Hospitality and the Other: Anglican Schools as Places of Transformative Encounter

This article argues that Anglican foundation schools have a positive impact on pupils’ sense of belonging to the wider community by creating safe spaces within which to encounter difference in a positive and transformative manner. The paper is divided into three main sections. First, the context in which the article was written is outlined. Details of the author's two years of fieldwork in a multi cultural Anglican primary school are set out and an understanding of Anglican schools as places which display an authentic outworking of a Christian worldview is explained. Second, the role of Anglican schools as places of encounter is discussed, with reference both to relevant Anglican literature and to the author's own experience of Anglican schools. This includes a substantial discussion of the Anglican understanding of hospitality as the foundation for creating safe spaces for transformative encounters. Hospitality is understood solely in a religious sense, of a Christian school acting as host to those of all faiths and none. Third, the core values of respect, forgiveness and freedom, which support the status of Anglican schools as safe spaces of encounter are elucidated. This involves both examples from the author's fieldwork and also published literature on the topic. Respect is discussed as a foundational value for any encounter with difference, which must be balanced with a willingness to forgive those who react negatively to such encounters. Freedom is understood specifically in the context of freedom of religious belief, reinforcing an understanding that Anglican schools do not engage in proselytising activity. The article concludes by reinforcing the central argument of the paper that Anglican faith schools contribute to a sense of belonging to a wider community through creating safe spaces to encounter the other and taking deliberate steps to engage with that other.

Faith and Patriotism: Some Snapshots and Reflections on 1914 and Beyond

This article offers some fascinating ‘snapshots’ into theological activity and awareness between British and German theologians just prior to WW1, between the wars and post WW2. He helpfully surveys the differences between German and English understandings of the Church-Struggle or Kirchenkampf and some of its struggles which we might now name as too much identification with the prevailing culture and not enough critical distance. He considers how public opinion was divided in the 1930s the role of significant Anglican leaders in and post WW2. He concludes with reflections on Luther's two ‘regiments’, the essential spiritual domain of the Church and the temporal, political power of the State and with Harnack's understanding of the church with thoughts on implications for how we relate to church and state today.

Remembering: A Narrative with Different Characters

I recently attended a conference at which a speaker from Romania posed this question: How do we transmit the memory of atrocities, victimhood dictatorship, to people who have already heard that story, only with different characters? In this article I take remembering in Northern Ireland as a story with different characters. A shared narrative to transmit the memory of what happened over thirty years of Northern Irelands Troubles remains to be told by and for the whole society. The purpose of a shared narrative is to contribute to a number of mechanisms that direct society to a future in which what happened in the past will never happen again. By a shared narrative I mean one that reflects the different characters and experiences, from different local experiences to different individual and community experiences. An agreed narrative is not possible at this time and perhaps that should never be the ambition for it would obscure the many characters within the one narrative. The kind of narrative that is shared may be defined as a ‘composite’ narrative that tells about individuals within the broader context of what was happening across Northern Ireland. It is important that remembering is understood to be narrative and not event, composite and not obscuring the characters involved. I will reflect on visits to Yad Vashem and the Kigali Memorial Centre as place where narrative was evoked about how to remember well for a better future where there has been conflict. I will share some of that challenges to remembering together in Northern Ireland and I will look to the Passover Seder and Lord's Supper for wisdom. I will conclude with some challenges to remembering as a contributor to peacemaking but without betrayal.