Dr Casey Strine looks at what the Bible says about refugees and how we can learn from those in our world today seeking sanctuary.

Published on Real Clear Religion:

http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2017/02/02/do_refugees_understand_the_bible_better_than_us_110109.html 

A sane and scholarly article by Colin Chapman written out of lifetime's experience of the Middle East. Republished on Fulcrum, with permission, from Transformstion.

https://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/articles/christian-responses-to-islamism-and-violence-in-the-name-of-islam/ 

A Papal Tutor of Heroic Virtue

by George Weigel

Published on First Things: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/02/a-papal-tutor-of-heroic-virtue

Pursuing Integral Peace: How to Resist Trump's Politics of Despair

By Anna Rowlands

Anna Rowlands is Lecturer in Catholic Studies in the Department of Theology and Religion and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Catholic Studies at the University of Durham.

Published on ABC: http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/02/01/4612516.htm 

In this article from the Church Times, David Goodhew examines why some parts of the Anglican Communion are growing fast and others are not.

The article is available here: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/6-january/features/features/a-story-of-growth-and-decline 

This doctoral dissertation by Andrew Lake is a fascinating look at the role played by Christian missionaries to Aleppo.

The dissertation is available here: http://www.staugustines.com.au/attachments/078_E-thesisAlepChap.pdf

To commemorate Black History Month in the United Kingdom, we remember one of the first Africans to live in Anglo-Saxon England. The man in question was Hadrian (d. 709), the abbot of St Peter’s and St Paul’s at Canterbury, who played a pivotal role in the development of the early Anglo-Saxon Church. This article by Alison Hudson was originally posted on the British Library blog.

An article by Kirsteen Kim on the document 'Together Towards Life' and the Mission Studies Curriculum, first published in the International Review of Mission.

An article by The Revd Dr Michael Jenson, rector of St. Mark's Anglican Church, Darling Point, looking at how cricket and Anglican missiology are connected.

Originally published on ABC Reglion and Ethics.

This article by Jonny Baker, 'Yes to Mission Spirituality', was first published in the International Review of Mission in November 2015.

Read the full article here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/irom.12116/abstract 

This editorial is by Darrell Whiteman on 'The Gospel and Art'.

Originally published by the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

This article by Benjamin L. Hartley, on '"Apostle of Ethnology": Agnes C. L. Donohugh's Missiological Anthropology Between the World Wars', was published in the April 2016 edition of the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

This article by Angelyn Dries, on 'The 1925 Vatican Mission Exposition and the Interface Between Catholic Mission Theology and World Religions' was published in the April edition of the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

This article by Volker Küster, 'The Christian Art Scene in Yogyakarta, Indonesia', was published in the April 2016 edition of the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

This article by Jeremy Clarke, on 'Christian Art in China during the Period of Economic Reform', was published in the April 2016 edition of the Internation Bulletin of Mission Research.

This article by Gudrun Löwner, on 'Christian Art in India: Early Christianity from the Arrival of the Portuguese Until Today', was published in the April 2016 edition of the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

This piece from Luke Bretherton, taken from the upcoming revised edition of the Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, eds. William Cavanaugh and Peter Scott, looks at Anglican Political Theology.

Published on African Journals Online, this article from John S. Mbiti, Faculty of Theology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, forms part of the African Proverbs Series.

Julie Ma from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies describes the work of the Buntains in Calcutta, India and how this ties into Pentecostal mission.

Originally published by the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

Daniel Jeyaraj, from the Andrew F. Walls Centre for the Study of African and Asian Christianity, Liverpool Hope University, looks here at the impact of Early Bible translations. Taken from the International Bulletin of Mission Research.

Kirsteen Kim's article on 'Mission Theology of the Church', taken from the International Review of Mission Journal.

This edition of the Journal of Latin American Theology focuses on the Comentario biblico contemporaneo, the Contemporary Bible Commentary.

The 'Journal of African Christian Biography' is a new publication of the online Dictionary of African Christian Biography.

The Rev. Andrew Petiprin interviews the Rt Revd Rowan Williams for 'The Living Church' website.

Read the full interview here: http://livingchurch.org/god-truth-will-survive 

The Trinity can be a ‘dauntingly abstract concept ‘, says John Moffatt SJ, but it is important for us to use words and images, as far as we can, to explore the truth that it represents: ‘the single origin of all things is in essence relationship’.

Click here to read the full article, which was originally produced on the Thinking Faith website in  May 2013.

by Duane Miller

Abstract

This article begins with a brief review of the history of the diocese of Jerusalem. By interviewing eight members of the diocesan clergy in Jordan, the researcher desires to explore how the concepts in the title are related to each other in the Jordinian context.

About the author

Duane Alexander Miller is a native of Montana with a PhD in Divinity with a focus on World Christianity from the University of Edinburgh. He also holds an MA in Theology, a diploma in Arabic, and a BA in philosophy. He lived in the Diocese of Jerusalem for seven years before moving back to the USA.

Click here to read The Episcopal Church in Jordan: Identity, Liturgy and Mission.

by Sigurd Kaiser

Abstract

Since the late 1970s – when China implemented a policy of opening followed by a limited religious freedom – Chinese Christianity has been growing rapidly. While statistics offer only an outside description of this development, in this essay I will try to analyze the internal factors leading to this growth. For this purpose I will not only use theological and sociological studies of Chinese Christianity, but also refer to my personal experiences during the years 2007 to 2014 when I was teaching New Testament and related subjects at Nanjing Union Theological Seminary. Based on this, I had the privilege of preaching at a variety of Chinese churches, meeting their members and staff, as well as traveling to other seminaries and institutions... 

by Jocelyn Alexander and David Maxwell

'A champion of African nationalism, and one of the continent’s most radical and influential historians'

The Guardian, 18 Jan 2015

Click here to read Prof Terence Ranger Obituary

by Anthony Egan SJ

To many people, the beatification of Benedict Daswa, a school teacher from the far north of South Africa killed for his rejection of witchcraft, was surprising. Anthony Egan SJ introduces Daswa and explains why the decision to make him South Africa’s first Beatus was somewhat controversial. What might be the significance of this beatification for the Southern African – and global – Church?

Thinking Faith, 17 Sep 2015

Click here to read The Beatification of Benedict Daswa

by Yvonne Haddad and Joshua Donovan 

This study analyses the relationship between the Coptic community in the United States and Egyptian Copts regarding the status of Coptic citizenship in the Egyptian state. The conception of citizenship for the Coptic Christian minority has been debated since the formation of the modern nation-state and has acquired greater relevance after the revolution that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power. One primary narrative of citizenship is promoted by the Egyptian Church. It recognises that, while Copts may not feel like equal citizens, they are devoted to their homeland. They try to promote greater equality through civil discourse, opposing foreign intervention and seeking to foster positive relations with Egypt's Muslims. While many Diaspora Copts echo the message of the Egyptian Church, a minority of activist Copts have challenged that narrative. Inculcated with ideas of Islamophobia and neoconservatism, they tend to dismiss hopes of national unity and focus rather on incidents of persecution. These diaspora activist groups continue to challenge the Coptic Church. Their policies have influenced American foreign policy and have broader implications for Muslim–Christian relations in Egypt.

Studies in World Christianity. Volume 19, Issue 3, Page 208-232, ISSN 1354-9901, Available Online December 2013 

Click here to read Good Copt, Bad Copt: Competing Narratives on Coptic identity in Egypt and the United States

by Ian J. Shaw

This is a study of the rapid urban growth of twentieth-century Nairobi and its influence on patterns of church attendance and Christian practice. The experience of Glasgow in the nineteenth century is used as a historical comparator to highlight and evaluate particular trends in Nairobi's more recent experience. Although the rapid urbanisation of the two cities was separated by over a century and occurred in very different national and historical contexts, both shared similar pathologies of environmental problems, urban deprivation and poverty. Simple correlations between types of urban environment and certain patterns of Christian practice are not easily drawn in the two cities, but such complexity is common to the two cities. This study suggests that the process of rapid urbanisation did shape religious practice in Nairobi, if not always in predictable or negative ways. It brought openness to new ideas and flexibility to modes of Christian expression, as was also observed in Glasgow a century before. The responses of churches to the very major challenges caused by large-scale movements of population and consequent social dislocation also betray similarities across geographical and historical contexts. Despite claims as to the secularising influence of the city, Christian practice may prove to have been at its most robust and authentically African in a city like Nairobi.

Studies in World Christianity. Volume 20, Issue 2, Page 166-186, ISSN 1354-9901, Available Online August 2014

Click here to read What Has Glasgow to Do with Nairobi? The Churches and Rapid Urban Growth in Twentieth-Century Nairobi: A Comparison with Nineteenth-Century Glasgow

by Titus Presler

"I was beaten in Pakistan for my religion. I am far from alone."

Anglican missiologist, Titus Presler, explores the political and religious motivations behind persecution of minority religions in Pakistan.

The Daily Beast, 30 Aug 2015

Click here to read Why Has Pakistan Become So Intolerant?