​​In this episode, Al Roxburgh and Jenny Sinclair talk with Luke Bretherton about the vocation of the church within the grounded, everyday realities of the local. Luke brings a rare breadth of learning to dilemmas so many are wrestling with, from the shaping of congregational life to how our common life became so atrophied and objectified in contemporary culture. Framing these big questions in ways that land in the ordinary, Luke explores memory, inheritance and place, and, unpacking the ancient democratic practices of the commons, he shows how these very commons became enclosed. Digging down into the impact of these trends, not only the loss of local power but also the crisis of institutional imagination in many churches, we explore what kinds of leadership and structures are needed to recover agency and to reimagine mission. This is a hope-filled engagement with how the Holy Spirit is calling God’s people on the ground into a story of civic and spiritual renewal. Along the way, we discover that “love fully realised” is not about providing services, nor about freedom of choice, but looks and tastes like communion.

Luke Bretherton is Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Christ Church, Oxford, where he also directs the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life. Luke is also a Canon of Christ Church Cathedral and has duties as a Church of England priest. Until 2024 he was the Robert E. Cushman Distinguished Professor of Moral and Political Theology at Duke University in America. He has also been Visiting Professor at St Mellitus Theological College, London. Alongside his work as a theologian, Luke has long been involved in community organising and practical collaborations with churches, charities and mission agencies. He has written many books, most recently A Primer in Christian Ethics and Christ and the Common Life, and he hosts the podcast Listen! Organize! Act!

Links

For Luke Bretherton:

https://www.theology.ox.ac.uk/people/rev-canon-professor-luke-bretherton

https://x.com/WestLondonMan

Podcast: Listen, Organize, Act! Organizing & Democratic Politics

Books:

A Primer in Christian Ethics: Christ and the Struggle to Live Well

Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness

Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy

Hospitality as Holiness: Christian Witness Amid Moral Diversity

For Alan J Roxburgh:

http://alanroxburgh.com/about

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork

Books

Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unraveling: Leadership in a Changing World (with Roy Searle)

Joining God in the Great Unraveling

Leadership, God’s Agency and Disruptions

Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World: The New Shape of the Church in Our Time

For Jenny Sinclair:

Website: https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/T4CG

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/

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