andygoodliff

Investing in an alternative economy?

(Title of this post borrowed from a chapter in Bothered and Bewildered by Ann Morisy) Inspired by occupylondon and lots of other things from last year or so. What should I read to help imagine alternative economic ways of living and being? How can we unschool ourselves from captialist consumerism and discover ways of consuming that are neighbourly?

On my shelves are:

The Theology of Money by Philip Goodchild (not an easy read!)

Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire by William Cavanaugh (this has some good stuff)

Crisis and Recovery: Ethics, Economics and Justice edited by Rowan Williams and Larry Elliot

Journey to the Common Good by Walter Bruggemann (emphasis on neighbourliness)

Colossians Remixed by Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmatt (ethics chapters have some good ideas)

Christianity and Contemporary Politics by Luke Bretherton (a good chapter on fair trade)

 

Would like to read:

Money Enough: Everyday Practices for Living Faithfully in the Global Economy by Douglas Hicks

Global Neighbours: Christian Faith and Moral Obligation in Today's Economy edited by Douglas Hicks and Mark Valeri

Them and Us: Changing Britain - Why we need a fair society by Will Hutton

Divine Economy: Theology and the Market by D. Stephen Long

Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture by Vincent Miller

Liberation Theology After the End of History: The Refusal to Cease Suffering by Daniel Bell Jr

God's Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth Gospel by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

The Market Economy and Christian Ethics by Peter Sedgwick

 

What else?

Luke Bretherton off to Duke

Although he hopes to keep in touch, the theological scene in England is losing one of its most interesting voices to Duke Divinity School. Luke Bretherton is taking up the position of associate professor of theological ethics next summer, joining the likes of Stanley Hauerwas, Richard Hays, Sam Wells, Joel Marcus, Jeremy Begbie, Douglas Campbell, Curtis Freeman, Greg Jones, Norman Wirzba, Kameron Carter, Ellen Davies, Reinhold Hutter, Kavin Rowe and others ...

Luke has done some excellent work will lecturer at King's College London. He has set up the Faith & Public Policy Forum, being closely involved in London Citizens, as well as being a bridge between various evangelical groups. On top of that he has fairly quickly become a leading voice in political theology. His Christianity and Contemporary Politics has won lots of favourable reviews, one of the latest being from Sam Wells in Christian Century. He is currently working on a book on community organizing emerging out of his work with London Citizens.

 

Jazz Eucharist Available Download

Cave and King's (King is a Regent's Park College ministerial student) Jazz Eucharist is available to download from Proost for the amazing price of £3.50. If you heard them at the Baptist Assembly or Greenbelt and enjoyed their sound you can listen to it in your car or living room. The version of 'All Creatures of our God and King' is fantastic.

Seven Sacred Spaces

I'm part of a barefoot reading group (name was borrowed from Brodie McGregor and is from the excellent AoC 2011 Lent book Barefoot Disciple by Stephen Cherry) and we've been reading George Lings Encounters on the Edge booklet Seven Sacred Spaces. The book arises out of a study of monastic life and time spent with the Northumbria Community and the Anglican Franciscans at Hilfield in Dorset. Lings discerns seven sacred spaces in monastic life: Cell, Chapel, Chapter, Cloister, Garden, Refectory, and Scriptorium. While most churches focus on chapel, Lings argues that a healthy Christian community needs to be balance all seven spaces, with chapel and refectory being 'the twin centres of life' (p.24). The booklet is well worth reading and be purchased here. We had some rich discussion about where these spaces might be in our community life and how we might be more intentional in developing them. Looking forward to where this may go.

Talking about monastic, I'm hoping to make it to some of the first Baptist Order Convocation happening this week. An exciting development that is emerging for British Baptists.

'Only One Way' one-day conference

Centre for Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue, Heythrop College, London
 
‘Only One Way?’ : A Conservative Catholic, A Reformed Evangelical and a Liberationist Liberal debate the theology of religions.
 
Gavin D’Costa
Professor in Catholic Theology, 
University of Bristol
 
Paul Knitter
Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture,
Union Theological Seminary, New York 
 
Dan Strange
Tutor in Religion, Culture & Public Theology
Oak Hill College, London
 
To mark the publication of their major new book
 
11.00am - 3.30pm, 14th October 2011
 
This day is open to all.  A £5 donation is requested to cover costs. 
The College canteen will be open at lunchtime. 
To indicate that you intend to come or for further details, please contact 
Dr Martin Ganeri, Director of CCID by email:
[email protected]
Heythrop College, University of London, Kensington Square,
London W8 5HQ.

Promise and Presence reprinted

John Colwell's fantastic Promise and Presence: A Explorational of Sacramental Theology has just had a reprint from the fantastic Wipf & Stock. So if you've never read it, you can now get yourself a copy. Here's 4 commendations to read it:

'[This] is a remarkable effort, and would be even if it failed. As it is, it is carried through with wide scholarly range, conceptual sophistication, and wit.'
-Robert Jenson, Formerly Senior Scholar for Research at the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, Professor Emeritus of Religion, St. Olaf College, Minnesota

'We live in strange ecclesial times. Who could have anticipated a wonderful book on sacraments by a Baptist theologian? But John Colwell has done nothing less than write an extraordinary constructive account of sacramentality that anchors the sacraments in the very nature of God ... Highly recommended for Catholic and Baptist alike.'
-Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School, North Carolina

'a remarkable achievement, exploring a sacramental theology which is both evangelical and thoroughly Catholic . . . A lively, pungent, sometimes provocative account which is grounded in pastoral and personal experience and draws on a deeply scholarly grasp of both historical and modern theology . . . Practical theology as it should be done.'
-Paul S. Fiddes, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Oxford, and Principal of Regent's Park College, Oxford

'Not just the splendid Protestant textbook on the sacraments that we have needed for many years, but also a profound reflection on the doctrine of God, on grace, and on revelation. Only on this kind of basis can we ever develop sensible visions of Church and ecumenism.'
-Philip Endean SJ, University of Oxford, and editor of THE WAY, a journal of Christian spirituality published by the British Jesuits