Tag Archives: Tearfund

A new book: Poverty in the Early Church and Today—A Conversation

I’m delighted to announce the publication of a new book which I’ve co-edited with Hannah Swithinbank of Tearfund, Poverty in the Early Church and Today—A Conversation (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019). Here’s an abstract for the whole book: Poverty, its causes and alleviation, are a perennial concern for humanity, and particularly for Christians because of their belief that all people are made in God’s image, and therefore valued and valuable. This book offers creative engagement with issues concerning people in poverty by bringing into conversation perspectives from the earliest church and today’s world. Continue reading →

Engaging with Poverty in the Early Church and Today—report

Well, two excellent days of conference are over and we’ve heard some 15 papers and two short reflections on the whole conference, as well as engaging in eight half-hour question and discussion times. It’s been very stimulating with fine talks, passion and a sense of the importance of the issues we’ve discussed. And all this grew out of a conversation over coffee after the morning service one Sunday between Chris Keith and David Parish—on this evidence, let’s have more of those kinds of conversations, please! The conference was Continue reading →

Patronage and people: Paul’s perspective in Philippians

Here are the slides from my talk ‘Patronage and people: Paul’s perspective in Philippians’ at the ‘Engaging with Poverty in the Early Church and Today’ conference at St Mary’s University, Twickenham today, saved in pdf format. This was an enjoyable talk to work on, and allowed me to draw on and develop the thinking inPatronage and people slides  my earlier essay, ‘Paul, Patronage and Pay: What Do We Know about the Apostle’s Financial Support?’ Pages 220-33 in Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology, and Practice. Edited by Continue reading →

Financial and other support for ‘Engaging with Poverty in the Early Church and Today’

I’m very pleased that we at St Mary’s University, Twickenham have support from several agencies for our conference ‘Engaging with Poverty in the Early Church and Today’ which takes place over Friday 4 and Saturday 5 December. Here’s a link to the ‘good news’ story of the financial help we’re receiving from Bible Society and Caritas (Diocese of Westminster). This money is enabling us to bring speakers from other countries, notably Dr Christopher Hays from Colombia, and to provide three full bursaries to enable PhD students Continue reading →

Coming very soon! Poverty in the Early Church and Today conference at St Mary’s University

Next week (Friday 4 and Saturday 5 December) is our conference at St Mary’s University, Twickenham on Poverty in the Early Church and Today, and there are still some spaces available—so if you’re thinking about coming, please register quickly here. The conference is aimed at thoughtful people concerned about this area, including those working in NGOs, clergy and ministers, and Christian laypeople. This will be a highly accessible and very thoughtful look at this important them. Our St Mary’s Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible Continue reading →