Early Career Abstracts
11:30 - 12:30 - Technology, Theology, (post)Human OR Ecclesiology, Exclusion, Theology
A115 Technology, Theology, (post)Human - Michael Raubach, Scott Midson
Michael Raubach - Exclusion in the Cyber City: The Nihilism of Facebook
Since its early commercialization in the 1990's to its present ubiquitous proliferation, the Internet has become the cornerstone of post-modernity's eschatological promise of a new age. It is the quintessence of the nietzschean cry for a new politics constructed within a new ethics uncontaminated by any metaphysics or theology which might legitimize some form of domination (Rose, 2). In short: a godless New Jerusalem, a Cyber City of pure relations beyond 'law', built either on the libertarian 'voluntary association of free individuals' or the communitarian 'organic community [constituted] on history, territory, language and custom' (Ibid. 3). Yet the inability of these categories to recognize the ways in which 'they participate in the very archetype which they claim to overthrow' (Ibid. 4) – 'the proto-rationality of a prescriptive political totality' (Ibid. 4) – renders them otiose in their ability to perform the socializing miracles they proclaim, and indeed gives them a janus face of exclusion, 'paranoia, violence and the electric tensions of twisted lines of power' (Ward, 244).
This paper will focus on the question of 'exclusion' in these new cyber cities. In this context, exclusion is understood as 'the loss of orientation regarding alterity... [a] disturbance in the relationship with the other and with the world' (Paul Virilio, "Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!"). Using close readings of Part III of Graham Ward's "Cities of God", and Gillian Rose's "Mourning Becomes the Law" I will suggest that a theological vision of the cyber-digital which is both analogical and dialectical can re-orient our stance before 'alterity' by reclaiming cyberspace from the nihilistic aphasia of pure individuality- examining questions of exclusion and rights; and overcome the implicit totalitarianism in the reduction of relations to tactics or technologies of power beyond law or reason- exploring the association between exclusion, 'exclusivity', and power.
Bio
Michael Raubach is a PhD candidate in Theology at Durham University. He is researching the theological history of 'Virtual', and qestions of Christian ethics in the digital age with Dr. Marcus Pound and Prof. Gerard Loughlin. His interest lies in the intersection of political theology, philosophy of technology, and ideas of human flourishing.
Scott Midson - Far from Home? Mapping the Theological Transcendence and Return of Humans and Cyborgs in
Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity
Humans have long been seduced by the idea of overcoming themselves. This theologically underscored attitude (Davis 1999) can be seen as informing our infatuation with space travel, which marks a literal transcendence of our boundedness with earth and our material, creaturely condition. On the other hand, though, as I present here, popular cultural explorations of space travel, in particular so-called ‘space frontier’ (SF) films as a sub-genre of sci-fi, rather than celebrating an explorative spirit, in actual fact vindicate a connectedness with the earth. This, I contend, is a contemporary reworking of a still pervasive and overall conservative Edenic narrative, albeit in apparently (or overtly) secular terms. Space is an interesting setting to explore humanness, given that it is the transcendent yet vacuous space of arguably both infinite and no (i.e. nihilistic) space. Clynes and Kline discussed, in 1960, how humans would become astronautic ‘cyborgs’ in order to venture into space. In space, then, and in its associated filmic genre of ‘space frontier’, humans meet, and indeed are surrounded by, nonhumans. In spite of this, we are still able to deduce what is ‘human’, and I draw upon posthumanist theory to argue that this is because ‘the human’ (as essentialised) is a necessarily dialectical product (Badmington 2004; Herbrechter 2013; Graham 2002). We need ‘the nonhuman’ in order to affirm ‘the human’, which SF consistently conveys. Similarly, earth is affirmed through a dramatic expedition away from it, and the notion of return is an integral part of that Edenic and humanistic narrative. This enables us to ‘map’ notions of humanness, but what is left unresolved is the place of the (astronautic) cyborg: are cyborgs allowed with humans back on earth, in the audience for example, or do they remain
free-floating in space? Which is preferable? Why?
Bio
Scott Midson works from an interdisciplinary perspective at the intersection between theology and technology studies. More specifically, he looks at posthumanism, in considering and exploring the challenges and opportunities that it poses for theology. Much of this work draws on theological anthropology, and involves a critical questioning of what it means to be human against a range of nonhumans (such as nature, animals, and technology) that are excluded from the category of the ‘human’. These themes are prevalent in his current doctoral research on Donna Haraway’s notion of the cyborg, which is being written under the supervision of Prof. Peter Scott at the University of Manchester.444
A116 Ecclesiology, Exclusion, Theology - Pavlo Smysnyuk, Nigel Pimlott
Pavlo Smytsnyuk - “The Exclusion of Exclusion”: A Greek Orthodox Contribution to the Modern Debate
The Maidan revolution in Kiev and the subsequent conflict in Ukraine revealed the ways in which churches in the post-Soviet space participate in nation-building through the exclusion of the other. The fact that the church is an ‘exclusive’ club—in which one enters and from which one is excluded under certain conditions—is evident in the traditions of most denomination. However, the ethnicity or culture as a/the criterion of the church belonging is theologically problematic if not scandalous.
The aim of the paper is to analyse the exclusion rhetoric of the churches in the post-Soviet space, and to show how the thought of the Greek Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas might be useful to approach and overcome this kind of exclusion.
On the anthropological level, Zizioulas argues that otherness is constitutive of our being a person; person is an ec-static being, going beyond the boundaries of the self. From ecclesiological perspective, in the Baptism and Eucharist a Christian overcomes all natural and social divisions, and the only exclusion that is possible is “the exclusion of exclusion”. At the same time, as biblical and patristic evidence points out, the church, being an eschatological community, is in charge of judgment of exclusion.
I will combine the two arguments and apply them to the situation of ethnic exclusion in the post-Soviet space. In the conclusion I will try to show their usefulness to approach the exclusion on the basis gender and difference of opinion, which seems to be taking place in the West.
Bio
Pavlo SMYTSNYUK is a second year doctoral student in Theology at University of Oxford. He is doing research in comparative theology, with a focus on the relationship between religion, culture and politics in modern Eastern Orthodoxy and Hinduism. Prior to his studies at the UK he served as lecturer and Vice-Dean at the Theology Faculty of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. From 2000 to 2011 Pavlo studied Philosophy and Theology at various institutions in Italy, Greece and Russia.
Nigel Pimlott - To the detriment of young people: symbolic violence in an adult-dominated church
Whilst attempts are being made to embed a different cultural narrative, symbolic violence (Bourdieu 1990) against young people is common place in UK society. My research and practice experience indicates it is endemic in church contexts. Despite improvements being made to current practice, many young people remain excluded from most aspects of contemporary church life.
This paper discusses how symbolic violence presents with young people in church settings resulting in their marginalisation and exclusion from adult-dominated church paradigms. Young people in churches are largely prevented from being involved in the decision-making, shaping, theological development and most other aspects of determining ecclesiological practice. One of the consequences of this is that young people outside the church often see few reasons to participate in church.
I will contend that the theological antidote for symbolic violence against young people is to promote symbiosis, mutuality, and a contextual outworking of practice that promotes a new orthodoxy. This is to be located in: a re-ordering of who has power; increased participation for young people; and the development of shared responsibilities, joint ownership (even with young people who are not yet Christians) and cross-generational co-dependency.
I will discuss why church needs to be an inclusive place where young people are not seen as entities to be contained or problems to be solved, but as flourishing believers. A place where young people need to be liberated from an adult knows best orientated world so that they can be fully included in all that church aspires to be.
Bio
Dr Nigel Pimlott is passionate about work with young people. He is currently Deputy CEO of national youth work charity, Frontier Youth Trust. He has worked for them for many years and is author of a number of books and youth work resources. He is just about to have published, ‘Embracing the Passion’ – a book about Christian Youth Work and Politics. His PhD (2013) focussed on developing a model for faith-based youth work in the Big Society social policy context. He is married to Sue, spends far too long on Facebook, and is a life-long supporter of Manchester City.
A115 Technology, Theology, (post)Human - Michael Raubach, Scott Midson
Michael Raubach - Exclusion in the Cyber City: The Nihilism of Facebook
Since its early commercialization in the 1990's to its present ubiquitous proliferation, the Internet has become the cornerstone of post-modernity's eschatological promise of a new age. It is the quintessence of the nietzschean cry for a new politics constructed within a new ethics uncontaminated by any metaphysics or theology which might legitimize some form of domination (Rose, 2). In short: a godless New Jerusalem, a Cyber City of pure relations beyond 'law', built either on the libertarian 'voluntary association of free individuals' or the communitarian 'organic community [constituted] on history, territory, language and custom' (Ibid. 3). Yet the inability of these categories to recognize the ways in which 'they participate in the very archetype which they claim to overthrow' (Ibid. 4) – 'the proto-rationality of a prescriptive political totality' (Ibid. 4) – renders them otiose in their ability to perform the socializing miracles they proclaim, and indeed gives them a janus face of exclusion, 'paranoia, violence and the electric tensions of twisted lines of power' (Ward, 244).
This paper will focus on the question of 'exclusion' in these new cyber cities. In this context, exclusion is understood as 'the loss of orientation regarding alterity... [a] disturbance in the relationship with the other and with the world' (Paul Virilio, "Speed and Information: Cyberspace Alarm!"). Using close readings of Part III of Graham Ward's "Cities of God", and Gillian Rose's "Mourning Becomes the Law" I will suggest that a theological vision of the cyber-digital which is both analogical and dialectical can re-orient our stance before 'alterity' by reclaiming cyberspace from the nihilistic aphasia of pure individuality- examining questions of exclusion and rights; and overcome the implicit totalitarianism in the reduction of relations to tactics or technologies of power beyond law or reason- exploring the association between exclusion, 'exclusivity', and power.
Bio
Michael Raubach is a PhD candidate in Theology at Durham University. He is researching the theological history of 'Virtual', and qestions of Christian ethics in the digital age with Dr. Marcus Pound and Prof. Gerard Loughlin. His interest lies in the intersection of political theology, philosophy of technology, and ideas of human flourishing.
Scott Midson - Far from Home? Mapping the Theological Transcendence and Return of Humans and Cyborgs in
Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity
Humans have long been seduced by the idea of overcoming themselves. This theologically underscored attitude (Davis 1999) can be seen as informing our infatuation with space travel, which marks a literal transcendence of our boundedness with earth and our material, creaturely condition. On the other hand, though, as I present here, popular cultural explorations of space travel, in particular so-called ‘space frontier’ (SF) films as a sub-genre of sci-fi, rather than celebrating an explorative spirit, in actual fact vindicate a connectedness with the earth. This, I contend, is a contemporary reworking of a still pervasive and overall conservative Edenic narrative, albeit in apparently (or overtly) secular terms. Space is an interesting setting to explore humanness, given that it is the transcendent yet vacuous space of arguably both infinite and no (i.e. nihilistic) space. Clynes and Kline discussed, in 1960, how humans would become astronautic ‘cyborgs’ in order to venture into space. In space, then, and in its associated filmic genre of ‘space frontier’, humans meet, and indeed are surrounded by, nonhumans. In spite of this, we are still able to deduce what is ‘human’, and I draw upon posthumanist theory to argue that this is because ‘the human’ (as essentialised) is a necessarily dialectical product (Badmington 2004; Herbrechter 2013; Graham 2002). We need ‘the nonhuman’ in order to affirm ‘the human’, which SF consistently conveys. Similarly, earth is affirmed through a dramatic expedition away from it, and the notion of return is an integral part of that Edenic and humanistic narrative. This enables us to ‘map’ notions of humanness, but what is left unresolved is the place of the (astronautic) cyborg: are cyborgs allowed with humans back on earth, in the audience for example, or do they remain
free-floating in space? Which is preferable? Why?
Bio
Scott Midson works from an interdisciplinary perspective at the intersection between theology and technology studies. More specifically, he looks at posthumanism, in considering and exploring the challenges and opportunities that it poses for theology. Much of this work draws on theological anthropology, and involves a critical questioning of what it means to be human against a range of nonhumans (such as nature, animals, and technology) that are excluded from the category of the ‘human’. These themes are prevalent in his current doctoral research on Donna Haraway’s notion of the cyborg, which is being written under the supervision of Prof. Peter Scott at the University of Manchester.444
A116 Ecclesiology, Exclusion, Theology - Pavlo Smysnyuk, Nigel Pimlott
Pavlo Smytsnyuk - “The Exclusion of Exclusion”: A Greek Orthodox Contribution to the Modern Debate
The Maidan revolution in Kiev and the subsequent conflict in Ukraine revealed the ways in which churches in the post-Soviet space participate in nation-building through the exclusion of the other. The fact that the church is an ‘exclusive’ club—in which one enters and from which one is excluded under certain conditions—is evident in the traditions of most denomination. However, the ethnicity or culture as a/the criterion of the church belonging is theologically problematic if not scandalous.
The aim of the paper is to analyse the exclusion rhetoric of the churches in the post-Soviet space, and to show how the thought of the Greek Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas might be useful to approach and overcome this kind of exclusion.
On the anthropological level, Zizioulas argues that otherness is constitutive of our being a person; person is an ec-static being, going beyond the boundaries of the self. From ecclesiological perspective, in the Baptism and Eucharist a Christian overcomes all natural and social divisions, and the only exclusion that is possible is “the exclusion of exclusion”. At the same time, as biblical and patristic evidence points out, the church, being an eschatological community, is in charge of judgment of exclusion.
I will combine the two arguments and apply them to the situation of ethnic exclusion in the post-Soviet space. In the conclusion I will try to show their usefulness to approach the exclusion on the basis gender and difference of opinion, which seems to be taking place in the West.
Bio
Pavlo SMYTSNYUK is a second year doctoral student in Theology at University of Oxford. He is doing research in comparative theology, with a focus on the relationship between religion, culture and politics in modern Eastern Orthodoxy and Hinduism. Prior to his studies at the UK he served as lecturer and Vice-Dean at the Theology Faculty of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. From 2000 to 2011 Pavlo studied Philosophy and Theology at various institutions in Italy, Greece and Russia.
Nigel Pimlott - To the detriment of young people: symbolic violence in an adult-dominated church
Whilst attempts are being made to embed a different cultural narrative, symbolic violence (Bourdieu 1990) against young people is common place in UK society. My research and practice experience indicates it is endemic in church contexts. Despite improvements being made to current practice, many young people remain excluded from most aspects of contemporary church life.
This paper discusses how symbolic violence presents with young people in church settings resulting in their marginalisation and exclusion from adult-dominated church paradigms. Young people in churches are largely prevented from being involved in the decision-making, shaping, theological development and most other aspects of determining ecclesiological practice. One of the consequences of this is that young people outside the church often see few reasons to participate in church.
I will contend that the theological antidote for symbolic violence against young people is to promote symbiosis, mutuality, and a contextual outworking of practice that promotes a new orthodoxy. This is to be located in: a re-ordering of who has power; increased participation for young people; and the development of shared responsibilities, joint ownership (even with young people who are not yet Christians) and cross-generational co-dependency.
I will discuss why church needs to be an inclusive place where young people are not seen as entities to be contained or problems to be solved, but as flourishing believers. A place where young people need to be liberated from an adult knows best orientated world so that they can be fully included in all that church aspires to be.
Bio
Dr Nigel Pimlott is passionate about work with young people. He is currently Deputy CEO of national youth work charity, Frontier Youth Trust. He has worked for them for many years and is author of a number of books and youth work resources. He is just about to have published, ‘Embracing the Passion’ – a book about Christian Youth Work and Politics. His PhD (2013) focussed on developing a model for faith-based youth work in the Big Society social policy context. He is married to Sue, spends far too long on Facebook, and is a life-long supporter of Manchester City.
1:30 - 3:00 - Politics, Theology, and Time OR Recognition and Response in Theology and Philosophy
A115 Politics, Theology, and Time - Antony Floyd, Wei Hsein Wan, Benjamin J. Wood
Antony Floyd - Jürgen Moltmann and the Myth of Progress: How capitalism alienates us from ourselves, each other and our environment
Jürgen Moltmann’s theology grew out of his attempts to respond to the consequences of the dehumanisation of the Jewish individual, and concomitant denial of the universality of the value of the human individual, by the Reich. As his career developed, and humanity as a whole became more aware of its ability to shape and affect its environment, theology was presented with a new set of challenges. Humanity has never been more technologically potent yet, somewhat ironically, has never been in a more vulnerable position. Despite the fact that over-consumption threatens to jeopardise our future spending on military technology far outstrips investment in sustainable energy projects. Moltmann argues that Renaissance philosophy, specifically the thought of Descartes, provided the template for this harmful instrumentalisation of the environment. Human perfection thus lies in the development of their reason and the marshalling of that reason, through technology, to control their environment, thus imitating God’s universal mastery. The environment was something to be actively mastered and possessed rather than simply inhabited. ‘Progress’ consists of such action. The ‘myth of Progress’, as Moltmann calls it, reduces the environment, and its occupants, to units of productivity. This dangerous reduction, Moltmann argues, lies at the heart of the environmental, and existential crisis, consuming humanity in the modern age. This paper aims to examine Moltmann’s definition and deconstruction of the ‘myth of Progress’ and consider what resources it provides us with for reconsidering and reformulating our relationship with ourselves, each other and our environment.
Anthony Floyd: 2nd year PhD Student at the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester supervised by Professor Peter Scott. I am writing a critical and comparative analysis Jürgen Moltmann and Gordon Kaufman’s treatment of the doctrine of creation. My research interests are principally, but not limited to, the doctrine of creation, environmental ethics, theological anthropology and political theology
Wei Hsien Wan - On Rejecting the Common Era: Coloniality, Christology and Eurocentric Time
The Roman imperial cults and the early Christians articulated different constructions of time, each offering its version of history built around a particular axis. In the case of the imperial cults, the Augustan era inaugurated a transformation that reconfigured the Roman imagination of time around the emperor and the new ordo of statecraft. As a forerunner of later developments in the Christian tradition, the First Letter of Peter, on the other hand, anchored its vision of time in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Using this contrast as a launching point for reflection on the socially-constructed nature of time, this paper examines the concept of a “Common Era” that has, in recent decades, gained widespread use in the academic practice of biblical studies. Despite its appearance as a more inclusive way of indicating “shared time”, I argue that the notion of a “Common Era” functions, rather insidiously, to mask as universal a construct that is in fact culturally-specific and localized in the European Christian experience.
Bio
Wei Hsien Wan is a PhD student at the University of Exeter. His research compares the temporal and spatial ideologies of the Roman imperial cults and the early Christians of first-century AD Anatolia. He is also co-author of _Drawing Over is Drawing Under_, a collection of poems responding to the paintings of Michael Broughton.
Benjamin J. Wood - Can Liberalism Ever Conserve? A Theological Reading of the Politics of Jo Grimond
Since the publication of John Milbank’s Theology and Social Theory (1990) political theologians have become increasingly acclimatised to the Radical Orthodox claim that liberal orders should be treated as anathema to Christian life and ethics. In a liberal market-economy which prioritises the free movement of Capital, labour and services, Milbank argues that we are encouraged to think of ourselves, not as ‘locals’ but rather as rootless cosmopolitans, whose value is derived from a series of universalising market transactions. We no-longer feel affection for a common community or way of life, but rather are left alone to find our own way in a world of acquisition and competition. Bound up with this deeply nihilistic view of modernity, Milbank offers an attractive demotion of contemporary liberalism in favour of a holistic time-honoured vision of Christendom. At its heart is the notion of communities of sentiment and continuity, which are said to preserve the bonds of tradition and importantly for Milbank, transcendence, which bind citizens to one another. According to this pessimistic account, the ecclesia affirms both the interlocking modalities of locality, custom and memory, while liberal cultures are positioned as networks of forgetfulness- ever innovating at the expense of the past.
In an effort to unmask this dualism as both ahistorical and simplistic, I argue for the existence of a form of politics which I call ‘liberalism with locality’. In order to elucidate this distinctive political form, this paper considers the philosophical and religious foundations of the twentieth century politician and polemicist, Jo Grimond (1913 –1993). As Leader of the British Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967, Grimond’s public convictions owed their ethical and oratorical richness to a heady mix of Presbyterian, Hegelian and Aristotelian ethics. Far from the disembodied and hedonistic liberalism found in Milbank’s Theology and Social Theory Grimond retrieves for us the possibility of a liberalism of roots. In the first part of this paper I consider the origins of Grimond’s liberalism, through the lens of his religious and cultural upbringing. Combining Scottish piety with an emphasis upon practical virtue, Grimond can be seen performing a distinctly Hegelian synthesis. By viewing both traditional communities and grass-roots civic action as liberal bulwarks of positive freedom, Grimond recommends a politics which cares for individual wellbeing and communal identity through liberal-democracy.
How might such a politics contrast with contemporary conditions? The second part of this paper attempts to find in Grimond a compelling counterbalance to the insensitivities of an increasingly rootless cosmopolitan form of political liberalism condemned by Milbank. Animated by an aversion to impersonal forces of economics and state-craft, Grimond argues that a core purpose of liberal politics is to preserve human distinctiveness, independence and idiosyncrasy against homogenising and inflexible structures of corporate power and state-planning. Instead of sweeping away time-honoured customs and distinctions, Grimond’s utilises the tools of local democracy to meet the needs of the ordinary citizen- not as a consumer but as a political being - full of dignity and creativity. In contrast to the atomistic and anti-social creed condemned by Radical Orthodoxy, there exists a thread within British liberalism which pursues a fundamentally incarnational vision of politics. Just as the universal Logos (through which ‘all things were made’) becomes manifest in the particular life of Jesus of Nazareth, so Grimond’s public ethics is an internal balance between the universal and particular, so that one is concordant with the other. Liberalism for Grimond defends universal rights yet these must always be worked out in the nexus of custom and culture. It is this tradition, this paper suggests, which provides an alternative interpretation of modern. The issue is not liberalism, but liberalism without roots.
Bio - TBC
A116 Recognition and Response in Theology and Philosophy - Karoline Reinhardt, Axel Rooze, Al Barrett
Karoline Reinhardt - ‘Conditions of Universal Hospitality’ - Immigration, Exclusion and Kant’s Cosmopolitan Right
The topic of immigration is widely discussed in contemporary debates in political philosophy. Immigration raises the question of who has a claim to first admittance, asylum and citizenship - and likewise the question of under what conditions a political community may or may not refuse these claims.
Benhabib argues that every cosmopolitan theory of justice needs to give an account of how membership is to be distributed justly. According to her, a concept of „just membership“ has to fulfill five criteria: (1) the recognition of the moral claim of refugees to first admittance, (2) a regime of porous borders, (3) the prohibition of denationalization, (4) a right to have rights, and (5) a right to citizenship, if certain conditions are met.
In her discussion of the matter Benhabib deals at length with Kant’s cosmopolitan right. Despite her appreciation for this concept, she argues that Kant in fact falls prey to an unsolvable tension of democratic self-determination on the one side and universal cosmopolitan norms on the other.
In my paper I will take Benhabib’s discussion as a starting point, but will soon depart from her reading of Kant: In giving an account of what implications Kant’s formulation of the cosmopolitan right has for some of the questions that Benhabib raises I will show that her reading is misguided at relevant points and I will argue that following Kant’s lead will actually take us much further than she assumes.
Bio
Karoline Reinhardt works at the Research Centre for Political Philosophy at the University of Tübingen. She has studied philosophy, political science, and art history at the University of Tübingen and the New York University (NYU). After completing her Master’s with a thesis on John Rawls, she held teaching positions at the University of Ankara and the University of Tübingen. Currently she is enrolled as a visiting research student at the Government Department of the London School of Economics (LSE). Her research has been funded by the German National Academic Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation.
Axel Rooze - Take care! The inclusion of the non-excluded - A biblical theological perspective on inclusion
In this contribution we will highlight key texts on inclusion in the New Testament, like Luke 10,25-42 and Matthew 25,31-46. These texts present a still unusual perspective on inclusion, whether it’s social, economic or religious inclusion.
A common starting point to look at inclusion is from the perspective of those who have some sort of advantage and are therefore able to provide some sort of care. It’s often seen as morally just to provide this care (inclusion), and morally unjust to withhold this care (exclusion). In the Christian tradition this perspective has been preached as being ultimately valuable. Christian hagiographies and art reflect this perspective. We will have a look at some examples of Christian art.
Key biblical texts prefer ethics over religion and metaphysics. Or, being more precise, they locate religion and metaphysics in ethics. This may be unusual in the realm of religious constitutive literature, but it is well known to many Jew and Christian believers. The biblical perspective we underscore though goes one step further. Being ethical, that is being religious, is rather found in asking for help, than in providing care. Not (potential) caregivers are the ones capable of inclusion, but it’s those who need care. God needs care. Those who need care include.
We will end with a reference to the work of Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. Locating metaphysics in concrete human suffering (ethics), and the otherness of the Other, was a major step for both philosophy and theology. From a biblical theological perspective Levinas could have even gone one step further: locating the Messiah at the other side of caregiving.
Bio
Although having inherited the Belgian nationality, I was born (1984) and raised in The Netherlands. I have studied social work in Zwolle, clinical and health psychology at the University Utrecht, and theology at the Protestant Theological University in Kampen. I have graduated with a master’s degree in exegesis of the Old Testament and in ministry. Since July 2013 I have worked as a vicar for mentally disabled people in Tilburg. I have been combining this with a PhD in ethics (still in progress) at the Protestant Theological University in Amsterdam and Groningen, investigating the work of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk from a theological perspective.
Al Barrett - When political theology takes an ecclesial turn, who is left out in the cold? Revisiting Manchester’s Oxford Road with Graham Ward
The ‘ecclesial turn’ in political theology has much to commend it: an attention to the particularity of the Church’s worldview and, at best, the concreteness of its practices. The ecclesial turn also, however, risks creating new exclusions, or deepening old ones.
Through a close reading of the theological work of Graham Ward, from the particular standpoint of an Anglican parish in an outer urban estate in east Birmingham, I seek to highlight: firstly, the pregnant possibilities of Ward’s ‘schizoid christology’ for the renewal of a politically-engaged urban theology; and secondly, some of the exclusionary dangers of Ward’s (and others’) turn towards the bodies ecclesial and politic, which fail to resist neoliberal capitalism’s own deepening tendency towards ‘expulsions’ (Saskia Sassen). By developing Ward’s christology beyond Ward, with the help of a Quaker (Rachel Muers) and a radical democrat (Romand Coles), I propose a political theological trajectory which seeks to help Christians like Ward, and me, attend more closely, and with more of a politically-engaged receptivity, to the homeless person on Manchester’s Oxford Road who haunts Ward’s Cities of God, and resist ‘walking by on the other side’.
Bio
Al Barrett is Rector of Hodge Hill Church, East Birmingham. He is also a part-time PhD student, in search of an urban christology. Al has published book chapters on feminist theology and political liturgy, has led workshops on asset-based community development, and writes a blog atthisestate.blogspot.com.
A115 Politics, Theology, and Time - Antony Floyd, Wei Hsein Wan, Benjamin J. Wood
Antony Floyd - Jürgen Moltmann and the Myth of Progress: How capitalism alienates us from ourselves, each other and our environment
Jürgen Moltmann’s theology grew out of his attempts to respond to the consequences of the dehumanisation of the Jewish individual, and concomitant denial of the universality of the value of the human individual, by the Reich. As his career developed, and humanity as a whole became more aware of its ability to shape and affect its environment, theology was presented with a new set of challenges. Humanity has never been more technologically potent yet, somewhat ironically, has never been in a more vulnerable position. Despite the fact that over-consumption threatens to jeopardise our future spending on military technology far outstrips investment in sustainable energy projects. Moltmann argues that Renaissance philosophy, specifically the thought of Descartes, provided the template for this harmful instrumentalisation of the environment. Human perfection thus lies in the development of their reason and the marshalling of that reason, through technology, to control their environment, thus imitating God’s universal mastery. The environment was something to be actively mastered and possessed rather than simply inhabited. ‘Progress’ consists of such action. The ‘myth of Progress’, as Moltmann calls it, reduces the environment, and its occupants, to units of productivity. This dangerous reduction, Moltmann argues, lies at the heart of the environmental, and existential crisis, consuming humanity in the modern age. This paper aims to examine Moltmann’s definition and deconstruction of the ‘myth of Progress’ and consider what resources it provides us with for reconsidering and reformulating our relationship with ourselves, each other and our environment.
Anthony Floyd: 2nd year PhD Student at the Lincoln Theological Institute, University of Manchester supervised by Professor Peter Scott. I am writing a critical and comparative analysis Jürgen Moltmann and Gordon Kaufman’s treatment of the doctrine of creation. My research interests are principally, but not limited to, the doctrine of creation, environmental ethics, theological anthropology and political theology
Wei Hsien Wan - On Rejecting the Common Era: Coloniality, Christology and Eurocentric Time
The Roman imperial cults and the early Christians articulated different constructions of time, each offering its version of history built around a particular axis. In the case of the imperial cults, the Augustan era inaugurated a transformation that reconfigured the Roman imagination of time around the emperor and the new ordo of statecraft. As a forerunner of later developments in the Christian tradition, the First Letter of Peter, on the other hand, anchored its vision of time in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Using this contrast as a launching point for reflection on the socially-constructed nature of time, this paper examines the concept of a “Common Era” that has, in recent decades, gained widespread use in the academic practice of biblical studies. Despite its appearance as a more inclusive way of indicating “shared time”, I argue that the notion of a “Common Era” functions, rather insidiously, to mask as universal a construct that is in fact culturally-specific and localized in the European Christian experience.
Bio
Wei Hsien Wan is a PhD student at the University of Exeter. His research compares the temporal and spatial ideologies of the Roman imperial cults and the early Christians of first-century AD Anatolia. He is also co-author of _Drawing Over is Drawing Under_, a collection of poems responding to the paintings of Michael Broughton.
Benjamin J. Wood - Can Liberalism Ever Conserve? A Theological Reading of the Politics of Jo Grimond
Since the publication of John Milbank’s Theology and Social Theory (1990) political theologians have become increasingly acclimatised to the Radical Orthodox claim that liberal orders should be treated as anathema to Christian life and ethics. In a liberal market-economy which prioritises the free movement of Capital, labour and services, Milbank argues that we are encouraged to think of ourselves, not as ‘locals’ but rather as rootless cosmopolitans, whose value is derived from a series of universalising market transactions. We no-longer feel affection for a common community or way of life, but rather are left alone to find our own way in a world of acquisition and competition. Bound up with this deeply nihilistic view of modernity, Milbank offers an attractive demotion of contemporary liberalism in favour of a holistic time-honoured vision of Christendom. At its heart is the notion of communities of sentiment and continuity, which are said to preserve the bonds of tradition and importantly for Milbank, transcendence, which bind citizens to one another. According to this pessimistic account, the ecclesia affirms both the interlocking modalities of locality, custom and memory, while liberal cultures are positioned as networks of forgetfulness- ever innovating at the expense of the past.
In an effort to unmask this dualism as both ahistorical and simplistic, I argue for the existence of a form of politics which I call ‘liberalism with locality’. In order to elucidate this distinctive political form, this paper considers the philosophical and religious foundations of the twentieth century politician and polemicist, Jo Grimond (1913 –1993). As Leader of the British Liberal Party from 1956 to 1967, Grimond’s public convictions owed their ethical and oratorical richness to a heady mix of Presbyterian, Hegelian and Aristotelian ethics. Far from the disembodied and hedonistic liberalism found in Milbank’s Theology and Social Theory Grimond retrieves for us the possibility of a liberalism of roots. In the first part of this paper I consider the origins of Grimond’s liberalism, through the lens of his religious and cultural upbringing. Combining Scottish piety with an emphasis upon practical virtue, Grimond can be seen performing a distinctly Hegelian synthesis. By viewing both traditional communities and grass-roots civic action as liberal bulwarks of positive freedom, Grimond recommends a politics which cares for individual wellbeing and communal identity through liberal-democracy.
How might such a politics contrast with contemporary conditions? The second part of this paper attempts to find in Grimond a compelling counterbalance to the insensitivities of an increasingly rootless cosmopolitan form of political liberalism condemned by Milbank. Animated by an aversion to impersonal forces of economics and state-craft, Grimond argues that a core purpose of liberal politics is to preserve human distinctiveness, independence and idiosyncrasy against homogenising and inflexible structures of corporate power and state-planning. Instead of sweeping away time-honoured customs and distinctions, Grimond’s utilises the tools of local democracy to meet the needs of the ordinary citizen- not as a consumer but as a political being - full of dignity and creativity. In contrast to the atomistic and anti-social creed condemned by Radical Orthodoxy, there exists a thread within British liberalism which pursues a fundamentally incarnational vision of politics. Just as the universal Logos (through which ‘all things were made’) becomes manifest in the particular life of Jesus of Nazareth, so Grimond’s public ethics is an internal balance between the universal and particular, so that one is concordant with the other. Liberalism for Grimond defends universal rights yet these must always be worked out in the nexus of custom and culture. It is this tradition, this paper suggests, which provides an alternative interpretation of modern. The issue is not liberalism, but liberalism without roots.
Bio - TBC
A116 Recognition and Response in Theology and Philosophy - Karoline Reinhardt, Axel Rooze, Al Barrett
Karoline Reinhardt - ‘Conditions of Universal Hospitality’ - Immigration, Exclusion and Kant’s Cosmopolitan Right
The topic of immigration is widely discussed in contemporary debates in political philosophy. Immigration raises the question of who has a claim to first admittance, asylum and citizenship - and likewise the question of under what conditions a political community may or may not refuse these claims.
Benhabib argues that every cosmopolitan theory of justice needs to give an account of how membership is to be distributed justly. According to her, a concept of „just membership“ has to fulfill five criteria: (1) the recognition of the moral claim of refugees to first admittance, (2) a regime of porous borders, (3) the prohibition of denationalization, (4) a right to have rights, and (5) a right to citizenship, if certain conditions are met.
In her discussion of the matter Benhabib deals at length with Kant’s cosmopolitan right. Despite her appreciation for this concept, she argues that Kant in fact falls prey to an unsolvable tension of democratic self-determination on the one side and universal cosmopolitan norms on the other.
In my paper I will take Benhabib’s discussion as a starting point, but will soon depart from her reading of Kant: In giving an account of what implications Kant’s formulation of the cosmopolitan right has for some of the questions that Benhabib raises I will show that her reading is misguided at relevant points and I will argue that following Kant’s lead will actually take us much further than she assumes.
Bio
Karoline Reinhardt works at the Research Centre for Political Philosophy at the University of Tübingen. She has studied philosophy, political science, and art history at the University of Tübingen and the New York University (NYU). After completing her Master’s with a thesis on John Rawls, she held teaching positions at the University of Ankara and the University of Tübingen. Currently she is enrolled as a visiting research student at the Government Department of the London School of Economics (LSE). Her research has been funded by the German National Academic Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation.
Axel Rooze - Take care! The inclusion of the non-excluded - A biblical theological perspective on inclusion
In this contribution we will highlight key texts on inclusion in the New Testament, like Luke 10,25-42 and Matthew 25,31-46. These texts present a still unusual perspective on inclusion, whether it’s social, economic or religious inclusion.
A common starting point to look at inclusion is from the perspective of those who have some sort of advantage and are therefore able to provide some sort of care. It’s often seen as morally just to provide this care (inclusion), and morally unjust to withhold this care (exclusion). In the Christian tradition this perspective has been preached as being ultimately valuable. Christian hagiographies and art reflect this perspective. We will have a look at some examples of Christian art.
Key biblical texts prefer ethics over religion and metaphysics. Or, being more precise, they locate religion and metaphysics in ethics. This may be unusual in the realm of religious constitutive literature, but it is well known to many Jew and Christian believers. The biblical perspective we underscore though goes one step further. Being ethical, that is being religious, is rather found in asking for help, than in providing care. Not (potential) caregivers are the ones capable of inclusion, but it’s those who need care. God needs care. Those who need care include.
We will end with a reference to the work of Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. Locating metaphysics in concrete human suffering (ethics), and the otherness of the Other, was a major step for both philosophy and theology. From a biblical theological perspective Levinas could have even gone one step further: locating the Messiah at the other side of caregiving.
Bio
Although having inherited the Belgian nationality, I was born (1984) and raised in The Netherlands. I have studied social work in Zwolle, clinical and health psychology at the University Utrecht, and theology at the Protestant Theological University in Kampen. I have graduated with a master’s degree in exegesis of the Old Testament and in ministry. Since July 2013 I have worked as a vicar for mentally disabled people in Tilburg. I have been combining this with a PhD in ethics (still in progress) at the Protestant Theological University in Amsterdam and Groningen, investigating the work of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk from a theological perspective.
Al Barrett - When political theology takes an ecclesial turn, who is left out in the cold? Revisiting Manchester’s Oxford Road with Graham Ward
The ‘ecclesial turn’ in political theology has much to commend it: an attention to the particularity of the Church’s worldview and, at best, the concreteness of its practices. The ecclesial turn also, however, risks creating new exclusions, or deepening old ones.
Through a close reading of the theological work of Graham Ward, from the particular standpoint of an Anglican parish in an outer urban estate in east Birmingham, I seek to highlight: firstly, the pregnant possibilities of Ward’s ‘schizoid christology’ for the renewal of a politically-engaged urban theology; and secondly, some of the exclusionary dangers of Ward’s (and others’) turn towards the bodies ecclesial and politic, which fail to resist neoliberal capitalism’s own deepening tendency towards ‘expulsions’ (Saskia Sassen). By developing Ward’s christology beyond Ward, with the help of a Quaker (Rachel Muers) and a radical democrat (Romand Coles), I propose a political theological trajectory which seeks to help Christians like Ward, and me, attend more closely, and with more of a politically-engaged receptivity, to the homeless person on Manchester’s Oxford Road who haunts Ward’s Cities of God, and resist ‘walking by on the other side’.
Bio
Al Barrett is Rector of Hodge Hill Church, East Birmingham. He is also a part-time PhD student, in search of an urban christology. Al has published book chapters on feminist theology and political liturgy, has led workshops on asset-based community development, and writes a blog atthisestate.blogspot.com.
3:05 - 4:05 - Indian Religions and Exclusion OR Sexuality, Theology, Ecclesiology
A115 - Indian Religions and Exclusion Patricia Santos, Ketan Alder
Patricia Santos - Responding to exclusion in the Church through integrity, insertion and interdependence
Internal circular migration, which is on the increase in India, poses both a challenge as well as an opportunity for local churches in India. From the families migrating, it is women and girls who are the most vulnerable group that are exploited for their labor – used, abused and discarded. Rather than experience solace and strength as was in the case of Hagar in her encounter with the angel of God, women and girls experience isolation, exclusion and a lack of empathy from pastors and the local Church communities to which they belong. Compassionate pastoral care, respect, inclusion and solidarity will enable women migrants to acknowledge and celebrate their God-given dignity, equality and freedom and bond together as one ecclesial community. Circular migration also challenges contemporary theology to conceptualize a dynamic and ever evolving theology, firmly rooted yet flowing with space and time. To make this radical shift we need to reallocate theological spaces, to reimage the embodied existence of divinity and humanity, to rearticulate theological truths, and to reconnect with the divine, the cosmos and with persons of diverse cultures and religions. While circular migration involves a constant process of shifting and moving leading to displacement and uprootedness, it also allows for a process of centering and integration, enabling us to become aware of the core space within oneself and the other. This will enable theology to be an ongoing process of seeking out and finding the God who reveals Godself in diverse and manifold ways.
Bio
Patricia Santos, RJM, is a member of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, Pune Province. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Pastoral Theology at KU Leuven, Belgium. She was earlier a lecturer of Theology at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pontifical Institute for the Study of Philosophy and Religion, Pune, India from 2011 to 2014. She is a member of the Indian Theological Association (ITA), Indian Women Theological Forum (IWTF) and Conference of Catholic Psychologists of India (CCPI). Her academic qualifications include an STL from Boston College STM, an MA in Psychology from Pune University and PG Diploma in Counselling Psychology from XICP, Mumbai.
Ketan Alder - Can Hindus Drink? Seva (Selfless service), nationalism and acting ethically in contemporary India
Based on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in India during 2012, this paper examines the relationship between Hindu activist traditions of seva (selfless service) and Hindu nationalism. I demonstrate how participants in Hindu nationalist-affiliated seva projects rework exclusionary projects to break gendered restrictions on public space and advance an 'ethically Hindu' grounded claim on development and critique of power.
A116 Sexuality, Theology, Ecclesiology - Samuel Verbi, Yin-An Chen
Samuel Verbi - Christian marriage markets and skewed gender ratios
This paper examines how the issue of a skewed gender ratio marriage market in the evangelical/charismatic church is further influenced by various theologies surrounding gender roles and dating ethics. Through document analysis of popular Christian dating books, and selected interviews of single Christian women, this brief paper reveals systems of exclusion surrounding marriage for many single Christian women in their late 20s onwards. Theologies surrounding dating and gender exacerbate the problem of a 60:40 gender ratio through three main processes. Female Christians are firstly lead to believe that marriage is God’s plan for their lives, and that singleness past a certain age is something to be avoided. This is shown to create a heightened desire and false certainty where statistically there are no grounds for any. Secondly late 20s single women are further excluded from the marriage market through a further reduction of their ‘marriageable’ population. Here theologies surrounding gender roles of spiritual leadership often implicitly encourage dating older, wealthier, non-divorced, ‘manly’, Christian males. Beliefs about ‘waiting for God’s best’ subsequently prevent any compromise on these issues. Whilst this reduction of the suitable population further isolates single late-20 years olds, the reduced agency to tackle this issue is the third main excluding process. Here theologies surrounding dating ethics of ‘being pursued’, and high stigmatization of the use of erotic capital, leaves many single women with very little agency in finding a spouse. As a conclusion it is suggested that certain non-key theologies towards gender, marriage and dating are debated to appreciate the statistical issue surrounding gender ratios.
Bio
Samuel Verbi is an aspiring sociologist of religion and gender, currently studying his Masters in the Sociology of Gender and Sexuality at the University of Amsterdam. His thesis focuses on the behavioral ramifications that an unbalanced gender ratio has upon Christian dating dynamics. Prior to this Samuel completed his bachelors of Sociology and Geography at Trinity College Dublin (2010-2014). Awarded Foundation Scholarship in 2013, he focused on the sociology of religion, studying faith maintenance amongst members of a third wave Pentecostal ministry school. More personally, Samuel has extended experience within charismatic and evangelical circles – raised in a Christian household, he subsequently completed two years at Bethel School of Ministry in Northern California (2008-2010). His overall passion is to see increased dialogue and understanding between secular academia and Christian theology.
Yin-An Chen - Title TBC
For these two years, in Taiwan, the role of the religion in the already-secularised society triggers a heated debate because the marriage equality law was going to be debated in the parliament but the law has been strongly blocked by the religious ally that claimed that they are the representative of different religious traditions such as Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Unification Church, the Catholic Church and some Protestant Church and so on. Therefore, many pro-LGBTs, no matter who are religious people or not, are dissatisfied with all religions and feel angry about the conservative wing of religion to obstruct the progression of marriage equality. On the other hand, the Church also divided into different parties of pro-LGBTs and anti-LGBTs and some of churches are forced to make a decision to take sides. Also, many pro-LGBT, LGBT-friendly, and non-heterosexual Christians feel compelled to be in silence and are even excluded from their church because they cannot stand their pastors who strongly propagandize the stigmatization of marriage equality.
The fierce separation results in that these ‘diaspora’ Christians and some pro-LGBTs people who has not been baptised connect together and want to create another possible task to promote the gender equality in the Church in the future. In the first meeting, they wanted to hold the Eucharist/the Lord Supper to be a sign of their union and be in memory of the suffering that is because of the anti-LGBT Christians who split the Church and separated ‘the Christians’ from another people. But the new ‘problem’ is that, ‘whether the Eucharist/the Lord Supper is a sign to connect “all people” no matter what you believe, which your church you are from’. Radical hospitality of the Eucharist to be the new agenda needs to be discussed. How does the Eucharist lead to the exclusion or the embrace?
Bio - TBC
A115 - Indian Religions and Exclusion Patricia Santos, Ketan Alder
Patricia Santos - Responding to exclusion in the Church through integrity, insertion and interdependence
Internal circular migration, which is on the increase in India, poses both a challenge as well as an opportunity for local churches in India. From the families migrating, it is women and girls who are the most vulnerable group that are exploited for their labor – used, abused and discarded. Rather than experience solace and strength as was in the case of Hagar in her encounter with the angel of God, women and girls experience isolation, exclusion and a lack of empathy from pastors and the local Church communities to which they belong. Compassionate pastoral care, respect, inclusion and solidarity will enable women migrants to acknowledge and celebrate their God-given dignity, equality and freedom and bond together as one ecclesial community. Circular migration also challenges contemporary theology to conceptualize a dynamic and ever evolving theology, firmly rooted yet flowing with space and time. To make this radical shift we need to reallocate theological spaces, to reimage the embodied existence of divinity and humanity, to rearticulate theological truths, and to reconnect with the divine, the cosmos and with persons of diverse cultures and religions. While circular migration involves a constant process of shifting and moving leading to displacement and uprootedness, it also allows for a process of centering and integration, enabling us to become aware of the core space within oneself and the other. This will enable theology to be an ongoing process of seeking out and finding the God who reveals Godself in diverse and manifold ways.
Bio
Patricia Santos, RJM, is a member of the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, Pune Province. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Pastoral Theology at KU Leuven, Belgium. She was earlier a lecturer of Theology at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pontifical Institute for the Study of Philosophy and Religion, Pune, India from 2011 to 2014. She is a member of the Indian Theological Association (ITA), Indian Women Theological Forum (IWTF) and Conference of Catholic Psychologists of India (CCPI). Her academic qualifications include an STL from Boston College STM, an MA in Psychology from Pune University and PG Diploma in Counselling Psychology from XICP, Mumbai.
Ketan Alder - Can Hindus Drink? Seva (Selfless service), nationalism and acting ethically in contemporary India
Based on ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in India during 2012, this paper examines the relationship between Hindu activist traditions of seva (selfless service) and Hindu nationalism. I demonstrate how participants in Hindu nationalist-affiliated seva projects rework exclusionary projects to break gendered restrictions on public space and advance an 'ethically Hindu' grounded claim on development and critique of power.
A116 Sexuality, Theology, Ecclesiology - Samuel Verbi, Yin-An Chen
Samuel Verbi - Christian marriage markets and skewed gender ratios
This paper examines how the issue of a skewed gender ratio marriage market in the evangelical/charismatic church is further influenced by various theologies surrounding gender roles and dating ethics. Through document analysis of popular Christian dating books, and selected interviews of single Christian women, this brief paper reveals systems of exclusion surrounding marriage for many single Christian women in their late 20s onwards. Theologies surrounding dating and gender exacerbate the problem of a 60:40 gender ratio through three main processes. Female Christians are firstly lead to believe that marriage is God’s plan for their lives, and that singleness past a certain age is something to be avoided. This is shown to create a heightened desire and false certainty where statistically there are no grounds for any. Secondly late 20s single women are further excluded from the marriage market through a further reduction of their ‘marriageable’ population. Here theologies surrounding gender roles of spiritual leadership often implicitly encourage dating older, wealthier, non-divorced, ‘manly’, Christian males. Beliefs about ‘waiting for God’s best’ subsequently prevent any compromise on these issues. Whilst this reduction of the suitable population further isolates single late-20 years olds, the reduced agency to tackle this issue is the third main excluding process. Here theologies surrounding dating ethics of ‘being pursued’, and high stigmatization of the use of erotic capital, leaves many single women with very little agency in finding a spouse. As a conclusion it is suggested that certain non-key theologies towards gender, marriage and dating are debated to appreciate the statistical issue surrounding gender ratios.
Bio
Samuel Verbi is an aspiring sociologist of religion and gender, currently studying his Masters in the Sociology of Gender and Sexuality at the University of Amsterdam. His thesis focuses on the behavioral ramifications that an unbalanced gender ratio has upon Christian dating dynamics. Prior to this Samuel completed his bachelors of Sociology and Geography at Trinity College Dublin (2010-2014). Awarded Foundation Scholarship in 2013, he focused on the sociology of religion, studying faith maintenance amongst members of a third wave Pentecostal ministry school. More personally, Samuel has extended experience within charismatic and evangelical circles – raised in a Christian household, he subsequently completed two years at Bethel School of Ministry in Northern California (2008-2010). His overall passion is to see increased dialogue and understanding between secular academia and Christian theology.
Yin-An Chen - Title TBC
For these two years, in Taiwan, the role of the religion in the already-secularised society triggers a heated debate because the marriage equality law was going to be debated in the parliament but the law has been strongly blocked by the religious ally that claimed that they are the representative of different religious traditions such as Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Unification Church, the Catholic Church and some Protestant Church and so on. Therefore, many pro-LGBTs, no matter who are religious people or not, are dissatisfied with all religions and feel angry about the conservative wing of religion to obstruct the progression of marriage equality. On the other hand, the Church also divided into different parties of pro-LGBTs and anti-LGBTs and some of churches are forced to make a decision to take sides. Also, many pro-LGBT, LGBT-friendly, and non-heterosexual Christians feel compelled to be in silence and are even excluded from their church because they cannot stand their pastors who strongly propagandize the stigmatization of marriage equality.
The fierce separation results in that these ‘diaspora’ Christians and some pro-LGBTs people who has not been baptised connect together and want to create another possible task to promote the gender equality in the Church in the future. In the first meeting, they wanted to hold the Eucharist/the Lord Supper to be a sign of their union and be in memory of the suffering that is because of the anti-LGBT Christians who split the Church and separated ‘the Christians’ from another people. But the new ‘problem’ is that, ‘whether the Eucharist/the Lord Supper is a sign to connect “all people” no matter what you believe, which your church you are from’. Radical hospitality of the Eucharist to be the new agenda needs to be discussed. How does the Eucharist lead to the exclusion or the embrace?
Bio - TBC