A tradition dating back to the days of the Priory of St Bartholomew, West Smithfield, in the Middle Ages was the Disputation held in the Priory Church on the Eve of St Bartholomew’s Day and Bartholomew Fair. Initially, the debate concerned weighty theological matters, but also came to take on wider subjects that could be described as “applied theology”. This was the forerunner of parliamentary debates and academic tutorials, initiating the concept of a lively and rigorous exchange of ideas designed to persuade an audience.

For this year’s Disputation, St Bartholomew the Great welcomed high profile speakers from the City, politics (including Michael Gove) and the Church (including Rev Dr Giles Fraser, from St Anne’s, Kew) for a debate chaired by the Rt Revd Dame Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London:
This House believes that the love of money is the root of the nation’s evils.