William Temple Foundation

Abstract In this paper, Curating Spaces of Hope is offered as a new paradigm for postsecular partnership for uncertain times. The need for a new paradigm is set out intially using literatures from faith based organisations. The case is made that the understanding of faith or the ‘F’ is inadequate, and that in order to make sense of the role it plays in social policy, a fresh framing is needed. For this, literatures from political philosophy, sociology or religion and social policy are engaged. These set out the space for mapping different worldviews, as part of the diversifying beleif landscape in the UK, and the policy context into which they are speaking. The paper then turns to empircal data to make the case for the new paradigm of postsecualr partnership, Curating Spaces of Hope. This case is made in three phases. First auto-ethnographic data is used as the basis for a social movement in the north west of England which takes place over 3 years. This is used as the premise for ethnographic research which maps postsecular contexts and informs the production of Curating Spaces of Hope. The paper then turns to the COVID-19 pandemic, as a lens through which to view current contexts of uncertainty. Three case studies are then offered which point to early applications of Curating Spaces of Hope and opportunities for building postsecular partnerships in the north west England.

Assuming there are two main possibilities of postdigital humans, either enhancements of existing humans employing the digital or entirely new forms of human emerging from a hybrid version of some sort, the question is that of whether it is possible to incorporate into either of these the imagination which helps us to place ourselves in the position of another such as to show empathy which does not rest on calculation. What is meant by this is that rather than responding on the basis of the expectation of a reciprocal act of kindness (I perform x hoping that another will respond by y), or to gain credit for the future, one responds (before further thought) because one feels called or obliged to do so. Given the speed at which algorithms operate, does that militate against such a development?

ABSTRACTDrawing on our own recent surveys on beliefs and values in Great Britain (Woodhead) and evangelical Christians in the UK (Smith) this article explores the links between religion, views and votes on leaving or remaining in the EU in the UK’s 2016 referendum. Poll data gathered shortly after the 2016 referendum (n = 3,243) allows us to test associations between religious identity and behaviour and attitudes to voting Leave, while controlling for other demographic variables. The main finding is that identifying as Church of England (Anglican) is an important independent predictor of voting Leave even when other relevant factors like age and region are corrected for. By contrast, self-defined English evangelicals (from an opportunity sample of 1,198, collected and analysed by Smith) appear to be more pro-EU and generally internationalist in outlook. Previous surveys by Woodhead on religion and values in the UK provide some explanation for these findings, and for the striking difference of UK and US evangelicals, 81% of whom supported Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election. The article ends with reflections on whether the term ‘populist’ can be usefully applied to the evangelical pro-Trump vote in the US or the Church of England pro-Brexit vote in the UK.

Abstract This article nuances debates about the role and contribution of religion to sustainable forms of governance in respect of current policy and political debates. It lays out some of the definitional terms of reference around governance and sustainable development. It then locates these debates within a series of wider, interdisciplinary frameworks (primarily political philosophy, sociology, political geography and public theology), including concepts such as cosmopolitanism, the postsecular, progressive localism and spiritual and social capital. These concepts recognize the changing boundaries between the religious and secular in the public sphere. The article locates some of these theoretical discourses within two case studies of performative cosmopolitan religious governance and analyses their methodology and impact within the terms of governance and sustainable development. It concludes that performative spaces of religiously framed welfare provision and civic engagement potentially offer important pointers as to principles and structures of what sustainable governance looks like in complex, diverse and increasingly fragmented polities and localities. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

In this paper we explore the interface between two quite different strands of economic thought, the Schumpeterian, evolutionary theory of innovation and economic adaptation, and the classical, Sraffian theory of prices and distribution. Can the two methods usefully speak to each another? If they can, we would have in prospect a more general evolutionary economics (GEE) in which the classical emphasis on production of commodities by means of commodities would allow a far more sophisticated analysis of the place of technical change in economic development. Our understanding of the connection between innovation, competition, development and growth would be enhanced and sharpened.