Free to Believe Reading Party 2025 - Holy Anarchy: Dismantling domination, embodying community, loving strangeness
Tuesday 17 June 2025 — Friday 20 June 2025
Booking deadline extended to 30th May
- Start Date:
- Tuesday 17th June 2025
- Start Time:
- 12:00AM
- Location:
- Luther King House, Manchester
- Email:
- bookings@freetobelieve.org.uk
- Speakers:
- Graham Adams
- Host:
- Free To Believe
- Cost:
- £375
Leader: Graham Adams
For the last 12 years, Graham has been the Tutor in Mission Studies, World Christianity, and Religious Diversity at Northern College within the Luther King Centre – with a particular interest in how questions of Empire affect each of the three parts of his teaching role. Before that, he was minister of a Congregational church in Manchester. Ecumenically, Graham has participated in several events and theological consultations organised by the Council for World Mission and is a member of CTBI’s Inter Faith Theological Advisory Group. Graham also organises the college’s annual worship conference, being interested in how worship and mission affect each other, and is a hymnwriter.
Holy Anarchy is a different way of thinking about the kingdom of God. It particularly aims to disrupt systems of Empire which dominate us, often unnoticed – both in society and in our own religious beliefs and practice. It involves a different approach to God’s power, as ‘awesome weakness’, and to the role of the Church, as ‘awkward body of Christ’. It speaks to these times of tension and uncertainty, offering hope – but not necessarily hope as we know it. And it can shape worship in which we look to this alternative horizon, humbly but audaciously. It is an adventure – come and join the journey!
What is a Reading Party? The honest answer is that they vary considerably, but - at least in Free to Believe terms - consist of a smallish (smaller than a conference, anyway) group of people who have read the selected book and are interested in talking about it together. Depending on the leader of the group, there may be relatively formal talks about topics covered, group discussions of issues raised, informal conversations and opportunities to ask and answer questions. A few years ago, we were fortunate to have the author, Richard Holloway, with us as we considered one of his books. Many of us found that particularly interesting. If you enjoy reading, and enjoy talking about books, a Reading Party could be for you