Readers heading to Greenbelt this weekend, the Christian arts, faith and justice festival, should be sure not to miss what are set to be engaging presentations from the Foundation’s own Chris Baker and Eve Poole.
Director of Research Chris Baker will explore the concept of a “new politics” asking, can the church convert welfare provision to political and spiritual revival? As increasing numbers of faith groups become frontline and creative providers of services and welfare in an ‘austerity –localism’ landscape, new and exciting opportunities for engagement with secular partners are emerging. And the relationships that are formed often transcend simplistic labels and ideological compartments. Rather, people across all faiths and beliefs (including secular ones) are drawn towards faith-based spaces of welfare and care as a way of expressing a search for a deeper form of politics and citizenship that reconnect values, beliefs and ethics to political and economic ends. Chris’ seminar will explore the questions emerging from these new fluid and increasingly blurred spaces of political engagement.
Join Chris on Saturday 29th August at midday in the Treehouse.
Associate Research Fellow Eve Poole’s presentation Capitalism’s Toxic Assumptions is set to be both lively and provocative. The Credit Crunch, global recession, austerity and Grexit are widely touted as the ‘morbid symptoms’ of capitalism in collapse. The design assumptions that served it well are now past their sell-by date, and flat-earth thinking by economists and politicians alike is preventing systemic reform. The churches are brilliantly placed to lead this effort. But how?
Join Eve on Monday 31st August at midday in the Pagoda. Eve will also be signing copies of her recently published book ‘Capitalism’s Toxic Assumptions’ at 1pm in Bookshop 2.
Find out more about this year’s Greenbelt here.
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