|
OIKOCREDIT
Use your savings to alleviate global poverty |
|
|
| Journey to Jerusalem |
This Lent join Christian Aid on a virtual pilgrimage through the Holy Land. From Bethlehem to Nazareth to Jerusalem, go beyond hearing about the people of the region and hear from them instead. From 25th Feb
|
| St George's Day Bake and Brew |
Bake your most delicious cakes this St George's Day, Thursday 23 April and help raise money to make childhood better in the UK with the Children's Society Find out more |
| Books from the Ekklesia bookshop |
Faith and Politics After Christendom by Jonathan Bartley here
Threatened with Resurrection
by Simon Barrow here
|
| Our Partners |
Ekklesia is an independent member of the Root and Branch Network which includes:
|
| Take Action |
You can join Ekklesia and take action by asking your MP to sign the following Parliamentary motions:
EDM 1248 on Conflict Prevention
Ekklesia attends the All Party Parliamentary Group on Conflict Issues which is supporting this motion
Ekklesia is a founder member of Accord - mentioned in the motion - which seeks to make faith schools more inclusive
Ekklesia is working with the Still Human Still Here campaign which supports both these motions
|
| More Ekklesia Bulletins |
|
Find out which bulletins you are subscribed to, and change the ones you receive by using the "Update Profile/Email address" link at the bottom of this email
| |
|
As well as being Maundy Thursday, 9 April is the anniversary of the death of theologian, pastor and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He was hung in 1945, just days before the end of the Second World War at Flossenburg concentration camp. Bonhoeffer's courageous life and death was lived in the shadows of tragedy and the call of hope. For Christians this is what Easter is all about. Our weekly bulletin may struggle to do justice to such extraordinary depths, but Christian Aid have struck the right cord with prayer and reflection resources from Dr Naim Ateek at the conclusion of their virtual pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Thinking in Action). The depths are also signalled in our quotations, including chief rabbi Jonathan Sach's response to "what God means to me" from the New Statesman magazine, Bonhoeffer's comment about recognition through suffering, and Dorothy Sayers' reminder about our complicity in the dynamic of crucifixion. Continuing the Easter them, our Reading Allowed recommendation is a lively debate about the meaning and nature of the resurrection of Christ from two theologians with very different perspectives - Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, and John Dominic Crossan from the Jesus Seminar scholars' group. Ekklesia has been much involved with the discussion over NHS chaplaincy this week ( http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/tags/4038), not only reporting and commenting but publishing material from people with expertise and experience. This material forms the core of our research focus. In terms of events, we are recommending a lecture and discussion at Chatham House on 16 April with the chief leader writer of the Financial Times, who argues from a geo-political perspective that it is important to engage with, rather than just denounce, hard-line Muslim groups. Lastly, there are three feature articles. Bob Morris writes about disestablishment and the role of the state regarding religion, Simon Barrow looks at the church's Easter tangle over football, and Giles Fraser reflects on facing human limitations in the light of the credit crunch. Amid the shadows and the light, we wish you a very happy Easter. |
| Ekklesia works on a not-for-profit basis, and deliberately maintains its independence from large institutions and their funding. If you value this bulletin please consider making a donation to keep it going and support Ekklesia's work. You can do it through PayPal here |
| Disestablishment, the Act of Settlement and all that |
|
By Bob Morris
Recent debates about Establishment are not just about Roman Catholics and the Church of England, but raise fundamental questions about how the modern state should face all religions, says a former Home Office Civil Servant who is now an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Constitution Unit, Department of Political Science, UCL. Read the whole article here |
| Off on the wrong foot(ball) for Easter |
|
By Simon Barrow
Church leaders have been angrily criticising the Premier League in England for holding football matches on Easter Sunday, a prime Bank Holiday in the UK. Ekklesia's co-director argues that in a post-Christendom context a more imaginative and engaging response is needed. Read the whole article here |
| Facing human limitations |
|
By Giles Fraser
We got suckered by J. G. Fichte's fake freedom fantasy, argues the outspoken Anglican vicar of Putney. The credit crisis is a reminder that, however clever we think we are, we cannot escape the limitations of reality. Karl Barth put this in theological terms as an invitation to difficult freedom in place of unwitting slavery.
Read the whole article here |
| Quota |
|
Sayings from the week and wisdom from the tradition
"We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"God, for me, represents the holiness of otherness. Through an encounter with the divine Other I come to value the encounter with the human other. What I ask God to do for me, God asks me to do for others: listen to them, empower them, believe in them, trust them, forgive them when they betray that trust, and love them for what they are, not what I would like them to be. More than we have faith in God, God has faith in us, and because [God] never loses that faith, we can never lose hope. God is the redemption of solitude."
"[Christ] was executed by people painfully like us, in a society very similar to our own ... by a corrupt church, a timid politician, and a fickle proletariat led by professional agitators."
- Dorothy L. Sayers (1943)
|
| Research Focus |
|
Assessing hospital chaplaincy
The National Secular Society believes that taxpayer funding for spiritual and pastoral services in the NHS should be ended, and religious groups left to pick up the tab. Writing on Ekklesia, political commentator Matt Wardman contests their financial figures in detail ( http://ekklesia.co.uk/node/9200), Professor Stephen G. Wright from the University of Cumbria argues that spiritual care is an important component of health treatment ( http://ekklesia.co.uk/node/9194), and agnostic philosopher Mark Vernon says why he thinks chaplaincy is vital ( http://ekklesia.co.uk/node/9196).
|
| Ekklesia has launched a new subscription service giving a detailed, inside track on the news agenda for the coming 6 weeks. Suitable for church leaders, campaign groups, local government and anyone working in or with the media, it is already taken by the Times newspaper, Reuters and the BBC. Find out more here |
| Event: Engaging with the enemy? |
|
As British security services uncover another alleged terror plot, the debate continues about countering extremism - with some advocating rebuttal or rejection and others engagement. In a meeting in London on Thursday 16 April entitled 'Islamist Movements in the Wider Middle East', David Gardner, the chief leader writer for the Financial Times and author of 'Last Chance: The Middle East in the Balance' will argue to The Royal Institute of International Affairs for a strategy of increased engagement with hard-line Islamic groups in order to build institutions, spread the rule of law and strengthen representative government. The talk and discussion runs from 17:30 to 18:30 at Chatham House, 10 St James's Square, SW1Y 4LE. Details here: http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk |
| Thinking in Action |
|
Next year in Jerusalem...
Over the period of Lent, Christian Aid, supported by Ekklesia and others, has been accompanying over 16,000 people on a 'virtual pilgrimage' to Jerusalem - a city of two peoples and three faiths whose holiness has been marred by the human distortions of religion and politics. Along the way, a huge amount has been learned and shared about the injustices and hopes of the region, with the voices of those involved speaking directly to enquirers and co-journeyers. The period of Holy Week culminates in prayers and reflections from Naim Ateek, director of the Sabeel centre for theology, peace and justice.
Find out more here |
|
Reading Allowed |
|
The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and NT Wright in Dialogue Edited by Robert B Stewart
 Ekklesia associate Vic Thiessen, director of the London Mennonite Centre, writes: "If you enjoyed the brilliant Wright-Borg dialogue in The Meaning of Jesus ( http://tinyurl.com/cfcutn) as much as I did, you won't want to miss this dialogue between Wright and Crossan. This time, the issue is the resurrection of Jesus and how different views affect our understanding of salvation, and this time it is in the context of an actual face-to-face dialogue, followed up by a number of insightful essays (on the views of Crossan and Wright) by American scholars. Generally easy to read and a lot of fun - I loved it!" ISBN: 9780281058112 (SPCK, 2006), 219pp, £10.99 For more information and to buy the book through Ekklesia, click here | |
|
|
|
