Atheists tend to claim that God is entirely pointless, and so does the doctrine of Creation. Here, at least, is some common ground between Richard Dawkins and Pope Francis. This talk will try among other things to spell out why God is pointless and why this is the whole point about God. It will also seek to remind us that when we claim that God is good, we have very little clue as to what we are talking about.

Terry Eagleton was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and on graduating became a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, the youngest Fellow since the 18th century. He has been a Fellow of four Oxford and Cambridge colleges, as well as Thomas Warton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He also has been John Edward Taylor Professor of English Literature at the University of Manchester and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and is currently Distinguished Visiting Professor in English at the Universities of Lancaster and Notre Dame. He has written over forty works of literary and cultural criticism, published hundreds of articles and delivered hundreds of lectures in many countries throughout the world. He is also a regular reviewer for a number of literary journals. His works have been translated into thirty or so languages. He is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the English Association and the holder of nine Honorary Doctorates of Letters. He has also written a number of plays which have been produced in London and Ireland and on British radio and television, as well as the screenplay for Derek Jarman’s film Wittgenstein. His books include: Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate (2009), On Evil, (2010), Why Marx Was Right (2011), The Event of Literature (2012).