Today SEI launches ‘Piskie Podcasts’: a series of podcasts offering reflection on theology, ministry and mission in twenty-first century Scotland.
‘Piskie’ is a jocular reduced form of ‘Episcopalian’ in Scots, that is, a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The podcasts seek to feature perspectives on issues from across the Scottish Episcopal Church and are hosted by the Scottish Episcopal Insitute’s Principal, Prof Michael Hull.
The inaugural Piskie Podcast offers four perspectives on assisted suicide, particularly the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. This Bill is one of the many proposals in the United Kingdom that aims to change current law around assisting a suicide. The question each of the four addresses is simply this: ‘Is the Bill consistent with Christian ethics?’ The Scottish Episcopal Institute offers their perspectives for deliberation about the Bill.
The first speaker is the Reverend Canon Prof David Jasper, who has been an Anglican priest for almost fifty years and has served in the Scottish Episcopal Church as Convenor of the Doctrine Committee, Canon Theologian of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, and priest-in-charge of a number of Episcopal churches in South Glasgow. He is Professor Emeritus of the University of Glasgow where he served as Professor of Theology and Literature. David is an Honorary Associate Professor of the University of Edinburgh.
The second speaker is Dr Simon Evans, who is a recently retired Consultant in Respiratory and General Medicine from Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. He was previously a Consultant at Portsmouth Teaching Hospitals and Associate Dean of Southampton Medical School as well as holding academic posts at Manchester and Nottingham Universities. Simon attends St Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Newlands near Glasgow and is a Lay Eucharistic Minister.
The third speaker is the Reverend Dr Claire Nicholson, who is Assistant Curate at Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church in Melrose in the Scottish Borders. She is a consultant neurosurgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Her subspecialist interests include paediatric and adult spina bifida, movement disorders, and skull-base tumours. Claire has been involved in postgraduate medical education for many years.
The fourth and final speaker is the Principal, Prof Hull, who also hosts the podcast.
Each talk is about 15 minutes, and the podcast in its entirety about an hour.
So, is the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill consistent with Christian ethics?
Four Scottish Episcopalians weigh in here, the first two opining that is, and the second two opining that it is not.
