Next month I'll be part of a team teaching a new course at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre: Spiritual Wisdom from Liberal Christianity. I will be speaking of how a "liberal" - generous, broad - understanding of God's love and activity can be the foundation for a radical, inclusive, mystically rooted faith practice. Here's what Woodbrooke says: This course introduces learners to some of the hidden spiritual treasures of the Liberal Christian tradition. Over the course of five-weeks participants will be invited to learn about inspiring figures and theologies from, or in sympathy with, the Liberal Christian tradition. You can find out more and book here.
I was looking forward to reading this book as I've done a couple of Ian Mosby's courses online and because I feel like I'm circling around a contemplative approach to my pioneering as well and so I was interested to be in dialogue with people who are thinking like this. Ian Mosby's contemplative approach makes a lot of sense to me. If evangelism is just about getting people to "come to church" or "give their lives to Jesus" then it's always struck me as rather superficial. So many books I read come with these sorts of assumptions that come only from the Evangelical way of looking at the world. Ian Mosby, from a more contemplative Christian approach rather sees the invitation as entering into deeper relationship with God through contemplative practices. The book is based on PhD research that involved interviewing a lot of "Spiritual but not Religious" people in London. There is a great deal of reflection on what this category of people...