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OIKOCREDIT
Use your savings to alleviate global poverty |
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| Books from the Ekklesia bookshop |
Faith and Politics After Christendom by Jonathan Bartley here
Threatened with Resurrection
by Simon Barrow here
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| Our Partners |
Ekklesia is an independent member of the Root and Branch Network which includes:
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| 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
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| More Ekklesia Bulletins |
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Sometimes everything seems to happen at once. This weekend, Ekklesia will be releasing the results of a ComRes opinion poll, which shows that 78 per cent of the public would consider voting for an independent parliamentary candidate if their party political MP had acted in a way they considered unethical. The full details, and our reflections on the wider issue of 'transforming politics', will appear on the website on 23 May ( www.ekklesia.co.uk). Meanwhile, we have been involved with an evangelical statement affirming the ministry of gay people in the Christian community, in the wake of debates taking place this weekend at the Church of Scotland's General Assembly (see Thinking in Action). At the same time, a new Ekklesia research paper has been published looking at Church of England investments, and asking how financial-decision and alternative practices aimed at economic justice need to be seen as part of the core Christian message to be lived out in the word, rather than an add-on for 'funding' other things without too many questions being asked about the rightness or wrongness of the means of production, distribution, exchange and ecological sustainability (see Research Focus). Our book choice this week (Reading Allowed) is an exciting new title, 'Living in Hope While Living in Babylon' which looks at some surprisingly well-known figures whose understanding of their vocation and action was shaped by a Christ-like anarchism - that is, an embracing of responsible freedom and a rejection of overbearing worldly authority. Since the media maelstrom is at the heart of so many of the concerns that arise for us these days, our quotations of the week are about downfall, remuneration and the temptation to react for reaction's sake! Chastening. We are also delighted to be involved as a sponsor of the Surefish Church Website Awards (see Event). Last but not least, our feature writers look at the debate about church schools - distinguishing fact-calling and opinion-casting from name-calling, and also at the way in which the term 'liberal' is bandied around rather too generally and unhelpfully. Seeking clarity, if not easy agreement, among the multi-voiced confusions of pubic life is perhaps one common feature in all these points of departure. |
| 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 |
| The dark side of liberalism |
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By Giles Fraser
Few words are bandied about with such casual abandon as "liberal", says a well-known Christian author and commentator. It can stand for the liberality and generosity vital to any outlook, but it can also mean an exulting of individualism and a damaging denial of inherited wisdom. The issues of 'liberalism' and 'conservatism' in religion and theology are more complicated than the media and lobby groups let on.
Read the whole article here |
| On not being 'idiotic' about church schools |
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By Simon Barrow and Jonathan Bartley
Dismissing those who want to reform faith schools as 'useful idiots' for a 'secularist conspiracy' misrepresents the facts, feeds absolutism and undermines sensible debate, argue Ekklesia's co-directors.
It also shows how weak the anti-reform case really is. We need a more varied debate which creates openness to change.
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| Quota |
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Sayings from the week and wisdom from the tradition
"A falling away is worse than a falling down."
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian
"One of the reasons our media is so out of touch is because editors, presenters and columnists are way overpaid."
- Alastair Campbell (Tony Blair's former spinmeister)
"We must do something! And this is something - so it must be what we should do."
(from the TV show 'Yes, Minister!')
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| Research Focus |
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Investment, mission and the Church of England
The Church of England has recently lost �1.3 billion through its investments in shares and property. Yet it still has huge assets as well as large responsibilities.
A new Ekklesia research essay entitled 'Where is the Church of England's heart invested?' looks at some of the difficulties and contradictions of the Church's investment and finance policy, particularly the dislocation of decision making about money from integral mission and economic justice, which is both practically and theologically deficient.
Acknowledging both the good intentions towards ethical practice and the constraints imposed by the legal and Established framework of the C of E, the paper argues that for Christian churches economics needs to be re-located in the subversive and alternative calling of a Gospel community in an unjust world. It suggests there are many positive ways forward.
Read the full paper here
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| 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 |
| Media and web debate |
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 Ekklesia in the news this week
Ekklesia's response to the Church of England's new 'Christian values for schools' initiative was picked up in two articles in the Church Times last week, though sadly inaccurately. Inspire Magazine picked up our piece about Euro candidates being encouraged to talk with local people in North-west England about justice and poverty issues. Meanwhile, Queerty ( http://www.queerty.com) Twitter continues to amplify our syndication ( http://twitter.com/#search?q=Ekklesia), with Church Action on Poverty (@churchpoverty) and Sri Lanka Live (@SriLankaLive) among those referencing us recently, alongside the religious media. Third Way magazine published Jonathan Bartley's interview with Michael Portillo, and Jonathan also wrote for the Guardian's Comment is Free last weekend on the Church of England's investments. Look out this weekend for Jonathan's review of two books - God's Back by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge and Terry Eagleton, Reason, Faith and Revolution - in The Observer newspaper, as well as coverage of our ComRes opinion poll of voter's views on independent candidates. Keep up-to-date with Ekklesia's Comments on Twitter
Ekklesia works on a not-for-profit basis. Please support Ekklesia's work with the press and other media by donating through PayPal here |
 Sign up to Amnesty International's Stop Torture campaign here |
| Event: Where is the church on the web? |
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Ekklesia is a co-sponsor of Surefish Church Website of the Year Award, organised by Christian Aid in association with the Church Times and others. The final date for submitting a site is 2 June 2009.
The award ceremony will take place at Christian Aid headquarters in London on Tuesday 9 July 2009.
Ekklesia is offering a consultancy day worth up to �300 as one of the prizes. The awards are about encouraging creativity and communication. We se them as a way of helping Christian web practitioners to 'break the mould' and take their message out of what can sometimes be a religious ghetto.
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| Thinking in Action |
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Church of Scotland and the ministry of gay people
This weekend the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, its highest decision-making body will discuss two key matters related to the ministry of lesbian and gay people. Ekklesia has been involved in an initiative bringing together eleven organisations around an evangelical statement affirming the place of gay people in the church, on traditional and biblical grounds.
The Church of Scotland offers live streaming of the whole General Assembly on its website (video and audio). However, the system can get overloaded, and may not be able to keep up with the high level of demand that the 23 May 2009 debate can be expected to create.
http://stream1.churchofscotland.org.uk/generalassembly
The timetable and other information about the General Assembly is available here |
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Reading Allowed |
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 Living in Hope While Living in Babylon: The Christian Anarchists of the C20th By Tripp York
In 'Living on Hope While Living in Babylon', Tripp York examines a few twentieth century Christians who lived such a witness, including the Berrigan brothers, Dorothy Day, and Eberhard Arnold. These witnesses can be viewed as anarchical in the sense that their loyalty to Christ undermines the pseudo-soteriological myth employed by the state. While these Christians have been labelled pilgrims, revolutionaries, nomads, subversives, agitators, and now, anarchists, they are more importantly seekers of the peace of the city whose chief desire is for those belonging to the temporal cities to be able to participate in the eternal city-the city of God.
ISBN: 9781556356858 (Wipf & Stock, 15 June 2009), 138pp, �17.00
For more information and to purchase through Ekklesia, click here
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