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christendom

July 3, 2020

Re-thinking power and the Church

“We are the body of Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body. Let us pursue all that makes for peace and builds up our common life.”
April 6, 2017

Easter confectionery and the Poor Man of Nazareth

The 'dead cat' strategy, so widely used by politicians, delivers diminishing returns.
December 2, 2015

More famous parables reconsidered

Last week saw the publication of my new book, The Upside-Down Bible: What Jesus really said about money
December 26, 2014

Are 'Christmas wars' subsiding in post-Christendom?

Has the usual seasonal avalanche of "they're trying to ban Christmas!" stories abated somewhat, at least in Britain? Simon Barrow looks at the evidence and asks what it says to us about the church and Christianity in an emerging post-Chrstendom era.
April 25, 2014

Easter: actually it's 50 days, and nothing to do with 'Christian country' ideology

Easter is not one day. It is not a week. Easter is not 40 days. Easter is actually a season of 50 days in the churches' calendar.
April 23, 2014

Travelling with St George beyond Cameron and imperial Christianity

Seven years ago this week, Ekklesia first published a report entitled 'When the Saints Go Marching Out: Redefining St George for a new era'. Simon Barrow shows how an old story re-told can also help us re-understand the rightful impact of the Gospel in the contemporary era, beyond imperial religion and politics.
April 23, 2014

The Prime Minister wants to preserve Christendom, not dissident Christianity

My response to the debate about Christianity now raging across sections of the media is this: No, Britain is not a 'Christian country', but it is a country marked by the history and institutions of Christendom.
April 20, 2014

If Britain was 'Christian' we would stop the war on welfare

In Holy Week, as the Prime Minister grew ever more vocal about his personal faith and the importance of Christian values, the Daily Express brought us the glad tidings that the PM’s colleague Iain Duncan Smith is ‘Winning the War on Benefits’. That’s a war on financial assistance to people who are old, sick, disabled, unemployed or working but paid too little to make ends meet.
March 31, 2014

An evening in a 'steeple house': Justin Welby and Christendom order

My forebears would have called the venue a "steeple house" and the multitude of participating clerics "hireling shepherds and prayer-book men."
January 25, 2014

Crucible Course: 'Urban Challenge', 'Becoming Human'

'Following Jesus on the margins’ is the strapline of the Crucible course, now in its tenth year in Birmingham, equipping pioneers of new forms of church for a changing culture.