Between the 7th and the 13th of November, we continued with what has become a tradition at RCN: World Religion Week. This week we offered many different sessions, such as formal, philosophical lectures, open classroom Q&As, and student-led workshops and discussion groups. Some of the highlights included a panel discussion on faith in the face of tremendous evil like the holocaust, an online class visit from Mr. Huge Rice (who has attended all World Religion Weeks since it became a regular part of our programme), and an interfaith prayer for peace as the conclusion of our week.

In previous years we have been able to welcome fantastic speakers and this year was not an exception since we had the privilege of listening to two online lectures with subsequent Q&As. On Wednesday the 9th, we welcomed Swami Medhananda. He is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order as well as appointed as both Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at the Vedanta Society of Southern California and as Hindu Religious Director at the University of Southern California. Swami Medhananda delivered a fantastic lecture on the religious pluralism of Sri Ramakrishna and contrasted these thoughts with the pluralism of John Hick. The session developed into a stimulating discussion. We recorded this session and it will soon be available on the Youtube-channel of the John Hick Centenary Conference, a channel with several recordings from the conference that was organized by our teacher Dan Silfwerin to celebrate the 100th year jubilee of John Hick in March this year.

On Friday the 11th, we were privileged to welcome Dr. Mohammad Saleh Zarepour, Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Manchester. His topic was the Persian philosopher Avicenna and one of his arguments for God’s existence. This lecture was also followed by a great discussion and gave our students a rare insight into Islamic philosophy of religion and the real force and originality of Avicenna’s thoughts on God and God’s attributes. We extend a massive thank you to both of these speakers! You can see more details on our special Hick Centenary website and in the recordings on the YouTube channel.

We also want to thank the student organizing team (Sean Zhang, Sandy Tan, and Ismail Ismail) and the organizing teacher, Dan Silfwerin, for putting all of this together.

We also want to thank the student organizing team (Sean Zhang, Sandy Tan, and Ismail Ismail) and the organizing teacher, Dan Silfwerin, for putting all of this together.

We also want to thank the student organizing team (Sean Zhang, Sandy Tan, and Ismail Ismail) and the organizing teacher, Dan Silfwerin, for putting all of this together.

Dear RCN Community,

RCN captures you! So it was an easy decision to accept the offer from the board to extend my contract beyond the initial, interim year. It is hard to know exactly where you are or what is going on in a new school, until you have experienced the full annual calendar; and living on a fjord on the west coast of Norway provides an additional environmental kaleidoscope. The breathtaking beauty of the mountains, and the fjord which they rise from, are one attraction, the Nordic way, another, but most importantly, it is our community which defines us.

RCN is a deliberately diverse community which is intentionally invitational to others, which prioritises learning and leadership and which recognises the need to work together to solve the problems of our time. It has governmental support and a sense of purpose which gives us the potential to do great things. Our collective obligation is to be as wise as we can be and to take collaborative action to enable our students and our alumni to be as impactful as possible on communities, companies, corporations and countries, and the leaders who make decisions, so that our world becomes more peaceful and more sustainable. We must have this as our focus to justify our continued existence.

Simply stated and yet challenging to achieve. Promoting individual autonomy and freedom, democratic deliberation and collective discourse whilst respecting the humanity of others and the right to alternative opinions within an established moral framework is a global challenge and it is our challenge. It is less of a challenge if we can remain compassionate, empathetic and humble in spite of our forthright determination to make a difference.

We will return after the seasonal holiday, refreshed and ready to start moving deliberately towards the future, sharing our ideas and working together as a community, drawing in those who share our vision and making plans about what needs to be done in a world which needs to be more united.

I intentionally and deliberately invite all of you in the wider RCN community, alumni, parents, family and friends, supporters and members of our local community and network, to share your thoughts and ideas about what matters with us at rektor@uwcrcn.no. I wish all of you a relaxing holiday season and a very happy and fulfilling new year.

Pelham Lindfield Roberts

Rektor