Radical Hope
At the William Temple Foundation, we are exploring the concept of Radical Hope and what it might mean for citizens, communities and institutions shaping the publc sqaure in the UK and around the world. We began this exploration in 2023, through a blog by Simon Lee exploring radical hope in terms of the value and values of universities. This staked out an agenda which might also be considered by other institutions contributing to the public sqaure. In 2024, Fellows of the Foundation, Dr Val Barron and Dr Matthew Barber-Rowell developed gatherings around the idea of Radical Hope in an Election Year. This was inspired by the fact that democratic processes were taking place in 82 countries around the world that year. We have curated the responses on this page, including a Radical Hope ebook from a gathering at Liverpool Hope University in April 2024. In 2025, we are continuing our exploration through the Radical Hope Podcast, the establishment of a Radical Hope Network, and a conference with partners from the USA at Virginia Theological Seminary and University of Notre Dame, exploring how to communicate radical hope in the public sqaure in a time of poly-crisis.
Radical Hope in 2025:
Conference – Communicating Radical Hope in an era of poly-crisis:
On the 30th April 2025, we are hosting a one day conference at the Inner Temple, London, in partnership with Virginia Theological Seminary and the University of Notre Dame London Programme. This conference has emerged following the award of a Dean’s Scholarship to William Temple Foundation Research Fellow Dr Matthew Barber-Rowell following the Radical Hope gathering at Liverpool Hope University in April 2024. This conference will open up questions and debates relevant to faith based organisations in the public square and their responsee to poly-crises. The conference will be a hybrid gathering to reflect the conditions and spaces of engagement that make up the public sqaure in the 21st Century. The gathering will explore questions relating to freedom of religion and belief (FoRB) in the public square, truth and propaganda in an age of AI, and the role that dialogue can play in developing shared values in the public square. Registration opens on Monday 17th February.
Radical Hope Network:
On the 4th April 2025 we are launching our Radical Hope Network. The first gathering will take place in Ashton in Greater Manchester. In this gathering we will consider the causes of crises and uncertainty shaping citizen experiences, civil society institutions and the public square, and curate spaces of radical hope which respond and build resilience. Register free or on a pay as you feel basis, here.
The Radical Hope Podcast
In this series we explore the contours of communications faith based organisations and dialogue in the public square. We will draw on stories and experiences from both sides of the Atlantic and consider what these might mean for people and institutions who are seeking to contribute to public life in the UK, US and around the world. This podcast is hosted by Dr Matthew Barber-Rowell, Communications Officer and Research Fellow for the William Temple Foundation, and a Dean’s Scholar at Virginia Theological Seminary and Vice President for Communications at VTS and the General Theological Seminary in New York, Nicky Burridge.
Episode 1
In Episode 1, we discuss the significance of Stories for shaping the public square. We draw on the proheptic narrative offered by Dr Lance Wallnau of Donald Trump as ‘God’s Chaos Candiadate’ before he was subsequently elected as President of the United States. We also reflected on the new narrative being offered by Virginia Theological Seminary of hope in response to the re-election of Trump in November 2024.
Episode 2
In Episode 2 we welcomed Canon Professor Martyn Percy to the Podcast who explored with us themes including digital public spaces, the inadequacies of the Church of England investigative processes, the recovery of the reputation of Bishop George Bell, and the ingredients for a hopeful future of the church in public life.
Radical Hope in 2024
Radical Hope ebook:
Finding Radical Hope in an Election Year? Reflections from a Roundtable at Liverpool Hope University (edited by Matthew Barber-Rowell, 2024)
This Temple Book is an outcome of the Roundtable hosted by William Temple Foundation at Liverpool Hope University on the 26th April 2024. The gathering addressed the question of how we might find Radical Hope in an election year? This volume is both a record of the proceedings of the day and should be taken up as a basis for a possible agenda of Radical Hope for the future. The election year of 2024 is an important marker for the enactment of democracy at the voting booth. However that is in itself only one expression to which we believe Radical Hope might be applied. An understanding that is present across these papers is that Radical Hope might be ongoing, as both an emerging influence and as an effective driving force for ongoing change. We commend this volume to anyone seeking change in this time of crisis, which is rooted in hopeful alternatives to the status quo.
Radical Hope Blogs:
Matthew Barber-Rowell – Just Decison Making II – “It is important to be attentive to the details of what is going on around us and to maintain a critical eye on what is shaping our lives and our experiences. Of this, Bishop Bell painted a vivid picture. His account noted that after the first World War lessons had not been learned, wounds were not healed, silos were deepened, injustices and frustrations remained and even grew. Bishop George noted that as time went on, principles and traditions which held together a sense of common life ‘melted away’ (Bell, 1940, p11)”
Matthew Barber-Rowell – Just Decision Making – “Temple argued that we should each speak from our own position, be open to scrutiny and challenge and seek justice in a consultative way. For those who have followed the work of the Foundation post-pandemic, they will know that we are operating in this space, but we are not arguing for applying Temple’s specific contributions from the 1940s, to public policy debates in the 2020s. We have acknowledged that we must imagine a fresh approach to seeking justice in the public square, suitable for the 21st century”
Andy Robertson – The Unexpected (and Undiscovered) Public Good of Video Games – “Discovering the work of the William Temple Foundation was instantly fascinating to me. The organisation has a similar challenge to the one I face, albeit at a different stage of its life cycle. It focuses on capitalising on the lost benefits that church and faith have to play as a positive role in shaping life and giving voice to those on the margins”
Matthew Barber-Rowell – The [im]possibility of Hope – “So what is going on? How has day-to-day life suddenly become juxtaposed with such violence and disorder? Are we, as Elon Musk has suggested descending inevitably into civil war? I think he’s being utterly irresponsible saying this – if I owned a social media platform, I hope I would use it substantially differently – nonetheless, something serious is going on.”
Paul Monk – Food hope and love: the local church in a time of crisis – “To give hope, churches must know their context: to that end, they must explore then change. Jesus himself tells us to explore context by commanding us to love our neighbour. He then asked, ‘who is my neighbour?’ We cannot pick and choose.”
Grace Thomas – Radical Hope in the midst of poverty in the city – “I was given the remit recently to speak about radical hope in the midst of poverty. I didn’t know where to start, so I started by telling my story. Stories matter – they tell us about the reality of life. Narratives of experience and context can be rich with insight and innovation, but story as a source of knowledge is still contested within a Eurocentric rationalistic paradigm.”
Matthew Barber-Rowell – Radical Hope: Reflections on a Roundtable at Liverpool Hope Univertsity – “On Friday 26th April 2024, the William Temple Foundation hosted a roundtable in partnership with Liverpool Hope University, exploring an emerging interdisciplinary agenda framed in terms of “Radical Hope”.
Chris Baker – Three Core Principles of Radical Hope to Bring to the Policy Table – “This blog also builds on one written on the same theme by our Chair of Trustees Professor Simon Lee last year in respect to Higher Education. It also expands, in its later references to ‘assemblages’ and ‘pop-up spaces of hope and radical solidarity’, on the many ideas and practices developed in his PhD thesis by Dr Matthew Barber-Rowell”
Val Barron – Radical Hope after 10 years with Communities Together Durham – “Almost ten years ago to the day I joined Communities Together Durham (CTD) as a community development worker and today is my last day as I move to another role.”
Chris Baker – Finding Radical Hope in a Year of Election? – “At the start of this election year of 2024, we at the Foundation are asking the question: If what we need to rediscover as a society is a sense of radical hope, then what might that look like; and how might we feed this hope into the policy areas that are already shaping the forthcoming election debates?”
Radical Hope in 2023
Radical Hope Blogs:
Maria Power – Where might we find Radical Hope? – “Through the Magnificat, Mary outlines for us Christ’s mission and demonstrates that we have a role to play in its fulfilment. We are taught what God will do for us, if we take up his offer of freedom by serving others. The mighty will be cast down and the lowly exhalated. This is the good news that Jesus brought and asks us to continually work for.”
Simon Lee – Radical Hope: The True Value and Values of a University – “The true genius of university education is that what prove to be the deepest influences on you in the long run are often people, places, experiences, ideas and graces which you hardly noticed when they first came into your student life.”