Reflections on and results from my School’s major research project, ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism: Diversity, Dialogue and Reconciliation,’ have become available in a variety of outlets over the last few weeks. The research team is hoping that the publication of these results will stimulate new conversations about faith and religion on the island of Ireland.
The May/June 2010 issue of Doctrine and Life (Vol. 60, No. 5) has published an article by me titled, ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism: The View from the Pulpits, the View from the Pews.’ This article outlines the major findings from our surveys of faith leaders and laypeople. These are organised under the following headings:
Continue reading ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism: More Research Results Now Available’
Yesterday Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (the Irish School of Ecumenics) hosted a seminar on ‘Faith and Community Relations: Perspectives on Diversity, Dialogue and Reconciliation.’ I presented an update on the progress on my School’s research project, ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism.’ The event was part of Community Relations Week.
I opened the seminar with a powerpoint presentation of the major findings of our surveys of faith leaders and laypeople. These have been in the public domain for some time, having been launched last October with a two-day workshop. As often happens in such seminars, it is the discussion that follows that pushes thinking further, or in new directions altogether.
Continue reading ‘Faith and Community Relations Seminar – What now for the Churches?’
Patrick Mitchel, a lecturer in theology at the Irish Bible Institute in Dublin, has posted a blog about ‘Irish evangelicals: unity in diversity or just disunity?’ In the post, Mitchel engages with a chapel message delivered by Crawford Gribben last month at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.
Gribben is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Print Culture at Trinity College Dublin. His talk is aimed at an audience of American seminarians from the Reformed tradition, and his purpose is to provide them both with a general perspective on the lie of the land on Christianity in Ireland, and a particular view of evangelicalism in the Republic.
Continue reading ‘Evangelicalism in Ireland: Slow Motion Revival or Faction Fighting?’
I’ll be conducting a seminar based on the findings of my School’s IRCHSS-funded research project, ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism,’ on Wednesday April 28, 2010 from 12 noon- 1p.m. at The Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin at Belfast, 683 Antrim Road.
The title of the seminar is ‘Faith and Community Relations: Perspectives on Diversity, Reconciliation and Ecumenism.’ I’ll outline key findings from recent the surveys of faith leaders and laypeople, as well as insights from the on-going case studies of faith communities.
Continue reading ‘Seminar on Faith & Community Relations April 28, 2010′
Richard Clarke, Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath and Kildare, was last month elected President of the Irish Council of Churches. His term will last until 2012.
The April 9 edition of the Church of Ireland Gazette features Clarke’s election on its front page. It reports that Clarke says there are ‘three major tasks facing Irish ecumenism today’:
Continue reading ‘Bishop Richard Clarke Elected President of Irish Council of Churches’
Last month Bishop Paul Verryn was suspended from the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Bishop Verryn was a prominent anti-apartheid campaigner and has in recent years become well-known for opening the doors of the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg to Zimbabwean refugees.
About 2,000 displaced Zimbabweans sleep in the church every night. Everyone seems to agree that this stretches the capacities of the church and its resources to a breaking point. South African authorities have claimed that the church has become a health and sanitation hazard, and there are rumours that some children have been sexually abused in the church.
Continue reading ‘The Suspension of Bishop Paul Verryn & the Zimbabwean Refugees: Problems with being a Prophet?’
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