IN THE PAST we have maintained a tradition on Ekklesia of publishing reflections or articles to mark the darkness and hope of Easter. That has happened on many years, though not all.
This time we kick off with a longer thought piece on the troubled texts of Holy Week by Nicholas Adams (Professor of Philosophical Theology at Birmingham University), and a shorter, more meditative reflection on prayer in troubled times by Jon Morgan (Exeter University).
The planet and its peoples are undergoing a range of agonies right now, and Good Friday is a time to wrestle with those. Brendan Robertson’s ‘What makes Good Friday so good?’, on his own site, faces that issue head on. See also Jonathan Clatworthy’s ‘Holy Week and the possibility of alternative values’.
Meanwhile, our director, Simon Barrow, is working on his next-but-one book, Against the Religion of Power: Telling a Different Christian Story over the Easter period. It is hoped that this will be published in June. It will contain an opening section entitled ‘God After Christendom’, featuring five essays – including one on the crucifixion (‘Cross, Wholeness, and the Redress of Satire’) and another on the third day and beyond (‘On Being Threatened with Resurrection’) inspired by Guatemalan poet, activist and theologian Julia Esquivel Velásquez.
This type of article (alongside our work on public policy and change-making) reflects the strong dissenting Christian foundations of Ekklesia. But the spirit in which these pieces are written hopefully also embodies and reflects our vital partnerships with many people of other faith and of good faith (but no religion) in a common pursuit of peace, justice, sustainability and human community across traditions and differences.
Happy Easter (Χριστός Ανέστη)!