Archbishop of Canterbury Dedicates Site of First Anglican University

Anglican Communion News Service (London)

20 June 2011

At a large gathering in Kanyuambora for a celebration of the new site for the first Anglican University in Kenya, the Archbishop helped lay the foundation stone and unveil a plaque, alongside the Archbishop of Kenya and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Dr Williams preached on the theme of wisdom and reconciliation, urging those present that God’s wisdom is something that exists for everyone:

“In the life of a university we seek wisdom and understanding, not only for ourselves, or for our nation, but for our whole world. God’s call to us is to grow in wisdom, God’s wisdom is always of peace and reconciliation – spread across the world penetrating everything on earth, his wisdom of reconciliation, peace and love. We weak and simple human beings break up that peace, damaging that harmony.”

“We need the reassurance of Jesus to bring us back to wisdom. One of the great truths of Christianity is Jesus is for everyone, not just for me and my friends, me and my tribe, me and my family. God’s will is for us all to be one family”.

Dr Williams went on to outline the values of a Christian university, and how they mirror God’s truth in the way that they strive to provide a universal truth for all those who are part of that university community:

“In a university we discover that the truth is for everyone; science is for everyone, scholarship is for everyone, literature is for everyone – just as Christ is the one great truth that is for all human beings, so all these ways that we understand something of the truth, all these things are for all of us. The word ‘university’ tells us this is about universal truth, a truth for everyone. So if we study to be one family in Christ, we shall be more ready to learn the truth God teaches us in science and scholarship – and that is much more true when we are talking about a Christian university. In a Christian university we do not only study together, we study because we seek God’s will and wisdom and we see fellow students and teachers as fellow members of the Body of Jesus Christ. And so the Christian university, more that any other, is devoted to reconciliation.”

Referring to the recent troubles in Kenya, the Archbishop spoke about his wish that this new university would become a beacon of hope for the generations to come:

“Now I know that this great country of Kenya has had a difficult few years and we know that the great hunger of all its people is for lasting reconciliation. And so we pray that this university will be a particularly strong and powerful servant. A servant for that need and hunger of the people of Kenya for peace. Just as the Cross is a sign of hope, so may this Christian university be a sign of hope.”

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