Shaping debate on religion in public life.

New look William Temple Foundation, same enduring values

27 Mar 2014

Welcome to the first blog post of the brand new William Temple Foundation website. After many months of consultation and collaboration, we’re proud to reveal the Foundation’s new look. We hope that you like it!

Our makeover however, is not simply a matter of aesthetics. We continue to promote the economic, social and political wellbeing of society, but we’ve taken some time to carefully evaluate who we are, how we should work, and how we can best act on our values of social justice. Our long noteworthy history remains significant for informing the work of the Foundation as we continue to be led by the visionary thinking of Archbishop William Temple. Over the last sixty years we have built on and developed Temple’s intellectual legacy, but our growth must ensure that we are active and relevant to contemporary concerns, and accessible to a modern audience.

We have dropped our former moniker of ‘research institute’ understanding ourselves to be remerging as a research and ideas hub. Whilst our staff and Associate Research Fellows continue to produce in-depth, innovative empirical research, there is so much more to the Foundation. Beyond publications we connect clergy, church workers, community activists, policy makers and academics, understanding that they can learn from one another. We believe that creative academic work is improved by interaction with everyday activities. Likewise grassroots activists may benefit from engagement with academic theory and empirical research. In this way, we seek to build a bridge between high-level theory and research, and everyday application and practice.

Our activities span a range of networks, sparking and sharing ideas which inform both our own research as well as that of others. We aim to create spaces for deep-thinking on the role of religion in public life through our involvement in blogging, conferences, lectures, seminars, teaching and training events, publications and research supervision. And we also offer bespoke training opportunities catering to a range of organisational needs on issues of religious literacy and civic engagement.

Whilst we are rooted in the Anglican tradition, we are a progressive organisation that seeks to engage a diverse array of religious and secular thinkers. We work across a wide range of academic disciplines from theology to human geography, from philosophy to economics, and much more.

We hope you’ll agree that the new website reflects this diversity of experience and expertise.

So how can you get involved with the new-look William Temple Foundation? First of all you can sign-up to our newsletter on the website’s homepage to keep up-to-date with our research, activities and new developments. And you can follow us and engage with us in dialogue on Twitter. We’re also looking for guest-bloggers to contribute posts to this section of the website, so if you have an idea you’d like to share, please do get in touch. You can read and share the wide range of research published by our staff and Associate Research Fellows. Or you can join one of the many networks we work with. And you are invited to attend our future events which will include a high-profile conference to mark the 70th anniversary of Archbishop William Temple’s death to be held later this year.

As we step into a new era of growth and development for the William Temple Foundation, we look forward to meeting and working with many more community activists, academics, clergy and people of all faith and belief backgrounds, as we share our vision for a just and inclusive society. We hope that you’ll be one of them.

Charlotte Dando is Assistant Director – Communications & Development at William Temple Foundation.

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