Introducing our Speakers for AI and the Battle for the Soul

The Ralston College community looks forward with excitement and anticipation to next month’s symposium on AI and the Battle for the Soul. Our lead speakers will be our new Chancellor, the psychiatrist and philosopher Dr Iain McGilchrist, and the icon carver and host of The Symbolic World, Jonathan Pageau.

To provide some helpful context about what questions matter most to these renowned thinkers, we gather here some of their public conversations, both those hosted by Ralston College and those recently published online.

In 2024, Dr McGilchrist delivered the Sophia Lectures, Ralston’s flagship annual event, on the subject of “Wholeness, Imagination, and the Cosmos”. The three lectures can be freely viewed here, and a Q&A session held with the Ralston student cohort of that year is available here. In 2021, Dr McGilchrist delivered his first lecture for Ralston College, on “The Coincidence of Opposites”, which can be watched here. In addition, Dr McGilchrist has generously discussed several topics with Ralston President Dr Stephen Blackwood:

“Universities and the Future of Civilization”

“The Cultivation of Wisdom”

“The Education of Iain McGilchrist” Part 1 & Part 2

The College has also benefited enormously from the wisdom of Jonathan Pageau, who has lectured to us on “Rethinking the Last Judgment: Cosmic Symbolism and the Metaphor for Self-Discovery”:

When our students visited the remarkable site of Meteora in Greece, he shared his thoughts on “Why We Need Monasteries”:

He also engaged in a conversation with the author Greg Hurwitz about “Why We Tell Stories”:

In addition, he was also a valuable contributor to our 2025 “Renaissance and Renewal” symposium, delivering a short speech on “Why Renewal Requires In-Person, Communal Remembrance”, available here.

The College is also very grateful for the conversation that Jonathan Pageau hosted with Dr McGilchrist earlier this year about the importance of Ralston College.

Both speakers have been exceptionally active across a wide range of subjects and platforms. We limit ourselves here to three recent contributions of great importance by Dr McGilchrist:

• A discussion with the neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth about the phenomenon of consciousness and religious faith, hosted by Justin Brierley for Uncommon Ground.
• A keynote address on “Why We Need Religion” for the Christian Revival Conference hosted by Pusey House in Oxford and the Danube Institute.
• And, finally, a conversation with Freddie Gray of Unherd about the importance of escaping “left-brain thinking”.

Among Jonathan Pageau’s many recent contributions of great interest and importance, we may draw attention to:

• His discussion of “Reality in a Disenchanted Age” with Mary Harrington of Unherd for Socrates in the City.
• His appearance on Justin Brierley’s Uncommon Ground to debate Genesis, Jesus, Science and Faith” with the atheist Joe Folley.
• And his introductory lecture on “Understanding the Icons of Holy Week”.

We hope that you enjoy familiarizing yourself with the profound and timely work of these two figures, and sincerely hope that you will join us for our “AI and the Battle for the Soul” symposium on 9th May, in person or remotely.