Tia DeNora, Hope: the dream we carry (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) In brief: Emma Pavey reviews Hope: the dream we carry by Tia DeNora and finds many thoughtful starting points for developing thinking about crafting hope in faith communities. DeNora emphasizes hope as an active, creative, and socially situated endeavour, focusing on its role in various […]
Discover the research projects that SWF engages in.
New research: Cultural Fellowships and Language Congregations in the Methodist Church in Britain
Here, SWF’s Senior Research Officer Lia Shimada describes SWF’s latest research project. Anecdotally, we know that the Methodist Church in Britain (MCB) has never been more diverse – culturally, socially, linguistically. Across the Connexion, Methodists and other Christians worship in many ways and in an unknown number of languages. This collaborative project aims to: Research […]
Book review: Hope in the Age of Anxiety
As part of our theme, Crafting Hope, Emma Pavey reviews Hope in the Age of Anxiety, a guide to understanding and strengthening our most important virtue by Anthony Scioli and Henry B. Biller (2009 Oxford University Press). In brief: Hope in the Age of Anxiety by Anthony Scioli and Henry B. Biller provides a thorough […]
Article: The pedagogical challenges of teaching theology and mission to students from non-traditional diaspora churches in Britain
A peer-reviewed, open-access article has been published based on research by a team of researchers from the University of Roehampton, funded by the Susanna Wesley Foundation. The article appears in Practical Theology and can be read here. Abstract This paper reports the findings of a research project into Ministerial Theology Programmes (MTPs) at three Higher […]
Book Review: The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence
Here Emma Pavey reviews Thomas Jay Oord’s new book The Death of Omnipotence and the Birth of Amipotence (2023 SacraSage Press). Thomas Jay Oord is an ordained minister and theologian in the Wesleyan, Holiness, and Church of the Nazarene traditions and is from the USA [Edit: see here]. Writing about open and relational theology, his […]
Book review: This Sacred Life
This Sacred Life: Humanity’s Place in a Wounded World by Norman Wirzba (Cambridge University Press 2021). Review by Emma Pavey. ******** In his book This Sacred Life, Norman Wirzba seeks to address three questions: where are you, who are you and how should you live? He seeks to consider these alongside each other, a grounded […]
Research report: A Shared Mission for Justice: Catholics and Methodists Working Together in Social Action
We’re pleased that the Southlands Methodist Trust was able to support research culminating in this report by our University of Roehampton colleagues Dr Clare Watkins and Dr James Butler. Find out more at the launch event, May 25th, 2023, 11.30, online and in person. Contact James for details. At the heart of this project is […]
Research report: Ashes to Ashes – attitudes to death and dying
In collaboration with Theos Thinktank, we’re delighted to present this report: Ashes to Ashes: Beliefs, Trends, and Practices in Dying, Death, and the Afterlife, produced by SWF Senior Researcher Lia Shimada and Theos’ Marianne Rozario. Report summary: This project investigated current trends on, and attitudes towards dying, death, and the afterlife in the UK, and […]