Book by Paul Weller
Hizmet in Transitions: European Developments of a Turkish Muslim-Inspired Movement
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (2022)
RRP: £39.99. The Full text is also freely available Open Access to download
Baptist Christians may have come across one of the fifteen branches of the Dialogue Society that are active in England and Wales. The Society is part of the Turkish origin Muslim-inspired Hizmet (a Turkish word meaning service) movement which is very much open to, and present in, inter-faith dialogue, including with Christians. This book about the movement is informed by a research project conducted by Paul Weller that was based on a review of relevant previously published literature together with primary research interviews conducted with Hizmet participants from across Europe (including the UK) and beyond. It analyses and evaluates the past, present, and possible future European trajectories of this movement.
Fethullah Gülen’s Teaching and Practice: Inheritance, Context and Interactive Development
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (2022)
RRP: £39.99. The full text is
also freely available Open Access to download
Muhammad Fethullah Gülen is the Turkish origin Muslim scholar who inspired the Hizmet movement (see book listed above). He both practiced, and also encouraged Muslims more broadly, to engage in inter-faith dialogue, including with Christians. The book is informed by a research project conducted by Paul Weller that was based on a review of relevant previously published literature together with primary research interviews with Fethullah Gülen, his close associates, and others in the Hizmet movement. It examines and discusses the development of his teaching and practice in its interaction with the Hizmet movement.
Religion and Belief-Related Harassment and Hate Incidents in Higher Education: A Research and Evaluation Report
Publisher: Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University (2020)
RRP: This is not for sale, but the
full text is freely available Open Access to download
Many Baptist congregations will have members who are either students or members of staff who are studying or working in higher education institutions, or ministers who are chaplains in such. Co-authored with Kristin Aune, Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, Jane Osmond and Lucy Peacock, this research and evaluation report shares the results of a Coventry University research and evaluation project that was funded by the Office for Students (OfS). The report is informed by the results of two student surveys, the first of which aimed to understand student attitudes to, direct experiences of, and experiences of witnessing hate incidents related to religion or belief religious or subscribe to a particular belief system; while the second aimed to assess the impact of the wider project of which the surveys were a part, including the introduction of new initiatives to raise the visibility of religion or belief hate crime and the reporting of it.
Tackling Religion or Belief-Related Harassment and Hate Incidents: A Guide for Higher Education Providers
Publisher: Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University (2020).
RRP: This is not for sale, but the
full text is freely available Open Access to download
Many Baptist congregations will have members who are either students or members of staff who are studying or working in higher education institutions, or whose ministers may be involved in chaplaincy to such. Co-authored with Kristin Aune, Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, Jane Osmond and Lucy Peacock, this booklet offers research-informed practical guidance which will be of interest, and hopefully of practical help, to staff, students and chaplains involved in higher education.
Classroom Challenges for Teaching About and Addressing Anti-Semitism in the OSCE Region
Publisher: University of Derby (2019)
RRP: This is not for sale, but the
full text is freely available Open Access to download
Many Baptist congregations will have members who are schoolteachers. Co-authored with I. Foster, this research report was conducted for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe. It is informed by primary research that was conducted 2016-18 through focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, observations carried out in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Moldova, Poland and the United States of America. It also provides historical background; recent statistics and a review of other published evidence about anti-Semitism in each of the countries studied. Based on this evidence, in relation to school classroom contexts, it goes on to identify a number of key challenges in relation to anti-Semitism and offers some recommendations for how to go about addressing these challenges, many of which would also be applicable in the UK and other countries beyond those in which the research was originally conducted.
Leadership and Rural Multi-Church Ministry
Publisher: University of Derby (2017)
RRP: This is not for sale, but the
full text is freely available Open Access to download
While the majority of local Baptist churches are in urban or suburban contexts, some are in rural areas. Co-authored with Jane Artess, A. Sahar, and Siobhan Neary, this research report was commissioned by the Arthur Rank Trust, which is a national ecumenical charity that resources, trains, and advocates for rural Christians, rural churches and the communities they serve. Through an in-depth literature review; semi-structured interviews with mainly Church of England, Methodist and United Reformed church ordained ministers and lay people; and a mapping of the available training provision, the report identifies the leadership challenges and opportunities arising for Christian ministry and witness within the rural multi-church context, many of which will also be applicable in Baptist contexts.
Violent Extremism: Naming, Framing and Challenging
Publisher: The Dialogue Society (2015)
RRP: This is not for sale, but the
full text is freely available Open Access to download
The Baptist Christian tradition has always challenged the use of violence in the furtherance of religious objectives, whether by Christians or other than Christians. Co-authored with Emma-Jane Harris and Victoria Bisset, this booklet recognises the serious challenge posed by “violent extremism”, especially when informed by religion. In recent times this has perhaps most often been associated with Islam and Muslims. While acknowledging that Islam has indeed been invoked to justify terror, this booklet sets out to challenge the simplistic framing of such issues in ways which conflate “violent extremism” with Islam and Muslims. And in doing so, it highlights the importance of alternative Muslim narratives rooted in a radically different understanding and practice of Islam.
Religion or Belief, Discrimination and Equality: Britain in Global Contexts
Publisher: Bloomsbury (2013)
RRP: £37.99
Both out of their own historical experience as a Christian minority group, and also because of their theological and ecclesiologically informed convictions about the importance of freedom of religion and belief, Christians in the Baptist tradition have always been concerned about religion and belief discrimination and equality. Co-authored with Kingsley Purdam, Nazila Ghanea, and Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, this book summarises empirical research results from fieldwork interviews, focus groups and a questionnaire survey carried out in England and Wales during a major UK Research Council funded project (2010-2013) led by Paul Weller. Its analysis of these results presents a framework for understanding continuity and change in the reported experience (including among Christians) of unfair treatment on the basis of religion or belief in the decade since Paul Weller led the first UK government commissioned empirical research project on Religious Discrimination in England and Wales that was conducted 1999-2001.
Religious Discrimination in Britain: A Review of Research Evidence, 2000-2010
Publisher: Equality and Human Rights Commission (2011).
RRP: This is not for sale, but the
full text is freely available Open Access to download
Both out of their own historical experience as a Christian minority group, and also because of their theological and ecclesiologically informed convictions about the importance of freedom of religion and belief, Christians in the Baptist tradition have always been concerned about religion and belief discrimination and equality. Commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, this report written by Paul Weller is of a desk-based review of research on religious discrimination in Britain over the decade 2000-2010. Its aims were to: identify and review quantitative and qualitative evidence of religious discrimination; any evidence about whether religious discrimination is increasing or decreasing; any differences in evidence between England, Wales and Scotland; ‘Islamophobia’ as a frame of reference for discrimination against Muslims; and any gaps in existing research and statistical evidence.
Religion and Belief in Higher Education: The Experiences of Staff and Students
Publisher: Equality Challenge Unit (2011).
Full Text Open Access
Many Baptist congregations will have members who are either students or members of staff who are studying or working in higher education institutions, or ministers who are involved in chaplaincy in such. Co-authored with Tristram Hooley and Nicki Moore, this is the report of research that was commissioned by the Equality Challenge Unit, the results of the report are based on responses from 3,077 staff and 3,935 students to a survey; and a number of institutional case-studies, focus groups and interviews. The report focuses on the themes of participation and access; religious observance; discrimination and harassment; and good relations. It presents a number of recommendations and identifies where the sector needs to undertake further work. It also poses reflective questions that students, staff and chaplains can use to interrogate and evaluate the provision and approaches with regard to religion and belief that exist in their own institutions.
A Mirror for our Times: ‘The Rushdie Affair’ and the Future of Multiculturalism
Publisher: Continuum (2009)
RRP: £34.99
“The Satanic Verses” controversy (which started in September 2008) was one of the most iconic controversies of the early twenty-first century, presenting major challenge to a range of social and religious actors in terms of the future viability of a peaceful multi-cultural and multi-faith society. This book by Paul Weller, draws on his doctoral research around this. It outlines and identifies the key events, arguments and positions taken up (among others, by Christian Churches and groups) during the first two years of that controversy as a lens through which to focus on the ongoing challenges posed to people of all faiths and none when living in contexts marked by a contested relationship between religion and secularity; radical difference and freedom of expression; and the threats posed by religiously informed violence.
Religious Diversity in the UK: Contours and Issues
Publisher: Continuum (2008)
RRP: £42.99
In order to be in a position to bear relevant Christian witness in contemporary society, it is important to understand its context. This book sought to provide a reliable overview of the diversity of the UK’s religious landscape, informed by examples taken from Paul Weller’s own research and professional practice. Referring also to other key sources, it takes a “case-study” based approach to some of the major social and religious debates that arise from such diversity including demographic and socio-economic challenges arising from the Census; matters relating to places of worship; issues of hatred, respect and freedom of expression; governance and civil society; debates around religion in education; as well as of religious discrimination and equal opportunities. Each chapter includes tasks and questions for discussion which lend themselves to group study and engagement, including in local church groups.
Review of the Evidence Base on Faith Communities
Publisher: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (2006)
RRP: This is not for sale, but the
full text is freely available Open Access to download.
Co-authored with James Beckford, Richard Gale, David Owen and Ceri Peach, this report reviewed the evidence base relating to the demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of especially the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities, as well as the likely future trends for these communities, particularly in relation to strategic priorities of the then Office for the Deputy Prime Minister in terms of: Housing Supply and Demand; Decent Places to Live; Tackling Disadvantage; Delivering Better Services; and Promoting the Development of the English Regions. In doing so, it discussed the bearing of this evidence on the relationship between faith and other equalities strands in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disability in ways that should be of help to Baptist congregations in better understanding their overall religion or belief context when working in areas characterised by substantial Hindu, Muslim and Sikh communities.
God, Jesus and Dialogue: The Beach Lectures for 2005
Publisher: Centre for the Study of Religious and Cultural Diversity, Newbold College (2006)
RRP: Currently out of print
Based on a series of three lectures given at the Adventist Newbold College in 2005, this booklet by Paul Weller argues that the English words “God” and “Jesus” have become conceptual magnets for a range of historical assumptions and presumptions that make the possibility of embracing dialogical living in “the Way” of Jesus more difficult than it needs to be. It therefore suggests that, using the Aramaic forms of “Yeshua” and “Alaha” could help in shaking traditional debates out of their more usual tramlines such that the question of the inter-relationship between “Yeshua” and “Alaha” does not present a set of problems to be solved but a liberative opportunity to be explored within the kind of living of ‘the Way’ that took place in the crucible of many faiths and cultures that was first century Palestine.
Time for a Change: Reconfiguring Religion, State and Society
T & T Clark (2005)
RRP: £74.99
Historically speaking, the Baptist Christian tradition in England has challenged the ecclesiology of an Established Church both on theological grounds, and because of the religion and belief inequalities it symbolises and reinforces in society. In this book, Paul Weller draws both on that tradition of theological challenge but also deploys empirical evidence to argue that continuation of the establishment is socially and politically inadequate to the religious, social and political landscape of twenty-first century England. In looking to the possibility of the emergence of what he calls a new “socio-religious contract”, the author argues that Baptist tradition’s commitment to religious freedom and to a voluntaryist ecclesiology offer ecclesiological and theological resources that can be creatively translated into a number of socially and politically creative propositions capable of gathering support from across a wider range of individuals, communities and groups.
Religious Discrimination in England and Wales
Publisher: Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, The Home Office (2001)
RRP: This is not for sale, but the
full text is freely available Open Access download.
Both out of their own historical experience as a Christian minority group, and also because of their theological and ecclesiologically informed convictions about the importance of freedom of religion and belief, Christians in the Baptist tradition have always been concerned about religion and belief discrimination and equality. Co-authored with Alice Feldman and Kingsley Purdam, this report was based on the first ever empirical research commissioned by the UK government Home Office (2001) to assess the evidence of religious discrimination in England and Wales; to describe its patterns; to indicate the extent to which religious discrimination overlaps with racial discrimination; and to identify the broad range of policy options available for dealing with religious discrimination. Its results, from across over 20 different religious groups, were based on 156 local fieldwork interviews and meetings, involving around 318 individuals from religious organisations and secular agencies in the public, private and voluntary sectors and 628 completed postal questionnaires.
The Multi-Faith Dimensions of Sanctuary in the United Kingdom
Publisher: University of Kent Centre for the Study of Study of Religion and Society (1987)
RRP: Currently out of print
This booklet explores then emergent and growing phenomenon in UK of the 1980s, of what was known “the sanctuary movement”, in the context of which many local Christian places of worship (including some Baptist churches) became places in which people under threat of deportation from the UK took shelter, living for various lengths of time with the support of local congregations. But this booklet also sets that phenomenon in the context of a wider multi-faith context in which also numbers of Muslim mosques, Hindu mandirs, and Sikh gurdwaras also offered such refugee.
Sanctuary: The Beginning of a Movement?
The Runnymede Trust (1987)
RRP: Currently out of print
This booklet explores the phenomenon of “sanctuary” in support of those who were under threat of being deported from the UK, setting this specific phenomenon in the context of the emergence, at the time, also of a large number of locally organised anti-deportation campaigns in support of particular individuals and families. The phenomenon of “Sanctuary” included what the booklet called “hidden sanctuary”, in which individuals and families were concealed by private individuals and families, including by Christians. But there was also what it called “public sanctuary” in which (especially, but not only) Christian places of worship (including Baptist churches) became a focus for the exposure of, and political challenge to, what was seen as an injustice that was happening to an individual or family concerned.
The Problems of the White Ethnic Majority
Publisher: ONE/CARAF Publications (1985)
RRP: Currently out of print
The booklet draws on Paul Weller’s self-critical reflections arising out of his experience of working (1982-87), as a white “Community Relations Officer” for the Christian for the Greater Manchester Ecumenical Council, having in that role responsibilities for matters of inter-faith relations and of racial justice. Out of that experience the booklet argues that white Christian reflection on our multi-racial society all too easily slips into the trap of a “Good Samaritan” syndrome in focusing on what white Christians can do to help the problems being faced by black people when those of us who are white Christians (including white Baptists) ought to be wrestling with some of the problems which arise from our being members of a white ethnic majority.