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Take Off Your Shoes – Hospitality and Practical Theology: BIAPT 2023 Annual Conference
The BIAPT 2023 Annual Conference, Take Off Your Shoes – Hospitality and Practical Theology, allows us to explore a theme that has come under increasing theological scrutiny in recent years. Hospitality is a universal virtue, one that is claimed by every culture, but what does it mean to welcome another into our country, home, space or personal narrative? “Take off your shoes” was chosen as the title for this conference because it communicates very well the ambiguities, complexities and contradictions of the act of hospitality. On the one hand, it does not hide the power imbalance of the relationship between host and guest that will surely be explored during the…
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Welcoming the Stranger: Aligning Hospitality, Justice and Charity with Righteousness
This article explores hospitality, the theme of BIAPT’s 2023 annual conference to be held on 11th to 13th July 2023. If you want to explore these sort of themes further, please consider joining us for the conference. For details visit the conference website here. In the Tanakh (the Bible) there are many instances where we are commanded to treat the stranger with charity, justice and righteousness. Why? Perhaps it is based on the idea of reciprocity, a payback for having been guests, presumably quite good guests: “Because you were strangers in a strange land” (Exodus 22:20) This seems reasonable; the good guest becomes, hopefully, the good host. After all, every…
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Seeking New Associate Editor for Practical Theology
Due to the internationalization and growth of Practical Theology, the trustees of the Contact Pastoral Trust wish to appoint an Associate Editor, who will make a significant contribution to the continuing development of the journal. The appointment is with the expectation that after approximately three years the person taking up the role will then become the Editor for at least the following two years. This is therefore an appointment for at least five years beginning in Sept/Oct 2023. The first two years will allow the current Editor to induct the Associate Editor into the business and tasks of editing and withdraw at the appropriate point. The third year will involve…
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In the image of God: Perfection and disability
What is perfection? In this article, we consider views of disability, perfection, and where this fits with our view of the image of God. We argue that our view of the image of God has been affected by our own perceptions. We propose that these perceptions can come from our own personal thoughts, and things such as advertising, and social media. This suggests that perfection has become key to understanding the physical attributes that people associate with the image of God. Considering disability theology, we argue that by our image of God we are able to understand what it means for everyone to be counted as exhibiting God’s image. This…
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The potential impact of closure of Churches in the metaverse
In March 2023 Microsoft ‘sunset’ its metaverse AltspaceVR platform to move its resources to support developing other immersive experiences. This may appear irrelevant to readers, unless you are involved in church mission in the metaverse.[1] Welcome to the metaverse! The term ‘metaverse’ first appears in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash describing a virtual environment where lifelike avatars engage with each other.[2] Thirty years later, it is a vision Silicon Valley are heavily investing in and a few churches (predominantly American) have grasped the vision of the metaverse mission field. However, churches in the metaverse are different, in August 2021 Facebook changed its name to Meta to focus…
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Doing Theology Through the Feathers: Reflecting on Practical Theology as a Student with OCD
“Why are you researching theology?” the Parrot asks me, as I submit the application forms for my PhD. He is mocking me. I already know everything he is about to say to me. We’ve been here before, he and I. The Parrot is always there – he is the voice that my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) takes. He is the voice of every doubt, every intrusive thought, every repeating phrase that gets lodged in my mind. He will bring up the fears I have that I’m not religious enough, as though that disqualifies me from studying theology. He will tell me that I can’t sit in that space of doubt…
