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Simon Barrow

  • 12 Oct 2009
    Assessing the UK political climate

    The die seems cast for the next General Election, says Simon Barrow. But much can still shift if non-Conservative parties, voters and reformers swing into action.

  • 6 Sep 2009
    A different way of reading the world

    Conventional wisdom often sees vengeance and injustice as the rule of the powerful, says Simon Barrow. But the prophetic imagination invites us to see and act differently.

  • 20 Aug 2009
    Abandoning the religion and politics of exclusion

    Forms of religion and ideology which neatly categorize people as good or bad according to whether they were in ‘the right group’ or believe ‘the right things’ are dangerous, says Simon Barrow. They also contradict the basic trajectory of the Christian message.

  • 11 Aug 2009
    Not tolerating 'politics as usual'

    Look out for a major convention on ‘Real Change’ in the near future, with input from civic groups (including churches) and a manifesto for wide-ranging reform, says Simon Barrow.

  • 1 Aug 2009
    Christianity versus ‘the church of power’

    Christians have moved from non-engagement to engagement in politics, says Simon Barrow, but often in domineering and selfish ways. To argue for church as alternative community is not to advocate either 'secularism' or 'religionism', but the recovery of authentic Christianity in a plural environment.

  • 24 Jul 2009
    Living without a goal?

    If watching football is a waste of time with redeeming moments, much the same could be said about prayer, says Simon Barrow. In a world over-attached to achievement, we lose sight of the fact that what is really 'worth it' is often not conventionally 'productive'.

  • 21 Jul 2009
    Handling warlike texts in a peacemaking church

    Enter any public debate about the pros and cons of religion today, and it will not be long before someone raises the thorny issue of ‘texts of terror’ in the Bible, says Simon Barrow. Yet in the person of Christ our understanding of violence is turned upside-down.

  • 15 Jul 2009
    Optimism, suffering and artful hope

    Genuine hope is quite different from optimism or wishful thinking, says Simon Barrow. To understand it we need fresh eyes attuned to the artfulness of reality and the presence of love even in the midst of suffering.

  • 8 Jul 2009
    Real change in the political landscape

    “Reform so as to preserve” is still the mantra of the political elite in Britain. But civil society organisations, faith groups, politicians and ordinary people can help change the agenda, says Simon Barrow.

  • 28 Jun 2009
    Cultivating tough gratitude

    Public life demands ‘tough’ corporate attributes rather than what it labels ‘soft’ personal ones – like love and gratitude. Simon Barrow argues that the communal cultivation of loving relation is needed to help redirect the official anonymity of the social order.