The Sacred, the Profane and the Desecrated

Writer and philosopher Professor Roger Scruton gives the annual Eric Symes Abbott memorial lecture in the beautiful setting of Westminster Abbey.

Roger is a philosopher, public commentator and author of over 40 books. He has specialised in aesthetics with particular attention to music and architecture. He engages in contemporary political and cultural debates from the standpoint of a conservative thinker and is well known as a powerful polemicist. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a fellow of the British Academy.
The Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Lectures are given in memory of Dean Eric Symes Abbott (1906-1983), who was at various times Dean of King’s College London, Warden of Lincoln Theological College, Warden of Keble College Oxford, and Dean of Westminster. The Eric Symes Abbott Memorial Fund was endowed after his death by his friends to provide for an annual lecture on spirituality and pastoral theology. Past lecturers include the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, the Rt Hon Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, and the playwright David Hare.