Sweet Charity? 

 

Controversy about “white saviours” around this year’s Comic Relief has put the spotlight back on charity and charities. Churches and individual Christians have always believed that charity is required. How do we reflect on charity from a theological and justice perspective?

A timely lecture next month aims to enable such reflection. This year's David Goodbourn Lecture at the Centre of Theology and Justice on 30 April is on the theme Sweet Charity.

The lecture will be delivered by Michael H Taylor, former Principal of Northern Baptist College and Director of Christian Aid (one of the UK’s largest charities), and Emeritus Professor of Social Theology, Birmingham University.

He writes, 'The lecture will raise questions about charities and faith in relation to justice. Charities along with faith and theology are often encouraged to face up to the claims of justice and the profound structural changes it entails. They are subjected to `left wing` criticism if they don’t.

'But is structural change any less controversial than charity and, when it comes to faith, is its contribution to structuring justice as significant as some would like to think? Does the search for justice take us, rather, to a version of Bonhoeffer`s Religionless Christianity?'

David Goodbourn, who the annual lecture honours, was General Secretary of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and President of Luther King House Manchester.

The Centre for Theology and Justice is a partnership of Christian Aid, Church Action on Poverty, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Luther King House, Manchester.

The David Goodbourn Lecture will be held at 19.30, Tuesday 30 April 2019 at Luther King House, Brighton Grove, Rusholme, Manchester, M14 5JP. The lecture is free but please would like to know if you will be attending – learning@lkh.co.uk or 0161 249 2504

For further information about the David Goodbourn Lecture or the Centre for Theology and Justice, contact theologyjustice@gmail.com