“The churches in Northern Ireland are too posh-looking, their hedges are too high.” This was the assessment offered by Margaret Blair, a volunteer at The Gap Christian outreach project in Coleraine, speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence. Blair’s interview was part of a piece by reporter Mark McCleary on a new Northern Ireland branch [...]
Archive | January, 2010
Northern Ireland Reconciliation – Those who [try to] forget their past are doomed to repeat it…
Northern Ireland is dealing with its past every day – but usually not in a way that is helpful or constructive. That was the message from a panel discussion, ‘Can we Handle the Truth?’ that I attended on Saturday 30 January 2010 in Derry. The panel featured Denis Bradley, who along with Lord Robin Eames [...]
Dave Tomlinson Book Review – Re-Enchanting Christianity, & The Re-Emergence Conference (Belfast)
Dave Tomlinson is one of the keynote speakers at the Belfast Re-Emergence Conference, ‘The Church is Dead, Long Live the Church,’ scheduled for March 16-18, 2010, at the Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College Dublin at Belfast). In his most recent book, Re-Enchanting Christianity: Faith in an Emerging Culture, (Canterbury Press, 2008) Tomlinson dissects all [...]
From World Mission to Interreligious Witness – Visioning Ecumenics in the 21st Century: Conference in Dublin June 16-18, 2010
After a century of ecumenism, where are we? Most scholars date the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement to the 1910 Edinburgh Conference, where church leaders gathered to forge a way forward for greater cooperation in missionary endeavours. But 100 years on ‘mission’ – with its overtones of proselytization – means something quite different to [...]
The Platform for Change Northern Ireland: Dare We Dream of Normal Politics?
Northern Ireland’s two largest parties are locked in yet another round of negotiations on policing and justice, the spectre of the Orange Order and its marches casting its usual shadow over proceedings. But the new ‘Platform for Change Northern Ireland’ – which will be launched in Belfast next month – dares to ask if we [...]
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2010: Can Ecumenism Be Born Again?
‘Born Again,’ is a term that is used derisively in Ireland to denote conservative evangelical Christians. Outsiders sometimes refer to them collectively as ‘the born agains,’ with either a smirk or a sigh, signalling their disagreement with their religion and most likely their politics. It saddens me that ‘born again’ has become such a by-word. [...]
Johnston McMaster Book Review: A Passion for Justice – Social Ethics in the Celtic Tradition
The ancient Celtic world and its larger-than-life inhabitants have too often been manipulated for political and religious ends. A glance at some of the gable walls of Northern Ireland’s cities make that all too clear. But the Celtic tradition need not be divisive, or the preserve of one ‘side’ in the longstanding conflict on [...]
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2010: ‘Don’t Give Up!’
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has a whiff of the ‘worthy cause’ about it, for those who are not opposed to the idea of ecumenism altogether. Perhaps ‘Christian Unity’ sounds like something that would be a good idea, but it seems a very long way off. Indeed, one respondent to the survey my [...]
God & Guns, Dodging a Bullet On Thou shall not kill?
Pardon the pun, but a US gun manufacturer has just given more ammunition to those who think that religion is an inherently violent force for evil in the world. The manufacturer, Trijicon, has inscribed “2COR4:6″ and “JN8:12″ on its gun sights. The BBC reports that Trijicon was ‘founded by a devout Christian’ who runs the [...]
Pope Summons Irish Bishops To Rome
The Irish bishops are to travel to Rome to face the man in charge, Pope Benedict, and discuss possibilities for the church in the aftermath of the clerical sex scandals. The talks are scheduled for the 15th and 16th of February. The Irish Times reports that: “It is expected that proposals on dealing with the [...]
About me
Welcome to Building a Church Without Walls, a website for people who are excited about how Christianity is developing in the 21st Century. I am a Lecturer and Coordinator of the Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation Studies Programme at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (the Irish School of Ecumenics).
Please note this is my personal site. All views are my own and are not representative of TCD.
