Work in Progress: Conference Report info here...

A day conference on Saturday 24th March 2012 to explore the distinctive contribution of the Christian faith to the shaping of a new, post financial crisis, economic order. This conference is for anyone who has an interest in the links between faith and economics, including academics, local church leaders, those involved in Christian social enterprises/co-operatives, trade unions, economic justice activists etc.

Speakers

• Professor Ulrich Duchrow of Kairos Europa and professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Heidelberg
• Dr Molly Scott Cato, Director of the Cardiff Institute for Co-operative Studies and author of “Green Economics”

Conference Facilitator:

• Simon Barrow, Co-director of Ekklesia

Questions

Many big questions remain unanswered since the global economic crisis of 2008:

• How can we create a more stable global economy?
• How can we overcome the growing gap between the richest and the poorest?
• How do we change the model in which risks taken by private companies to achieve big profits are underwritten by the public purse?
• How can we create an economy which recognises the limits of the earth’s resources?
• Does Christianity have anything distinctive to offer to this search for a new economy?

The Bible has a great deal to say about debts and debt cancellation, about land and ownership, about wealth and poverty, about equality and justice. Are there biblical ideas and concepts which could shape our economic thinking today?

These are the questions which will be addressed at a conference organised by ISR and Ekklesia and which will take place in Bristol in March.

The conference will include... 

• opportunity for group work in which the following issues will be explored:
• Practical Christian responses to the present economic crisis
• Biblical concepts/practices/paradigms and their contemporary application to the shaping of a new economy
• Christian attitudes to money, markets, ownership and debt, present Christian thinking which legitimises exploitative economic practice

We also hope that there will be opportunities for Christian groups engaged in existing alternative economic practice to tell their story.

Venue

The Vassall Centre, Gill Avenue, Bristol BS16 2QQ
Date: Saturday 24th March 10.00am—4.00pm
Cost: £30  (lunch included)

To book places please visit the online sign-up, or contact:

ISR, 162 Pennywell Road, Bristol BS5 0TX, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0117 955 7430

Further Information

Much of Professor Ulrich Duchrow’s work has focussed on the shaping of a new economic model which is consistent with biblical perspectives on justice, property, ownership, surplus, usury, wealth and poverty.  He is best know for “Alternatives to Global Capitalism: Drawn from Biblical History, Designed for Political Action” and “Property: for People, not Profit” (co-written with Franz Hinkelammert). 

He is also a founding member of Kairos Europa which is a network of justice, peace and creation initiatives working in collaboration with ecumenical networks, churches, social movements, trade unions and non-governmental organisations both in and outside Europe, for a more just and tolerant society.

At the Eye of the Needle conference we hope that Professor Duchrow will help us to identify key biblical resources which will enable Christians to make a distinctive, practical contribution to the shaping of more humane and just alternatives to the existing economic model.

Dr Molly Scott Cato is a Quaker and author of “Green Economics”. She is also economics spokesperson for the UK Green Party. Dr Cato is a trained economist and has practical experience in applying alternative economic theory at the grass roots level. We hope that she will help us to identify practical opportunities for the application of biblically inspired economic principles.

Simon Barrow has been co-director of the religion and society think-tank Ekklesia since July 2005. A writer, theologian, commentator, adult educator, researcher and journalist, he contributes regularly to Third Way magazine, to OpenDemocracy, Wardman Wire and other outlets.

As conference facilitator Simon Barrow will seek to summarise the key themes emerging from the conference and identify ways in which those themes might be further developed and explored beyond the conference.

Conference organisers

• ISR – The Churches Council for Industry and Social Responsibility
• Ekklesia
• The Diocese of Gloucester
• The Diocese of Bristol
• The Diocese of Bath and Wells
• The Diocese of Salisbury
• The Diocese of Exeter
• The Diocese of Truro