Christianity
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Who do you say that I am?
Words don’t come easily – like sorry…. [and] forgive me, forgive me. Tracy Chapman Some years ago I was with a group of Christians and Jews travelling to Israel and Palestine at the invitation of the Council of Christians and Jews. The hope was that by visiting together, each of us carrying our incomplete understanding of the situation in the Holy Land, including of course unconscious cultural, religious and political biases, would see things through others’ eyes and return partially enlightened: gifted with a more nuanced understanding and greater openness to other readings of a notoriously complex situation. In Jericho, an ancient and predominantly Muslim Palestinian city which, nevertheless, for people…
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Learning to ask questions of the Status Quo
As I write, the Church of England is engaged in the meeting of its General Synod, deeply immersed in the latest round of conversation and decision-making about its ‘Living in Love and Faith’ process. Understandably, feelings are running high, and the challenge of how the state church can hold together different ways of grappling with theological understanding is inevitably a key strand of these discussions. Estate-based priest and theologian Rev. Al Barrett wrote thoughtfully ahead of this week, ‘It’s important, I think, in these conversations for each of us to try hard to locate ourselves a little – to resist the temptation to speak from an imagined (and illusory) abstract, objective or…
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A Review of “Corpo:reality – Body and Embodiment in AI and Robotics”
The Corpo:reality – Body and Embodiment in AI and Robotics conference was held in early December in Würzburg, Germany, organised by Netzwerk für Theologie & Künstliche Intelligenz. Elon Musk recently indicated that AI would eliminate the need for all jobs and we will all have robot friends.[1] At the conference Dr. Ilona Nord raised the question will robots replace the pastor or is the physical presence more important? There are uses for robots in social care, industry and even to assist the pastor, but to replace them would remove the physicality. Even with Zoom meetings, YouTube services or in the metaverse, both pastor and congregation need to be physically present,…
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Pastoral Ethics and Belief Baggage: A Critical Look at Animal Symbolism in Witchcraft
Introduction One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl… So begins the old British rhyme about magpies. I would have dismissed this as silly superstition, but for my experience one spring afternoon in 2014. I was writing in my studio in North London, seated at a desk facing the window. Outside, a magpie nestled on a big tree facing my direction and stayed there all day. In time, it moved to other branches but did not fly away. Occasionally, I looked up, hoping it was no longer there, but it stayed put, still staring in my direction. The following morning, I was back at my desk, and…
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BIAPT Conference 2023, Practical Theology Hub Event: S.H. Cedar, S. Horne, and Patricia Palazzo Tsai (Video)
Today we are thrilled to release the video of the Practical Theology Hub Event on hospitality which was held at BIAPT’s annual conference 2023 and features S. H. Cedar, Steven Horne, and Patricia Palazzo Tsai. Please note that parts of the video have been edited in order to protect the identities of non-speaking participants. Check it out below or on our YouTube Channel.
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Cats don’t have names: Does Neil Gaiman’s black cat teach emptiness?
‘Please. What’s your name?’ Coraline asked the cat. ‘Look, I’m Coraline. OK?’ The cat yawned slowly, carefully, revealing a mouth and a tongue of astounding pinkness. ‘Cats don’t have names,’ it said. ‘No?’ said Coraline. ‘No,’ said the cat. ‘Now, you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.’ Neil Gaiman, Coraline (2002), p. 42. Neil Gaiman’s brilliant book entitled Coraline. The reader trying to make sense of this article may ask why the character Coraline is talking to a cat, they may be in awe trying to understand how a cat can engage in conversation, or…
