Theology for Changing Times

Christopher R. Baker is William Temple Professor of Religion and Public Life at Goldsmiths University London and Director of the William Temple Foundation. Elaine Graham is Grosvenor Research Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Chester.

• List of Contributors Preface by Lesley Atherton Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Genealogies, Typologies and Reformulations - Christopher Baker and Elaine Graham2. By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them: The Economics of Material Wellbeing and a Christianity Fit for Purpose - John Atherton3. Grounded and Inclusive: Public Theology from the Grass Roots - Hilary Russell4. ‘The Manchester School’: University, Cathedral, William Temple Foundation - Peter Sedgwick5. Christian Social Ethics and Political Economy - Carl-Henric Grenholm6. John Atherton: Industry, the City and the Age of Incarnation - Malcolm Brown7. Economic Activity, Economic Theory and Morality - Ian Steedman8. Faith, Finance and the Digital - John Reader9. Bending it Like Atherton: Doing Public Theology in an Age of Public Anger - William Storrar10. Flourishing and Ambiguity in UK Urban Mission - Anna Ruddick11. Alternative Possible Futures: Unearthing a Catholic Public Theology for Northern Ireland - Maria Power12. Afterword: Genealogy and Generativity - Christopher Baker and Elaine Graham

John Atherton’s work has served as beacon to many in the church, academy and wider world. Prescient, pastoral and probing - and whether writing economics, politics or business - Atherton’s work has stood out as one the very best exemplars of public theology in recent times. His writing represents a natural theological successor to William Temple’s legacy, and as such, will continue to serve the cause and hope of public theology for the foreseeable future. Christopher Baker and Elaine Graham have assembled a rich, wise and searching body of contributors, whose essays continue to grapple with Atherton’s agenda. Namely, making sense of theology as a public discourse for the re-shaping of society – and not merely some internal language to be spoken by Christians alone. This book has urgency and poise, coupled to wisdom and application. It is one the very best contributions to public theology to have emerged in recent years.