Oxford, Britain/Prague, June 22 (CTK) – Theologian and Catholic priest Tomas Halik, 67, received an honorary doctorate of the prestigious Oxford University yesterday and he is the fourth Czech to be granted the title, following three presidents of the country.
The University of Oxford, founded in 1096, granted its honorary doctorate to the first and second Czechoslovak presidents, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk (in 1923) and Edvard Benes (in 1940), and to the country’s first post-communist president Vaclav Havel in 1998.
Halik was a visiting professor at Oxford in 2001. In 2014, when he won the prestigious Templeton Prize, a lecture room at the Harris Manchester College was named after him within the opening of a new student centre, in which Czech developer Ludek Sekyra participated.
It was the Harris Manchester College that proposed the granting of an honorary doctorate in theology to Halik.
This college supports the international centre for the study of political philosophy, ethics and religion that Halik opened in Prague last week. The centre will cooperate with Oxford University and focus on the issues related to the role of religion in the present society.
Along with Halik, the personalities who received the Oxford honorary doctorate included Apple chief designer Jonathan Ive, Nobel economics prize winner Paul Krugman, Estonian music composer Arvo Part and Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima.
Among those who attended the awarding ceremony held yesterday was Czech Culture Minister Daniel Herman.
“Tomas Halik has been trying to reduce the gaps between various religions for years, he leads their followers towards more tolerant relations and mutual understanding. I appreciate this very much,” Herman said.
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