On Wednesday, 2nd May 2012, a meeting of the network group ‘Theology, Faith and the City’ took place in the ERI Building. This network is developing research on the intersections between faith and the city through a range of perspectives, from the historical and geographical to the theological and practical. Led by Dr Angus Paddison (University of Winchester), and hosted in the Department of Theology and Religion at Birmingham by Dr Karen Wenell and Dr Chris Shanahan, the network explored presentations and topics including ‘Engaging the voices of Somali women in inner-city Manchester’ (Margaret Jones); ‘An ordinary theology of transformation in urban communities’ (Anna Thompson); ‘Theological reflections on desire, fear and punishment’ (Richard Bourne); and ‘Colour, writing, secret places: developing street ‘iconographies’ of precarity as body-of-Christ actions through the urban site’ (Derrick Watson).

Delegates outside the ERI building

L-R: Derrick Watson, Karen Wenell, Anna Thompson, Margaret Jones, Richard Bourne, Angus Paddison