Category - global

Church report says the rich benefit from global corruption

Ecumenical News International — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:32:34 +0100

Rich nations are the real beneficiaries of the "boom industry" of global corruption that is making the world's poor even poorer, says a hard-hitting new report from the United Church in Australia. It calls for an end to tax havens.

Oikocredit is a real investment in hope

Press Office — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:16:32 +0000

The think-tank Ekklesia, which examines religion in public life and promotes constructive alternatives within the social, political and economic realm, has said that the Oikocredit global social in

One world to share

Simon Barrow — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:50:50 +0100

This week (21-28 October 2007) is One World Week - an opportunity for people from a variety of faith backgrounds and none to highlight justice and peace issues arising from the local and the global, as we encounter it on a daily basis.

What difference does God make today?

Simon Barrow — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 17:34:58 +0100

In a society which is publicly sceptical of Christianity and which often assumes that all 'God talk' is superstituous or merely subjective, this paper suggests how the basic grammar of Christian belief can make sense today, and how it can be mapped in relation to key issues like globalisation, responding to human suffering, and the crisis of communication within mixed-conviction societies. Unlike many of Ekklesia's research papers, it is not directly tackling public policy issues, but instead is an extended essay exploring (especially through the work of Nicholas Lash, and others) some fundamental questions about how Christian convictions are shaped and articulated in the public realm. This is important, because much of our work and commentary employs explicitly theological language - although usually at a more popular level. The paper seeks to show that the meaning of 'God' is widely misunderstood, both by believers and sceptics, and that Christian theology offers some distinctive and robust resources for coming to terms with the demands of daily life, politics, culture, economics and society - but not in the easy, prescriptive way that is usually supposed. It includes a brief historical look at how and why talk of God became meaningless for so many in Western culture - before moving on to show how Christian thought becomes intelligible and effective once more when it is embodied in relationships, passionate conversation, shared living and action for change, rather than in abstract metaphysical categories. The essay does not presuppose wide theological reading, but it is a fairly dense exploration of some foundational issues. [Updated July 2007]

Simon Barrow

Global churches' development alliance launched

staff writers — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:46:04 +0000

The capacity of the alliance of global churches from different Christian traditions "to respond to the challenges of today's world depends to a large extent on more creative and future-oriented forms of co-operation and networking," said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia in launching a fresh ecumenical initiative.