Church and State: a holy or an unholy alliance? Where do the boundaries lie today?

Speakers from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England will offer reflections from within different traditions of the Church in relation to the State.

Speakers:

• Revd. Gethin Rhys, Policy Officer CYTUN.
• Laura Dunlop QC, Procurator to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
• Revd. Canon Dr. Malcolm Brown Director of Mission and Public Affairs, The Church of England; Visiting Professor, Religion and Theology, University of Winchester.
• Jonny Clark, Director of YWAM in Ireland.

Register:

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For more information, please contact the secretary.

Speaker details:

Gethin Rhys was born and brought up in Rhiwbina, Cardiff, and educated at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen and the Universities of Oxford (where he graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and was awarded an M.Phil. in Politics) and Birmingham (where he graduated in Theology). Following internship ministry in Wrexham and a period in London, he was ordained a minister of the United Reformed Church and has served pastorates in Brecon (jointly with the Welsh Independents), Trefforest, Porth and Penrhys (in Llanfair Uniting Church). He and his wife, Dr Fiona Liddell, have also served as Joint Wardens of Coleg Trefeca (Presbyterian Church of Wales) and in 2003-5 he was General Secretary of the Covenanted Churches in Wales and Assistant General Secretary of Cytûn. He started his work as Policy Officer in January 2015 and is pleased to be able to combine in this post his background in both Politics and Theology. He has a lifelong interest in aspects of the interconnections between Biblical theology and public affairs, and he wrote the chapter on Wales in Belonging to Britain: Christian Perspectives on a Plural Society (Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, 1991).

Laura Dunlop QC is the President of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland and Procurator to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. She is an expert in civil litigation, with a particular focus on delict and public law. This has seen her serve as Senior Counsel to the Penrose Inquiry into transmission of viral infection by blood and blood products and as the first female Scottish Law Commissioner.

Malcolm Brown is Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. He was formerly Principal of the Eastern Region Ministry Course within the Cambridge Theological Federation, having previously spent ten years as Executive Secretary of the William Temple Foundation in Manchester. His early ministry was as a parish priest and industrial missioner in Kent and Southampton. He is author of a number of books including, After the Market (Peter Lang), The Church and Economic Life, co-authored with Paul Ballard (Epworth) and Tensions in Christian Ethics (SPCK). He is currently Visiting Professor, Religion and Theology at the University of Winchester.

Jonny Clark has worked for two decades at the intersection of Christian mission and Christian peacebuilding, in Northern Ireland and in several post conflict countries around the world. He is the producer of the Documentary (www.guardiansoftheflame.org) and Podcast series “Guardians Of The Flame”, which looks at tragic and yet redemptive stories from Northern Ireland’s Troubles. The title comes from something the former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said: “religion is like fire, it warms but it also burns, and we are the guardians of the flame.” Jonny has also been the Director of Youth With A Mission in Ireland since 2007 and is deeply committed to seeing reconciliation placed at the heart of the Church’s mission and teaching on discipleship. He is a member of City Church, Belfast.