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The Simon Barrow Column

Reflecting on how Christian political imagination can help change society's agenda. Follow Simon on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/simonbarrow

  • 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.

  • 21 Jun 2009
    Change, maybe. But real difference?

    As the political fallout from recent scandals continues, many are in favour of change, says Simon Barrow. But they do not necessarily want this change to make any real difference.

  • 21 Jun 2009
    The artistry of faith in foment

    A cruciform tree, a radiating Cain eyed by a simmering Abel, and a doveish floating vision: these are just a few of the images you will see as part of the vital but little-known Methodist Art Collection, says Simon Barrow.

  • 7 Jun 2009
    The terrifying truth about God

    Often Christians behave as if their central convictions about God has little practical bearing on the world and its problems, says Simon Barrow. On the contrary, being engaged by the Trinitarian mystery of God is central to facing up to the world's lesions with realism and hope.

  • 15 May 2009
    On not being idiotic about church schools

    Dismissing those who want to reform faith schools as 'useful idiots' for a 'secularist conspiracy' misrepresents the facts, feeds absolutism and undermines sensible debate, say Simon Barrow & Jonathan Bartley. It also shows how weak the anti-reform case really is.

  • 13 May 2009
    The disconnect between governors and governed

    The furore about MP’s expenses has temporarily overshadowed all other political issues, says Simon Barrow. But it is perhaps better seen as a symptom of a much wider disconnect between governors and governed.

  • 26 Apr 2009
    A different kind of loyalty

    Some traditional loyalties bind us to dominant economic, political, social and religious systems, says Simon Barrow. The Gospel of Jesus turns such commitments upside down.

  • 18 Apr 2009
    Too much belief in the system

    You often get more preoccupation with finance in church meetings and more serious attention to God in political meetings, says Simon Barrow. At least in terms of being sanguine about their respective claims. Sometimes.

  • 12 Apr 2009
    Recovering wisdom from the desert

    Theologian Janet Soskice has written a fascinating book about the discovery of one of the most ancient Gospel manuscripts. It reminds us that to understand the search for meaning in the present we have to value the past properly, says Simon Barrow.

  • 7 Apr 2009
    Off on the wrong foot(ball) for Easter

    Church leaders are "angrily" criticising the Premier League in England for holding football matches on Easter Sunday, a prime Bank Holiday in the UK. Simon Barrow argues that a more imaginative response is needed.

  • 2 Apr 2009
    The cash value of 'sorry'

    The recent ‘war of position’ on the economic crisis is more about the politics of appearance than the politics of change, says Simon Barrow. The real agenda cuts much deeper.

  • 31 Mar 2009
    Marching to a different drum

    It is understandable that some people feel sceptical about demonstrations in the wake of events like the G20 summit, says Simon Barrow. But mobilisation for change needs to be seen as part of a larger process of change, not as an act of disconnected idealism.