutional church might interfere in the freedom that is essential to a university, the threat in these islands is perhaps that the financial constraints may be the determining factor. Truth does not always translate easily into earning power, and the search for truth may seem of little benefit to those whose only criteria is the commercially viable. Research is of course of immense value to industry and to national development, but if this becomes the sole criterion, the ancient universities could become as extinct as the creatures found in our Natural History museums. For the standing of a University on the world stage, the quantity and quality of research is vital. Yet, it is essential that alongside this, the traditional role of universities in the teaching of young minds, the planting of a thirst for further study, the testing and developing of critical powers, is never made secondary to the productivity of the great scholars researching within these hallowed walls.
At the centre of Christian Faith is the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ – frequently presented in the Fourth Gospel, that of St.John, as the Truth. A faith that sees the embodiment of truth as divine has nothing to fear from the exploration of every aspect of truth in the universe – at its best, faith cannot fear knowledge – and at its best the pursuit of knowledge and understanding must be relentless, but can never be more final than the truth that it searches – “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever.”
