#117 - Lord Nigel Biggar - The New Dark Age: How Britain's Institutions Became Afraid Of The Truth

Lord Nigel Biggar is an Anglican priest, theologian, and moral philosopher, a member of the House of Lords, and Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford.  His most recent books are The New Dark Age: Why Liberals Must Win The Culture War, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (2023), What’s Wrong with Rights?, In Defence of War, and Between Kin and Cosmopolis: An Ethic of the Nation. In the press he has written articles for the Financial Times, the (London) Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator, the (Glasgow} Herald, the Irish Times, Standpoint, The Critic, The Article, UnHerd and Quillette.  

Britain’s institutions are drifting toward a “new dark age” — where truth-seeking is replaced by intimidation and ideological enforcement.

This episode forms part of Thinking Class’ ongoing inquiry: The Question of the West — examining the political, cultural, and civilisational foundations of our common life.

Lord Nigel Biggar explains what’s happening inside universities, how liberal argument breaks down, and what citizens can do to push back

In this conversation we discuss: free speech as a civic necessity, why institutions reward intellectual vice, how debate collapses into smears, and why Biggar warns a “new dark age” is possible unless liberal habits of mind are defended.

Links

• The New Dark Age:: https://amzn.to/4kT9NWC
• Lord Biggar's books: https://amzn.to/4cfUPaZ
• The Biggar Picture: https://www.nigelbiggar.co.uk/

About Thinking Class:

Thinking Class is an independent forum for long-form inquiry examining the political, cultural and civilisational questions shaping England, Britain and the West.

Hosted by John Gillam, the show features serious conversations with historians, legal scholars, economists, theologians, politicians, and public intellectuals.

Thinking Class is concerned with discovering long-term patterns over headlines and hot-takes. Expect historically-grounded analysis on matters of national character, institutions, demography, democracy, identity, inheritance, institutional continuity and social change.

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