I'm delighted to announce that I've just signed a contract with a publisher for my first book - 'Quaker shaped Christianity: How the Jesus story and the Quaker way fit together.'
Book Review: ‘Hope’s Work’ by David Gee
I've written a review of David Gee's new book 'Hope’s Work: Facing the Future in an age of crises’ on the Woodbrooke blog. You can read the review here. The book is highly recommended!
Decentering ourselves: Reflections on Britain Yearly Meeting Gathering 2021
marginalised. When the consumption and comfort of the wealthy is centred, then the world’s poor suffer on the periphery. When whiteness is centred, blackness becomes the ‘other’. When cisgender and gender conformity is centred, gender diversity is seen as ‘deviant’.
Whiteness and Quaker theological fragility
I'm pleased to announce that my article '"Why do you call me good?": Whiteness and Quaker theological fragility' has been published today in the Friends Quarterly (Issue 3, 2021). You can buy a copy of this edition here: https://thefriend.org/magazine/tfq.
Book Review: ‘The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race’ by Willie James Jennings.
The community formed by and around Christ should be one of strangers brought into intimate communion, a new kind of family. But what has happened to this original vision of the Church?... The Church has moved from being a community of intimacy to a community of strangers, strangers who don’t even recognise one other as fellow Christians. In his book ‘The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race’, Willie James Jennings describes the roots of this ‘distorted relational imagination’.
What does ‘Quaker Faith and Practice’ say about sin and evil?
In ‘Quaker Faith and Practice’ (Qf&p), the ‘book of discipline’ of Quakers in Britain, there is no chapter dedicated to sin or evil. Quakers are not known for their sin-talk. Early Quakers would accuse the Calvinists of ‘preaching up sin’. In Qf&p, there are Edgar B Castle’s words that ‘to contemplate evil is a poor way of becoming good’ (26.69). However, Qf&p does have quite a bit to say about sin and evil, and I’ve put this summary together as part of my work on Quakers and racism.
Institutional Racism and Quakers
If we are going to foster a Quaker culture that can name racism and discrimination, and move quickly to the defence of the victim, we have to rethink our understanding of sin. White Quakers like me have to acknowledge that, however good our intentions, we will ‘naturally’ perpetuate institutional racism. We will do this unconsciously, but we are still responsible for the damage we do. Our ability to act in a non-racist way has been perverted. Without our choosing, we are sinners.
Theology as Ministry – my journey with Jürgen Moltmann
Where theology is concerned, Quakers find themselves pulled in two directions. We shy away from the idea of theology, yet we can’t stop ourselves from doing it.
Rethinking the Liberal Quaker Jesus 4/4
This is the fourth and final part of ‘Rethinking the Liberal Quaker Jesus’, where I critique early liberal Quaker Edward Grubb’s understanding of Jesus. You can find the first part of the series here. F. Jesus the Jew When we reflect on what Jesus means to us today, we need to ask: How does Jesus … Continue reading Rethinking the Liberal Quaker Jesus 4/4
Rethinking the Liberal Quaker Jesus (3/4)
This is part three of four of ‘Rethinking the Liberal Quaker Jesus’, where I critique early liberal Quaker Edward Grubb’s understanding of Jesus. You can find the first part of the series here. D. The Cross as an example of God’s love A central question about Jesus is ‘what did Jesus’ death achieve?’ Grubb offers … Continue reading Rethinking the Liberal Quaker Jesus (3/4)
