SCM Press

Based on research into British Millennials’ involvement in international Christian missions, this book asks why – given the trends in faith in the UK – are some still choosing to become missionaries? in British Millennials in Global Mission, Alison Allen explores how Millennial missionaries merge aspects of the evangelical Christian metanarrative with what they find in the wider British cultural discourse, discussing also their understanding and practice of “mission” and the extent to which these differ from previous generations. Harnessing the tension between these differing narratives, Millennial missionaries combine the Millennial interest in the concept of authenticity with self-exploration which aims at discovering and becoming who God made them to be, rather than who they feel they should be. This book outlines the characteristics often attributed to the Millennial generation and discusses how accurate these appear to be, and considers what we can learn from studying generations in this way.

In Shaping a Church of Ethical Integrity, Paul Avis offers a bold and incisive critique of the current state and future trajectory of the Church of England under its national and (in some cases) diocesan leadership. While demolishing some prevailing assumptions, he reinforces the enduring values and salutary practices that are still present, especially in many parishes and their hard-working clergy and laity. Through a scholarly, yet clear and accessible analysis, Avis brings to bear some key ethical-theological concepts such as institutional authenticity, subsidiarity, solidarity, locality as the source of what makes the Church viable, sacramental communion, and an establishment that is defensible. Engaging, controversial and always theological, this work challenges the Church to recover the path of ethical integrity, transparency and mutuality in its internal and external relations – a challenge and pathway that is relevant to other Churches too.

How have inherited and contemporary notions of perfection distorted our theology and the way in which we have expressed and lived out our fait? reaking, not Broken exposes how Western Christianity, post-Constantine, assimilated a Greco-Roman ideal of the flawless body as its anthropology and built its theology, architecture, and memory around it. Against this ableist inheritance, Timothy Goode offers a radical alternative: a return to a risen body anthropology grounded in the wounded yet glorified body of Christ. Drawing deeply on disability and liberation theology, critical heritage studies, and his own lived experience of disability, Timothy Goode reframes how the Church understands the body, healing, time and space. Here, disabled lives are not marginal but central: living archives of God’s story, prophetic voices that disrupt and renew, and bearers of hope for a more just ecclesiology. Written with theological depth and human honesty, this book bridges scholarship and practice, inviting the Church to rediscover its true heritage not in monuments of stone or ideals of perfection, but in the scars of resurrection and the grace of embodied diversity.

What made Jesus’ message “good news” in its original context - and why does it still reverberate today? In Reverberations of Good News, the Gospels are brought vividly to life as cultural, political, and spiritual responses to the world of the first century. Rather than offering a detached or purely historical analysis, this book explores how Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John each articulate Jesus’ message in strikingly different ways - through inner renewal, radical justice, peaceful subversion and a bold claim to truth. With fresh insight into the dating, authorship and purpose of the Gospels, George van Kooten challenges familiar assumptions and invites readers to see these texts as dynamic responses to real-world tensions. Bridging ancient context and modern meaning, this book is essential reading for preachers, students, and scholars alike- anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the Gospels as living texts that continue to shape lives and societies. BLOGPOST: Read an extract on who the Magi were and why they travelled on the SCM Press blog here.

This unique text poses serious questions about the way the Church of England is structured, how dioceses are run and the role of bishops through the lens of liturgical theology. In The Bishop and the Baptized, Justin Pottinger argues that baptismal ecclesiology has had more influence on the ordinal of the Church of England than the Episcopal Church. As arguably the key document for understanding Anglican ecclesiology, the ordinal affirms the importance of the bishop ordaining in the context of a Eucharist, with the liturgical action indicating the ontology and praxis of the bishop’s ministry in the daily life of the Church. The liturgy, placing the bishop within the eucharistic congregation, defines the ontology and praxis of the bishop’s ministry. Managerial modes and financial pressures have shaped recent debates, but the ordinal offers an alternative model of leadership in the shepherd metaphor. The diaconal nature of episcopal ministry, seen in the ordinal’s innovation of foot washing and the giving of the pastoral staff, is applied to the discernment and training of candidates for episcopal ministry, and the culture and shape of the life of the Church. This is an original contribution to these wider discussions, grounding responses in Anglican ecclesiology and the nature of episcopal ministry. BLOGPOST: Ordination is for life, not just for Petertide by Justin Pottinger on the SCM Press blog here.

The experience of university is a unique time of change and development, not least in terms of faith. Christian Women at University takes seriously the faith lives and ordinary experiences of women in this context. Examining the intersectional identities and faith stories of 26 Christian emerging women studying at university in England, it is concerned with the resources and strategies that the women utilized in crafting a home for themselves at university, when away from the familial home for the first time. Being women and belonging to the Christian faith, the women encountered barriers to feeling at home, including sexism on their academic course, conservative theologies in their church, as well as struggling with their mental health, homesickness or the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. These factors intersected with students’ marginalized identities, including their race, sexuality and class. However, their gender provided an avenue for the women to feel safe and to grow at university, especially though close friendships with other women, and their faith also provided contexts for feeling at home, including in their churches, chaplaincies and student Christian societies, in which the women felt safe enough to be themselves and even to begin to explore the breadth and depth of Christianity.Christian Women at University seeks to deepen our understanding of women’s lived faith in transitional times. It highlights how women in university negotiate the twists and turns, and backwards steps as they attempt to ‘make home’ away from home and facing the challenges of their intersecting identities of age, gender, faith, race, class and sexuality, all in the context of overwhelming change.

Throughout history, Christians have reached for a variety of metaphors to try and understand and explain the journey of discipleship. Engaging with faith development styles found in church tradition, this book also offers an important introduction to some of the multiple ways of understanding faith development which predominate today – from the single trajectory approach described by Fowler or Rohr, to the cyclical pattern identified by McLaren. It goes on to suggest a new approach, drawing on the notion of faith development as ‘story’, and progressing to a governing image of faith growth as being akin to a tree grown from seed.

Why are some black people leaving mainstream churches and joining alternative Black Bible Religions? With increasing numbers of Black Brits becoming attracted to Afroasiatic Diasporic Religions such as Rastafari and the Holy Qubtic Church, there is an urgent need to explore the various questions, experiences, and ideas of these individuals.In Black, British and De-churched, Dr Eleasah Louis argues that these trends illuminate significant gaps in mainstream UK church life where there is a failure to respond meaningfully to racism. In response to this challenge, she provides insights to challenge and support evangelism, discipleship, teaching and reconciliation in British churches.

What we believe about God becomes the basis for how we think about ourselves, as leaders and individuals, and how by extension, we think about and treat others. But the relationship between doctrine, practice and power is not always straightforward. The Christian call to humility when applied to people of global majority heritage or those living with disabilities, can simply add to their marginalisation. Servant-leader language has often been tarnished by the many leaders who adopt this as a mantra despite abusing their power in practice.In A Heavy Yoke, Selina Stone lifts the lid on the ways Christian theology can, often unwittingly, uphold existing power structures to the detriment of the flourishing of the whole church. Engaging and timely, the book calls for a more rigorous and critical understanding of Christian theology and how it is shaping Christian leaders, churches and organisations.

Practical Theology Beyond the Empirical Turn offers a sustained, critical interrogation of the turn towards social research and methodologies in Practical Theology which has transformed the discipline over the past forty years. It places the discipline’s current research practices within the context of wider theoretical and methodological developments and the climate disaster. The work maintains that current circumstances require a radical reassessment of the goals and processes of practical theological research and that artistic and creative methods must be part of this transformation. Heather Walton embodies her understanding of the vocation of the discipline in reflective and creative modes of expression. This work is essential reading for all those researching, writing or teaching Practical Theology today.