On Wednesday 30th of April 2025, the William Temple Foundation and Virginia Theological Seminary co-hosted a pioneering interdisciplinary conference at the Inner Temple, London. The conference, titled Communicating Radical Hope in an Era of Poly-Crisis, was organised and curated by Foundation Research Fellow and Communications Officer Dr Matthew Barber-Rowell, who was awarded a Dean’s Scholarship with Virginia Theological Seminary in summer 2024. This manifestation of our search for radical hope was inspired by Bishop George Bell’s 1940 volume Christianity and World Order, which recognised the degradation of society in the darkness of World War Two and the fact that, paradoxically, people participated in a ‘spatially united world’ (Bell, 1940, p13). Bishop Bell was a close friend and collaborator of Archbishop William Temple. Our search sought to consider a dynamic agenda which drew on a 21st Century expression of the Temple Tradition and responded to Bell’s work in the face of the many crises shaping our world today.
Our gathering was also shaped by the death of Pope Francis on the 22nd April, his Encyclical Laudato Si’ (Care for our Common Home) on the environment, the synodal process and the ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ theme of the Jubilee Year of 2025 declared by the late Pope Francis. These Catholic initiatives all find great resonance with contemporary expressions of the Temple Tradition and the recent work of the William Temple Foundation, including this conference.
In session 1 we explored how we might Communicate Radical Hope. This built upon the agenda set out in Barber-Rowell’s new book, Curating Spaces of Hope: Transformational Leadership for Uncertain Times, expressed at our gathering through 5 spaces of radical hope as follows:
- spaces of radical hope emerge from struggle
- spaces of radical hope are co-created
- spaces of radical hope are ecological
- spaces of radical hope are experimental
- spaces of radical hope are democratic
Following on was our keynote speaker Nicky Burridge, Vice President for Communications and Institutional Advancement at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) and the General Theological Seminary in New York, for her keynote address. Nicky explored authentic communications and set out stories from both digital and physical spaces in the VTS context to evidence this case, from supporting VTS alumni Bishop Budde of Washington as she stood in Washington Cathedral and called for President Trump to ‘have mercy’, to the viral social media content that followed, to a pioneering reparations programme where VTS are returning to their own roots and seeking to respond to the sin of slavery which has shaped their history, as they look to the future of their institution.
An important aspect of the search for radical hope that Dr Barber-Rowell launched through his paper, is that each and every person has a part to play. To signify this, space was curated early on in the gathering and facilitated by Dr Francesca Bernardi FRSA for delegates to express for themselves what hope meant to them. This took the form of personal expression through mark making and annotation with card and coloured pens. These expressions formed an assemblage of hope, which was formed into an installation for delegates to reflect on throughout the day.
In session 2, we heard papers from Professor Simon Lee, Chair of the Trustees of the William Temple Foundation, and Dr Kerim Balci from the Hizmet Movement and Respect University in the USA, who set out diverse perspectives on the current context for faith-based organisations operating around the public square. The superb, new conference facilities of the Inner Temple enabled Simon Lee and others to use images to accompany their presentations, in his case of two themes in the full version of his paper which he was able to explain in answering questions from the floor, namely the concept of us as co-pilgrims, quoting Cardinal Basil Hume, and his wish to reclaim the concept of ‘icons’ for communicating as pilgrims of radical hope. In session 3 we heard papers exploring themes of integral ecology from Dr Emma Gardner, Director of the Laudato Si Centre in the Diocese Salford, freedom of religion and belief from Professor Mark Hill KC, Master at the Inner Temple, and propaganda and information warfare from Professor Emma Briant, Visiting Professor at University of Notre Dame. These papers were then set in dialogue with one another to begin exploring the conditions for radical hope. In session 4 we turned to case studies that we felt were already expressive of radical hope from Canon Grace Thomas, Canon Missioner at Manchester Cathedral, Julie Guegan President of the Global Collaboration Institute, and Dr Francesca Bernardi FRSA, Founder of the Antonio Gramsci Society UK.
Finally, in session 5 we were incredibly grateful to Professor Martyn Percy from University of St Joseph’s, Macao, and Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salford John Arnold who responded as critical listeners on the day.
Bishop John said,
“It has been very interesting to hear from so many with expertise and experience talking about reasons why we have to be so concerned with radical hope in our lives … I have been really pleased by the number of times that Pope Francis has been alluded to … we have heard the quote ‘everything is connected’ a number of times, which is so important for our understanding of the global context we are in from the environment, to refugees, to poverty, or even down to waste, all these things have an impact on everything else. We cannot take things in isolation [and] using that phrase of Pope Francis ‘each and everyone of us has our part to play'”.
Prof Percy said,
“[Today] we have had lots of samplings of intriguing and different ways of approaching politics and theology and the analysis of social and cultural life today. I think we have been able to savour each and every one of these … there has been a pull towards honesty and integrity in public life … those are the things we hunger for and we mourn their absence from political discourse at the moment and maybe even from ecclesiological discourse. … today we have heard a dialogue between despair and a word that is uncommon today which ‘respair’ [or] the recovery of hope. Can we recover hope after it has been smashed to pieces? There is evidence from the presentations and places people have come from today to show that there is a counter cultural move afoot”.
We concluded the day by joining evensong at Temple Church, following the hugely successful gathering at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. We wish to extend our thanks to the Master of Temple Church Robyn Griffith-Jones, and our sincere thanks most of all to Master Mark Hill KC who was our gracious host at the Inner Temple.
Reflecting on the day, Chair of the Board of the William Temple Foundation Simon Lee said,
“On behalf of trustees who were there in person or online, I would like to thank Matthew Barber-Rowell for organising such a stimulating day in partnership with VTS, Spaces of Hope, the Inner Temple and Temple Church. Thanks also to our colleague, Katya Braginskaia, for help on the day and to the Inner Temple team for their efficiency and warmth. From the prime movers in Matthew and Nicky Burridge of VTS in the first session, through to the respondents Bishop John Arnold and Professor Martyn Percy, we have been challenged but encouraged and uplifted. On a personal note, it was a joy for me that the conference was welcomed by a former student from my time at King’s College London, the distinguished Mark Hill KC, a Bencher of the Inner Temple, who is the doyen of lawyers arguing for freedom of religion around the world, and then to attend a moving Evensong with the Revd Robin Griffith-Jones, Master of the Temple Church. I was touched by the attendance of a fellow parishioner from Olney through to Public Theology students from the Diocese of Rochester, and a strong contingent from the North-West of England, in addition to the extraordinary effort by Nicky Burridge to fly in and out from the USA just ahead of Commencement at VTS. Matthew Barber-Rowell and all of us at the William Temple Foundation, with friends old and new, will continue to pursue this quest for radical hope”
In the coming weeks, we are excited to share outputs from the conference, with a full range of photos in addition to those above (produced by James Everett on behalf of Miranda Parry Photography) videos from the gathering, a podcast series, and a publication of conference proceedings. if you would like to know more about the work of the William Temple Foundation and specifically our Radical Hope campaign, please write to matthew@williamtemplefoundation.org.uk
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