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OIKOCREDIT
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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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| 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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| Issue: # 53 |
18 September 2009 |
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The world recession, which the G20 leaders will be discussing next week, has two major effects. First, it increases the gap between rich and poor, between long-term priorities and short-term anxieties.
Secondly, it pushes us all to examine concerns which are both closer to home (they touch our daily lives) and more far-flung (they have global repercussions). It is the impetus to reflect deeply and act broadly that contains the seeds of hope in addressing the divisions and injustices involved.
This week, our research, event and thinking-in-action foci all have a global remit: respectively, the new report from Christian Aid and the Woolf Institute on the role of faith in development, Peacemaking Sunday on 21 September, the meeting of religious leaders and NGOs ahead of the G20 in the US.
Meanwhile, our quotations are counter-cultural wisdom from two brave women in history, and our book recommendation (Ambassadors of Reconciliation) examines the theological resources needed to sustain a substantial turn away from vengeance towards restorative justice.
All this links with the feature articles from Ekklesia's co-directors, which examine, respectively, the prophetic tradition as a way of 'reading the world' differently, and the need for anger tempered by love to urge us forward in tackling a specific major threat like climate change.
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| 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 |
| Anger, love and climate change |
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By Jonathan Bartley
Social and environmental change needs a degree of anger to translate concern into effective action. But this impulse needs to be tempered by love. Self-righteousness does not aid change, it merely lets us and others off the hook.
Read the whole article here
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| A different way of reading the world |
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By Simon Barrow
Conventional wisdom often sees vengeance and injustice as the major forces that rule the world. But the prophetic imagination in the biblical tradition invites us to see and act differently, opening up a new world of hopeful action to us.
Read the whole article here
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| Quota |
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Sayings from the week and wisdom from the tradition
"The only way to live in any true security is to live so close to the bottom that when you fall you do not have far to drop, you do not have much to lose."
- Dorothy Day
"The world is full of great suffering and the world is also full of great overcoming."
- Helen Keller
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| Research Focus |
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Keeping faith in development
Collaboration between The Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths in Cambridge, England, and the UK churches' development agency Christian Aid has produced a major report on the role of faith-based organisations in global development. It urges a positive role for religious groups, while recognising the importance of open and non-partisan participation and advocacy.
The full report can be read here (*.PDF format)
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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 co-director Jonathan Bartley will be doing the news review for BBC London on Sunday morning at 7.00am.
Ekklesia works on a not-for-profit basis. Please support Ekklesia's work with the press and other media by donating through PayPal here |
| Event: Peacemaking Sunday |
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Churches in Britain and throughout the world will again be marking 21 September 2009 as a peacemaking Sunday - following the United Nations' International Day of Peace initiative.
At the beginning of October, Ekklesia's partner Christian Peacemaker Teams UK is hosting a first training event for peace activists associated with CPT's work of intervening non-violently in situations of conflict. |
| Thinking in Action |
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Faith in the G20?
Leading global churches' and faith-based development agencies, who have been working together on short- and long-term action plans to tackle the degradation of people and planet will be mobilising together in the United States next week, ahead of the G20 leaders of the world's most powerful countries, who are charged with tackling the impact and causes of the world financial crisis. http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/10238 |
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Reading Allowed |
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 Ambassadors of Reconciliation by Ched Myers and Elaine Enns
Followers of Christ are to be "ambassadors of reconciliation." Employing their skills in both New Testament interpretation and social action, Ched Myers and Elaine Enns offer a lens for re-reading the entire biblical tradition as a resource for the cause of "restorative justice" and peacemaking.
The term "restorative justice" indicates a movement to repair interpersonal, communal, and social injuries without recourse to violence or retribution. From its origins in the criminal justice arena and Christian action, restorative justice has been applied in schools, homes, and in the workplace. In this primer volume (a second will focus on stories of restorative justice in action) Myers and Enns offer biblical and theological resources for this vital and growing movement.
ISBN: 9781570758317 (Orbis, 2009), 174pp, �10.99.
For more information and to order through Ekklesia's bookshop, click here
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