The D Society

The D Society is the main research seminar in the faculty for Philosophy of Religion and Ethics. It is chaired this term by Professor Catherine Pickstock (cjp15@cam.ac.uk).  Please contact faculty-office@divinity.cam.ac.uk with any questions about the seminars.

Papers are invited from a wide range of philosophers, philosophers of religion and ethicists, both internal to Cambridge and from outside. A short response paper from a graduate student or faculty member usually opens the discussion.

Founded in 1921 by Professor James Bethune-Baker, the D Society was originally a subscription society intended to supplement the (then) predominantly biblical emphases of the faculty to include doctrinal and philosophical discussion. Under Professor Donald MacKinnon's chairmanship it became the main locus in the university for the interaction between senior members of the Philosophy and Divinity Faculties; and under Professor Nicholas Lash it was transformed into a regular senior seminar in the faculty. 

The seminar is open to all interested members of the University, and to visitors who may wish to attend. Graduate students in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics are encouraged to come from the beginning of their programme and to make the seminars, and the enjoyable tea that follows, a place of regular interaction.

Members of the D Society are also encouraged to attend the regular public lectures in Philosophy of Religion, including the Stanton Lectures.

Image used on this page: Title: Donald Mackenzie Mackinnon. Creator: Unknown. Source: https://tinyurl.com/26jp9ut9. Licence: Public Domain.

The Graduate Seminar in Philosophy of Religion

Lent Term 2026 

D SOCIETY 

12.30-2pm Lightfoot Room

30 January        Professor M.M. McCabe (London and Cambridge) “Prison Philosophy”. 

Response by Professor Alain Tschudin (Stellenbosch and Cambridge)

13 February      Mr Haotian (Walden) Wu (Cambridge), ‘Between Athens and Jerusalem: A Hidden Life (Terrence 

Malick, 2019) in the Third City’. 

Response by Dr Giles Waller (Cambridge).

27 February      Dr Victoria Trumbull (Oxford), ‘The Philosophical Question of the Survival of the Soul’. 

Response by Dr Steven Toussaint (Cambridge).

13 March          Dr Katja Frimberger (Strathclyde), ‘”Seeing like a movie”: Cultivating the poetic gaze 

with Thomas Aquinas and the artform of the moving image’

Response by The Revd Dr Dominic White (Oxford).

Sandwiches12-12.30pm, Tea from 2pm onwards, Selwyn Room. 

All welcome