Religion and popular culture, gender, and feminist theology are some of the topics discussed in the journal Challenging Religious Issues (Issue 14). The St Giles’ Centre has recently translated and published the Welsh version of this issue (the English version was published in Autumn 2018).
A summary of the content of the articles is provided below. You can download both Welsh and English versions here.
Atonement: Experience, Story, Theory? by Professor Jeff Astley
The article explores the status of Christian accounts of atonement, including reference to issues of ‘objectivity’ and ‘subjectivity’.
Religion and Popular Culture by Professor Clive Marsh
Helping students to understand how religion ‘and’ popular culture relate raises vexing questions from the start. The ‘and’ implies they are separate, as if popular culture has no religion within it, and that religion is somehow detached from culture. So, it may be assumed that popular culture is ‘secular’ or (even worse) neutral with regard to religion or values. From another angle, popular culture may appear more interesting (or more entertaining) than religion – especially for non-religious students. Or it may be deemed distracting or dangerous to religious students, or to students from religious families who are wrestling with the tension, and sheer difference, between ‘life at home’ and ‘life in school/college’. In this article I offer simple reflections and suggestions for addressing such issues, being convinced that it is crucially important for students to be looking carefully at the relationship – fruitful and constructive as well as tense and sometimes problematic – between these two ‘worlds’.
‘Impersonating Beyonce is Not Your Destiny, Child’: Reflections on Feminist Theology by Dr Hayley Matthews
The article explores the range of Christian theological positions on gender.
Richard Swinburne on the Soul by Professor Jeff Astley
The article summarises Swinburne’s defence of substance dualism, and his account of life after death and personal identity.