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Jay Bakker – Faith, Doubt, and Other Lines I’ve Crossed: Book Review and Interview in Belfast Tues 23 April

By on April 18, 2013 in Book Reviews, Charismatic/Pentecostal Christianity, Churches & Reconciliation, Ecumenism, Emerging Church, Evangelicalism, LGBT, Morality, Post Modern Theology, Postmodern Theology, Secularisation, Social Justice, Sociology of Religion, US Politics

What is God like? Is doubt harmful to faith? Who do Christians marginalise? Those are just some of the questions explored in a new book by Jay Bakker, Faith, Doubt, and Other Lines I’ve Crossed: Walking with the Unknown God (Jericho Books, 2013). Bakker, who will forever be known as the son of scandal-ridden American [...]

Ireland’s Troublesome Priests: Promoting ‘Evolution’ in the Irish Catholic Church?

By on October 19, 2012 in Charismatic/Pentecostal Christianity, Churches & Reconciliation, Dealing with the Past, Irish Catholic Church, Irish politics, LGBT, Morality, Secularisation, Sociology of Religion, Victims

Last month (23 September 2012) BBC Radio 4 aired a documentary titled ‘Ireland’s Troublesome Priests,’ which seemingly set out to focus on the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP)and the members of it who have been censored by the Vatican for their views on issues ranging from women priests, the role of the laity, clerical celibacy, [...]

Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Readings from the Book of Exile – Book Launch 15 Sept. and Guest Review by Carla Ganiel

By on September 12, 2012 in Book Reviews, Emerging Church, Irish Catholic Church, LGBT, Morality, Post Modern Theology, Postmodern Theology, Social Justice

Pádraig Ó Tuama’s first collection of poetry, Readings from the Book of Exile, will be launched on Saturday 15 September at 7 pm at Common Grounds Café in Belfast. I expect we’ll be treated to some live recitation by Ó Tuama on the night, and a chance to take home a copy of the book. [...]

Ikonbelt: Kellie Turtle on Feminism – Should Feminists Give up on the Churches?

By on August 29, 2012 in Churches & Reconciliation, Ecumenism, Emerging Church, Evangelicalism, LGBT, NI Politics, Post Modern Theology, Postmodern Theology, Social Justice

From disagreements about women’s ordination, to what St Paul really meant when he told women to keep silent in church, the debate about the role of women in churches is complex, emotive and contested. It’s too massive to be covered in a single blog post. But I trust readers will be familiar with claims that [...]

Widows’ Row by Shirley-Anne McMillan: Book Review

By on August 21, 2012 in Atheism, Book Reviews, Emerging Church, Evangelicalism, Irish Catholic Church, LGBT, NI Politics, Post Modern Theology, Postmodern Theology, Secularisation

I don’t usually review novels on this blog. Due to the demands of reading a lot of scholarly material in my job, I unfortunately don’t take enough time to read novels and therefore don’t feel equipped to review them. But I can recognise a good story, and that’s what I found in a new novel, [...]

Readings from the Book of Exile: Pádraig Ó Tuama on Sunday Sequence

By on August 19, 2012 in Book Reviews, Churches & Reconciliation, Dealing with the Past, Ecumenism, Emerging Church, Irish Catholic Church, LGBT, Post Modern Theology, Postmodern Theology

This morning’s Sunday Sequence on BBC Radio Ulster featured the melodic tones of Pádraig Ó Tuama reading his own poetry. Readings from the Book of Exile, Ó Tuama’s first collection of poetry, was published last month by Canterbury Press. Apart from sharing a couple of poems, Ó Tuama’s interview with presenter William Crawley included insights [...]

Pádraig Ó Tuama on Changing Attitude Ireland’s Welcome Leaflet: How Can the Churches Welcome LGBT People?

By on May 18, 2012 in LGBT, Morality, Social Justice

Changing Attitude Ireland yesterday launched its ‘Welcoming Leaflet’ for churches seeking to include LGBT people in the life of their community. The event, held at St George’s in Belfast, was billed as part of Community Relations Week and the speaker was Pádraig Ó Tuama. Changing Attitude Ireland describes itself as: a network of people, gay [...]

LGBT Lives and Stories: Holding the Tension Wisely Report

By on November 18, 2011 in Churches & Reconciliation, LGBT, Morality

The Irish Peace Centres (IPC) have produced a valuable report on LGBT lives and stories, titled ‘Holding the Tension Wisely.’ Released earlier this week, the report (available here) summarises the ‘tension’ and ‘wisdom’ that emerged from a working conference held in Corrymeela in June on ‘Religious Ethics and Human Rights.’ The Report is another important [...]

Updates: Re-constructing Ikon and LGBT, Faith and Church Report

By on September 12, 2011 in Churches & Reconciliation, Emerging Church, Evangelicalism, Irish Catholic Church, LGBT, Morality, NI Politics, Post Modern Theology, Postmodern Theology, Social Justice

I spent most of last week at or preparing for the conference of the European Sociological Association in Geneva. During that time, there have been some useful follow-ups to two stories I’ve discussed recently on this blog: Ikon at Greenbelt: Reconstructing the Deconstruction In this post, I pieced together Ikon’s performance at Greenbelt, using the [...]

"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities’ Experiences of Faith and Church in Northern Ireland" – Report Launch 7 September

By on September 5, 2011 in Churches & Reconciliation, Dealing with the Past, Evangelicalism, Irish Catholic Church, LGBT, Morality, NI Politics, Social Justice

The Irish Peace Centres (IPC) will launch its latest report, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities’ Experiences of Faith and Church in Northern Ireland” on Wednesday 7 September at 3.30 pm at the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast. The report, researched and written by academics Dr Claire Mitchell and Dr Gail McConnell, is already available on [...]