St Martin in the Fields Autumn Education Series

All lectures take place at St-Martin-in-the-Fields Church from 7.00pm to 8.30pm. They are free and no booking is required. There will be a retiring collection to cover some of the costs of the programme. For more information go to www.smitf.org


Image is copyright The Estate of Stanley Spencer 2012 . All rights reserved DACS.

Awareness Foundation Special Lecture

Seminar Day at Centre for Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue

Centre for Christianity and Interreligious Dialogue

'A Common Word' five years on:

Leading Christians and Muslims consider the impact of this groundbreaking
document on Muslim-Christian relations.

24th October 2012 10.00am - 4.30pm

Loyola Hall
Heythrop College,
University of London,
Kensington Square,

London W8 5HQ.

Speakers:

Rev Dr Toby Howarth, Secretary for Inter-religious affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury

Rev Dr David Marshall, Academic Director of the Building Bridges Seminar and Research Fellow of Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs

Most Reverend Archbishop Kevin McDonald, Archbishop Emeritus of Southwark and Chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference Committee for Other Faiths and of the Committee for Catholic-Jewish relations

Dr Chris Hewer, Former Fellow in Christian-Muslim Relations, St Ethelburga, London.

Professor Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University (Oriental Institute, St Antony's College), Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies, (Qatar), Senior Research Fellow at Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan) and Director of the Research Centre of Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE) (Doha, Qatar).

Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad (Tim Winter), Shaykh Zayed Lecturer in Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University, Director of Studies in Theology at Wolfson College.

This study day is open to all. There is a charge of £15 to cover refreshments and a vegetarian lunch. Please pay on the day or send a cheque made out to ‘Heythrop College.’Current staff and students of Heythrop College may come free of charge.To book a place contact Dr Martin Ganeri, Director of CCID by email:

m.ganeri@heythrop.ac.uk



Archbishop of Canterbury sends Rosh Hashanah Greetings

The Archbishop of Canterbury has sent his traditional Rosh Hashanah greetings to Jewish friends and colleagues around the globe.
Reminding everyone that this will be his last such greeting as Archbishop, he speaks of the challenges that have arisen over the last ten years. Never the less there have been a strengthening of ties between the
Anglican and Jewish comunities inclluding, for him, some deep personal friendships.
This is also the 70th anniversary year of the Council of Christians and Jews.

He asks how the sense of community within individual synagogues and churches might be such as not to divide one from another. The full message can be read on the Archbishop's website.

L'Shana Tova

and you may also be interested in ..................







To book contact Natan Levy
natan.levy@bod.org.uk
T: 0207 543 5400

September Update

There is so much on at the moment that there's been a September events listing and a few other blogs since the August Update so do look back through and make sure you haven't missed anything. I hope to see you at The Tax Debate, Christ Church Spitalfields 7.00pm Thursday 13th September

Meanwhile news just in .........

The new season of Faith and Public Policy Forum seminars (organized by King's College London hosted in collaboration with Westminster Abbey) kicks off on Wednesday 26th September 12.30 -2.00pm Westminster Abbey Cheyneygates (via Dean's Yard). Professor Linda Woodhead, University of Lancaster, will speak on 'How to Restrict Religious Freedom' There is a light sandwich lunch provided but you do need to register for a ticket. Contact Dr Anna Rowlands for details of the rest of the programme and booking.

Monday 1st of October is the annual Theos lecture in Central Hall Westminster, SW1H 9NH. The Archbishop of Canterbury with speak on The person and the individual:human dignity, human relationships and human limits 6.30 for 7.00pm To register for this event please email hello@theosthinktank.co.uk  with 'Annual Lecture' in the subject line.

Thursday 4th Ocotber  a Project Mosaic lecture 6.30 for 7.00pm at Faraday House, 48 - 51 Old Gloucester Street, london WC1N 3AE Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia:Moving beyond old and new hatreds after 9/11  Speakers - Anthony Julius and Fiyaz Mughal OBE Tickets are free but space is limited.

Email info@projectmosaic.net  to reserve your place.

The next PEN lecture will  take place in early 2013

Scripture study and books at the London Inter Faith Centre
Their Texts to Live by Series continues on 14th Ocotber, then 18th November and 20th January
A new series of bible studies looking at the book of Joshua begins on Thursday September 20th 10.00am, register with maggie.hindley@londoninterfaithcentre.org.uk and on Tuesday 18th September there is a chance to consider chapter two of Arthua Nussbaum's The New Religious Intolerence at their book group session 12.30 - 2.00pm

Commission4mission have reminded us that the second Barking Episcopal Area Arts Festival will run from Saturday 6th - Sunday 14th October parallel to the Woodford Festival. Venues include St Mary's Woodford , All Saints Woodford Wells and St Paul's Woodford Bridge. The festival includes art, music, storytelling and poetry events with contributions from the Meljon Singers, Tim Cunningham, Jane Grell and Malcolm Guite see their website for more or conatct Commission4mission secretary Jonathan Evens

 Looking ahead..........

Monday 12th November: A study day with Dr Chris Hewer at the Milaap  Centre, Acre Road,
Kingston, KT2 6EE. His subject is The Shi'a prespective of Islam. Curry lunch is available at Milaap at a small charge but they will need to know numbers. If you are interested contact the PEN coordinator who will pass on your request.

Tax Justice Bus Comes to Spitalfields

This autumn, Christian Aid and Church Action on Poverty are joining forces to take the campaign for Tax Justice on the road, with a seven-week Tax Justice Bus Tour.

The bright red London bus is touring the length and breadth of Britain and Ireland, to promote the simple message: It’s time for Tax Justice for the poorest communities at home and globally.

On Thursday 13th September the bus comes to Christ Church Spitalfields. The Contextual Theology Centre is facilitating a Community Conversation around how local congregations might take practical steps towards economic justice. A panel of contributors chaired by Revd Canon Dr Giles Fraser will  kick start the discussion.
Board the bus from 6.30pm, main event in the church  runs 7-9pm

Panelists:-

Savior Mwamba – Executive Director, Centre for Trade Policy and Development, Zambia
Stephanie Lis – Institute of Economic Affairs
Revd Dr. Sabina Alkire – Director, Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative

Tax dodging costs lives. It effectively amounts to robbing the poor – in the UK and in poor countries – of the money that should be spent on education, health and welfare.

Opening up festivals and events to one another

This year there has been a focus on faith groups sharing their festivals particularly those with a community service element  under the heading A Year of Service

Two opportunities are coming up in the next few weeks

International Day of Peace 21st September Different countires and organisations mark this in a variety of ways. As it falls on Friday this year, Islamic centres and mosques across the UK and overseas will be taking a lead in their local communities in marking the day. Visitors will be invited to join them during or after Friday prayres (Salaatul-Jumu'a) to exchange messages of peace, to celebrate local peace-building activities and to enjoy the hospitality offered. If you would like to know if your local mosque is involved or how your local church can get involved you can contact the following
C Robertson - London Peace Network; A. Faliq - The Cordoba Foundation; S A Razawi Majilis-e-Ulama Europe; J.Bond Christian Muslim Forum via http://londonpeacenetwork.wordpress.com/friday-21-september/

Churches are asked to make an effort to partner up with other faith groups around their Harvest Festival.
As this is traditionally a time for giving and receiving the suggestion is that  faith groups might be invited to join together in giving to an appropriate cause - a local or international charity perhaps.
Another idea might be for your church to arrange a Harvest welcome meal for international students who may have recently arrived to study at nearby university orcollege. The challenge of adjusting to a new culture away from family and friends canbe huge. If you have a college near you why not work with the chaplain or student services to put on a welcome feast in a local church hall? Neighbours from other faithscould be invited to join with you in cooking tasty food for the students and providing ajoint welcome.
If you don't currently have links with other places of worhsip in your area now might be a good time to reach out. See The Year of Service websit.

10 essays on Christian theological engagement with Islam

originally given as papers at a series of seminars held at Campion Hall, Oxford in 2010 and 2011, supported by Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs the essays can now be downloaded

The authors and titles are:-
David Marshall, “Muhammad in Contemporary Christian Theological Reflection”
Daniel A. Madigan SJ, “Revisionist Historiography and Christian Attitudes towards Muhammad”
David Marshall, “Roman Catholic Approaches to the Qur’ān since Vatican II”
Martin Whittingham, “‘Deciding by the Gospel’: Some Protestant Christian Responses to the Qur’ān since the Nineteenth Century”
Michael Ipgrave, “Provocation and Resonance: Sacramental Spirituality in the Context of Islam”
Catriona Laing, “Constance Padwick’s Study of Muslim Devotion: a Provocation to Christian Mission”
Gavin D’Costa, ‘Interreligious Prayer between Christians and Muslims’
Richard Sudworth, “Christian Responses to the Political Challenge of Islam”
Damian Howard SJ, “Islam and Christianity: on ‘Religions of Law’”
Gavin D’Costa, “Do Christians and Muslims Believe in the Same God? Reflections on Miroslav Volf’s Allah: A Christian Response”

There are also a number of questions for further reflection.

Questions can be addressed to  the organiser of the seminar series, Revd David Marshall (revdem63@yahoo.co.uk).