Power and authority in Christian Ethics

SSCE Postgraduate Seminar

4th September 2015, Westcott House

Power & Authority

• Dunamis and exousia• Forms of legitimation• Established & dynamic authority: Corbyn vs the rest• Personal authority: Mark's Gospel & Seb Coe• Divine authority?• Christian Ethics – it’s never easy.

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The Church - power and powerlessness

• Introducing ourselves - what we do• Who cares what bishops & synods say?• Does diffused power mean a confused message?• Who speaks for the church(es)?• Stronger together? Ecumenical and interfaith power.

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Minorities, margins and the mainstream

• Is 'vulnerable' the most over-used word?• The church & the authority of the local• What did Jesus do with the marginalised?• Is it possible for capitalism to do that?• Is an established church a contradiction in terms? Or is

it a bonus to have the church as an estate of the realm?

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Ethnic diversity

• Can you apply labels like 'minority','marginalised' , ‘ethnic food’ and ‘ethnic dress’ without already colluding in exclusion?

• Who has the true authority here?• Why does a white middle class dominated Church

have a guilt complex?

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Film

‘I too am C of E’

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Power & authority: Justice issues in minority concerns

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Social and Economic System

Education

Health

Employment

Community

Housing

Criminal Justice

Power & authority: law & order, policing the margins

Is 'marginalisation' a euphemism for exclusion?

Let's examine the mechanics of exclusion ...

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The physical institutions of exclusion

• Prisons• YOIs. (Secure colleges?)• STCs & SCHs• Immigration Removal Centres, STHFs, Removals• Police custody• Secure hospitals• Surveillance - CCTV, tagging, communications data

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The unseen institutions of exclusion

• The outsourcing of state control, & its limits• Identities and the end of privacy• Mental health labelling• Benefits Street• School exclusion• The demonisation of unhealthy lifestyles - the sin of

obesity• And then there's migration ...

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Migration - the institutionalisation of exclusion

• Almost everyone an agent of the state: banks, DVLA, landlords, GPs - even vicars!

• Barbed-wire Britain & the EU.• Legal aid & appeals cut to the bone• Shrinking support for those applying or refused

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Power, minorities and the utility of fear

• Terrorism• The swarm• Knives and guns • And always and above all, racialisation

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So what are the takeaway points on the Christian ethics of power and authority?

Eh?

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