Does Peace Studies make a difference? As someone who lectures in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, and belongs to an academic department that has programmes in both Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation as well as International Peace Studies – I certainly hope so!
But there’s certainly much to debate about whether peace studies makes a difference in the real world. The University of Bradford Peace Studies programme is hoping to stimulate that debate with a new blog. Click here to join the discussion. …
Continue reading ‘Does Peace Studies Make a Difference?’
Does the emerging church offer a legitimate and helpful critique of Western evangelical Christianity in the 21st century? Or is it merely a movement comprised of disgruntled cranks intent on deconstructing Christianity to the point where there is nothing meaningful left?
I was reminded of these diametrically opposed interpretations of the emerging church today when giving a seminar titled ‘Is Religion Doomed?’ at the New Horizon conference at the University of Ulster in Coleraine.
Continue reading ‘Emerging & Evangelical Churches: Friends or Foes?’
Today this blog features a guest post from Cary Gibson, whose thought and involvement have helped to shape the Belfast-based Christian collective Ikon. Gibson originally posted a comment in response to my post on ‘What does the Emerging Church Want?: Reflections on a Dark Gospel.’
With her permission, I’ve reproduced that comment here, to draw more attention to the points and questions she raises. She argues that the debate about ‘what the emerging church wants’ is getting bogged down by generalisations, and that it is misleading to frame debate in terms of a ‘retreat’ to the institutional churches.
Continue reading ‘Cary Gibson Guest Post on Emerging Churches – Beyond Generalisations, Retreats and Institutions?’
What do people in the emerging church want? This is a question that is being posed increasingly in one form or another by academics, critics of the emerging church, and people who are themselves involved with the movement.
Of course, if you ask the people who are involved with the emerging church, you will probably get a unique answer from each person. Some want to reform the church institutions in which they were raised. Others think those institutions are beyond reform and they should be ignored or eliminated altogether.
Continue reading ‘What does the Emerging Church Want?: Reflections on a Dark Gospel’
Secretary of State Owen Paterson has published a summary of the responses to the Eames Bradley Report on dealing with Northern Ireland’s past, revealing an overwhelmingly negative reaction to it.
As the unionist newspaper the News Letter puts it, ‘Ulster Rejects Eames Bradley Report on the Troubles.’ So is this just another case of ‘Ulster Says No’?
Continue reading ‘Dealing with the Past, Dealing with the Future? Responses to the Eames-Bradley Report’
In a further attempt to address the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, the Vatican has announced new procedures for defrocking priests. The Vatican is presenting these as tough new measures, the first amendments to the relevant sections of canon law in nine years.
But in a depressingly usual pattern, the Catholic Church has managed to undermine its own progress by not going far enough. The US-based Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said the new guidelines were,
Continue reading ‘New Vatican Guidelines on Sexual Abuse: Missing the Boat?’
Today’s Irish Times carries a commentary by Joe Humphreys titled, ‘Africa Should not be Defined by Single Events.’ Citing the recent example of the successful World Cup in South Africa, Humphreys notes how media coverage changed dramatically from hysterical predictions that tourists would be murdered, to nearly universally positive, even fawning coverage of the tournament and the country.
Humphreys asserts that our images of Africa are familiar and therefore even comfortable – either despairing to the extent that we feel helpless to see or effect any change; or positive in a caricatured sort of way, i.e. ‘Africans are always happy.’
Continue reading ‘South Africa & the World Cup: Challenging Stereotypes?’
This afternoon, after a violent and destructive 12th of July in Northern Ireland, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister have finally broken their collective silence and condemned the rioting of recent days.
The condemnation followed a complaint by Assistant Chief Constable Alastair Finlay on this morning’s Stephen Nolan Show that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister were not showing adequate leadership in the situation.
Continue reading ‘On the 12th of July Rioting …’
During the week I blogged about the launch of a new book, The Europeanization of Party Politics in Ireland: North and South (Routledge, 2010) edited by Dr Katy Hayward of Queen’s University Belfast and Dr Mary Murphy of University College Cork.
Continue reading ‘The Europeanization of Party Politics in Ireland: Another Perspective …’
With the 12th of July almost upon us, people living in Northern Ireland can’t help but notice the familiar sights of bonfires being constructed, freshly painted red-white-and-blue kerbstones, and areas adorned with British, Northern Ireland, and UVF flags.
This annual event very much hearkens back to Northern Ireland’s past, and depending on your perspective, is either a celebration of cultural heritage or a destructive ritual that represents the desire of some to cling to old and divisive political aspirations.
Continue reading ‘Belfast Telegraph Debate on a New Approach to Northern Ireland Politics: Mobilising the Middle Ground?’
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