Scottish identity and spirituality
‘Nations and peoples are largely the stories they feed themselves. If they tell themselves stories that are lies, they will suffer the future consequences of those lies' says Ben Okri in Birds of...
Walking with the psychogeographers
Last autumn John Davies took a two-month walk across the country from Hull back home to Liverpool, following the M62 corridor. The diary of his journey was published as Walking the M62 and John reads...
Speaker(s): John DaviesThe Body Of Christ Has Down’s Syndrome
Healing was central to the ministry of Jesus and a vital ministry of the church, but it can be confusing and contradictory. We often assume that Jesus' healing is the same as the healing carried...
Why are some healed and others not?
Why do we think that disability is a problem to be solved rather than a way of life to be valued and lived out? And why do we think it is an issue of social justice to accept and value people with...
God is not Racist
For some the subjugation of the Palestinian people is acceptable because God is on the side of the Jews. But the occupation of the Palestinians includes segregation between Jew and Arab. How do we...
60 years: celebration or catastrophe?
Israel's birthday is understood rather differently in Palestine, whose inhabitants have experienced 60 years of catastrophe (‘nakba'). Jonathan Kuttab discusses the largest refugee group in the...
The Need to Disbelieve in Miracles
In previous eras, miracles were suspected because they couldn't be scientifically disproved, but there are perhaps deeper reasons about what it is they address that encourages us to avoid looking...
Speaker(s): John BellFaith in a Failing Church
With churches diminishing in size, is it now time to close the doors for good and wait for God to do something different? Or is the desert time part of God's purpose? John Bell was born within...
Speaker(s): John BellSod the Difference!
Genesis tells us that men and women are incomplete without each other, so why is there still a gender split within the church? How do we respond to accusations that the church is not a place for...
Speaker(s): Jenny BakerWhat are Evangelicals For?
People should recognise us as good news citizens who are integral to our communities and the public square. Our future as Evangelicals is to be at the heart of spiritual and social transformation for...
Dangerous Inclusivity
In an era when asylum-seekers and foreigners are suspected in Britain, are there Gospel perspectives on the ‘outsider' that Christians need to rediscover? John Bell was born within smelling...
Speaker(s): John BellThe Strange But True Story Of Tawfiq Salsaa’s Walled Nativity
When Amos Trust marketed the Walled Nativity last December, it led to international press coverage, hundreds of orders, vitriolic emails and 38,000 hits on YouTube. Garth Hewitt tells the story of...
Speaker(s): Garth HewittWhat The Emerging Church And The Desert Mothers And Fathers Have In Common
Some emerging churches have reappropriated an ancient Trinitarian understanding of the faith as a model for church and spirituality in the 21st century. Could this understanding help us be and do...
Speaker(s): Ian MobsbyFields of Praise – God and the Great Sporting Liturgies
Since Tertullian, religious imagery and sport have never been far away: the stadium shrines, devoted supporters, teams that have experienced resurrection and athletes who've achieved immortality....
Comedy in the Bible
The Bible is not generally considered a funny book. In fact, much comedy has been derived from its seriousness. And yet the Bible contains Whitehall farces, knock-about slapstick, wordplay, and...
Speaker(s): James Cary