Robin Thomson on Dementia and the Response of Churches

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter (or thereabouts) and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Robin Thomson, ‘Dementia and the Response of Churches’, Cambridge Papers 35, 2 (June 2026).

Here is the summary:

‘This paper highlights medical, social and spiritual challenges which our society, and church, faces in light of the growing number of people living with dementia. After considering the need to complement medical care with person-centred holistic care, through relationships characterised by love, the paper surveys some key features of a biblical framework to undergird our care for those living with dementia. While a national conversation about the provision of adult social care has begun through the work of the Casey Commission and others, this paper is primarily concerned with the contribution that local churches can make: caring for church members, supporting caregivers and building partnerships in the community.’

Kirsten Birkett on Class and Evangelicalism in Britain

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter (or thereabouts) and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Kirsten Birkett, ‘Class and evangelicalism in Britain’, Cambridge Papers 35, 1 (March 2026).

Here is the summary:

‘Class in Britain is easy to understand in broad outline but very complicated in practice. This paper surveys ways in which class can be understood in twenty-first-century Britain, and some of the biblical material concerning class and wealth. It identifies a problem for British evangelicals: their evangelism is not reaching the working classes. It is suggested that there is a need to challenge existing evangelical church culture as well as making a concerted effort to plant more churches for working-class people.’

Julian Rivers on the European Convention on Human Rights

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter (or thereabouts) and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Julian Rivers, ‘Should the UK leave the European Convention on Human Rights?’, Cambridge Papers 34, 4 (December 2025).

Here is the summary:

‘The proposal that the UK should leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is motivated at present mainly by the view that it represents an obstacle to the control of irregular migration. This paper argues that the ECHR was influenced historically by Christian political convictions, and that there are still strong grounds for Christians to support it. Far from being an obstacle, it provides a humane safeguard, offering valuable, if limited, protection against authoritarian state tendencies across Europe. Problems in its judicial implementation need to be addressed – not by leaving, but by more critical engagement.’

Jeremy Peckham on AI Chatbots

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter (or thereabouts) and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Jeremy Peckham, ‘Living Virtuously with AI Chatbots’, Cambridge Papers 34, 3 (September 2025).

Here is the summary:

‘AI chatbots have become part of our everyday lives, whether on our smartphones, in the workplace, or even on a church website. They are an impressive simulacrum of human cognition and their seeming endless knowledge, authoritative outputs and friendly behaviour is alluring and sucks us into deeper engagement. This paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of AI chatbot technology, how it may shape us and how we can live virtuously as Christians with these applications and avoid being nudged into unhealthy habits by our vices.’

Tony Watkins on the Old Testament Prophets and Human Flourishing

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter (or thereabouts) and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Tony Watkins, ‘The Old Testament Prophets and Human Flourishing’, Cambridge Papers (July 2025).

Here is the summary:

‘The Old Testament prophets spoke to a world craving meaning, much like ours today. They called out Israel’s wrongs – broken relationships with God, people, nature and themselves – while presenting a vision of ‘shalom’: true flourishing. They showed how sin disrupts life and how God longs to restore it. Their words resonate with questions of flourishing in the contemporary world, especially Charles Taylor’s understanding of ‘fullness’. In a Christian reading of the prophets, they point to Jesus as the answer to our deepest desires for connection and wholeness in a fragmented world. This paper invites the Church to draw more deeply on the prophets and their message to commend the gospel in an age when many look for ‘fullness’ but cannot find it.’

David McIlroy on Abuse Within Evangelical Churches and Organisations

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter (or thereabouts) and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

David McIlroy, ‘Abuse Within Evangelical Churches and Organisations: Addressing the Vulnerabilities’, Cambridge Papers (April 2025).

Here is the summary:

‘The responses of evangelical churches and organisations to allegations of abuse have been vitiated by five factors: wrong expectations, wrong priorities, a wrong reading of biblical stories, a wrong approach to sin and crime, and a wrong view of love and justice. First, evangelical institutions have fallen prey to the cult of the charismatic leader. Second, when abuse has been exposed, it has been dealt with privately and/or with a focus on rehabilitating the offender rather than vindicating the victims and preventing others from being victimised. Third, the ugly truths of sexual and other forms of abuse with which the Bible deals have been replaced by narratives which protect the powerful. Fourth, the reality that we are all sinners has been used to obscure the truth that some sins are deeply destructive and amount to crimes meriting public action. Fifth, love has been wrongly separated from justice.’

Kristi Mair on Dark Spiritual Encounters

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter (or thereabouts) and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Krisztina Mair, ‘Dark Spiritual Encounters and Hidden Dangers: The Enduring Wisdom of Classical Theology’, Cambridge Papers (January 2025).

Here is the summary:

‘This paper seeks to provide a brief spiritual topography of contemporary dark spiritual practices, demonstrate an historical and theological expectation for encounters with evil, and provide an overview of the benefits of theological retrieval for the life of the Church and her witness. Three contemporary objections to Christian spirituality are considered and possible responses are provided.’

Andrew Perrett and Louise Robinson on Chronic Pain

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Andrew Perrett and Louise Robinson, ‘A Christian Response to Chronic Pain’, Cambridge Papers 33, 3 (September 2024).

Here is the summary:

‘The chances are that you know someone who lives with chronic pain, whether you are aware of it or not. Chronic pain is a specific type of suffering which is invisible, unpredictable and long-lasting. We discuss how this presents a particular set of challenges and hurdles to the sufferer, their loved ones and the wider church family, and we also share a personal example of living with chronic pain. Chronic pain demands a response; here we seek to bring biblical light to help people of faith who are seeking to respond well.’

Colin Chapman on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Colin Chapman, ‘The Israel-Hamas War and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict’, Cambridge Papers 33, 2 (July 2024).

Here is the summary:

‘Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s response have pushed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the top of the international agenda and created an existential crisis for Israel. This paper attempts to explain the background to these events by surveying the history of Israel’s dealings with Gaza since 1948. After asking whether there should be a distinctively Christian approach to the conflict, it explores the possibilities for a just and peaceful resolution of the conflict.’

David Sandifer on the Ethic of Innocence

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

David Sandifer, ‘The Ethic of Innocence: Lessons From Early Nineteenth-Century Christian Moral Reformers’, Cambridge Papers 33, 1 (March 2024).

Here is the summary:

‘Apart from costume dramas, Victorianism has on the whole not aged well. In particular, its moral posture is often associated with rigidity and propriety, not to mention hypocrisy. This paper will seek to retrieve for closer examination one aspect of ‘Victorian values’ – the ‘ethic of innocence’ – which animated Christian reformers of the Wilberforce generation, and motivated many of their efforts. It will further attempt to draw some lessons from this mentality for Christians seeking to life faithful lives in the often bewildering cultural context of the twenty-first century.’

Paul Mills on the Future of Money

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Paul Mills, ‘Cashing Out? Biblical Thoughts on the Future of Money’, Cambridge Papers 32, 4 (December 2023).

Here is the summary:

‘Monetary systems are innovating rapidly yet also losing the public’s trust. Given that trust (and government solvency) are critical to the survival of banks, recent bank failures may presage the transition to a new monetary paradigm. The Bible’s pointers to the features of a desirable monetary system are used to assess the merits or otherwise of the challengers to the status quo – notably cryptocurrencies and Central Bank Digital Currencies. The latter, in particular, raise a number of concerns regarding governmental surveillance and control.’

Keith R. Fox on Integrity in Scientific Research

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Keith R. Fox, ‘Integrity in Scientific Research: A Christian Perspective’, Cambridge Papers 32, 3 (September 2023).

Here is the summary:

‘Misconduct and a lack of personal integrity is increasingly detected within scientific research, as it is in many other areas of public life. Examples include fraud, data manipulation, bias, conflicts of interest and plagiarism. This can lead to public mistrust of science, as well as being a waste of resources. This paper considers some of the causes of the problem and describes how scientists should follow principles of honesty, humility and truth-seeking, values that are integral to Christian ethics. These principles apply not just to scientific research but to all aspects of human endeavour and our approach to research should be the same as the principles that govern every aspect of Christian behaviour.’

Roger Abbott on Pastoral Care for the Common Good

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Roger Abbott, ‘Pastoral care for the common good: How the Church can respond better in the next pandemic’, Cambridge Papers 32, 2 (June 2023).

Here is the summary:

‘Noting that the UK Church’s response to the Covid pandemic was disappointing when compared with her response to disease-related outbreaks of earlier centuries, this paper reflects on the issue of pastoral care by the Church both for congregations and the general public. Requisite pastoral care should have a common grace focus, where carers accept the risks to their own lives, engage collaboratively with the scientific community, yet are also prepared to think and act prophetically. Finally, the paper calls for a way forward that takes seriously the lessons to be learned from the coronavirus pandemic in order to prepare for a more effective response when the next pandemic arrives. The paper closes with an important call for the Christian Church to be at the national policy-making table.’

Jennifer George and Rachel Siow Robertson on Joy and Digital Technology

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Jennifer George and Rachel Siow Robertson, ‘Designed for joy? Reflections on the Creation and Use of Digital Technology’, Cambridge Papers 32, 1 (March 2023).

Here is the summary:

‘As digital technologies become embedded into our places of work, education, and leisure, many people have voiced concerns about their adverse effects. Daily technology seems often to either drain our pleasure or promote pleasures which are detrimental. This reveals a need to distinguish between pleasures which support or diminish wellbeing when it comes to the design and use of technology. We argue that a theological and psychology-informed notion of joy can help do this, informing goals for the design and use of digital technology.’

Patrick Parkinson on Loneliness

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here):

Patrick Parkinson, ‘The Loneliness of the Digitally Connected’, Cambridge Papers 31, 4 (December 2022).

Here is the summary:

‘Loneliness used to be identified as an issue particularly for the very elderly who have lost partners and friends through death; but now the loneliest age group in our community is the under-30s. These are the digital natives who typically have a large number of connections with people through social media. This paper explores the problem of loneliness in western societies, particularly among young people, and the reasons why digital connections with others are insufficient to satisfy the human need for relationships. Finally, it suggests some of the implications for the work of churches in pastoral care and outreach.’

Matthew Ferguson on the Ethics of Childbearing

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here), this one by Matthew Ferguson:

Matthew Ferguson, ‘Too many people on Planet Earth? Family size and new ethical considerations for Christians’, Cambridge Papers 31, 2 (June 2022).

Here is the summary:

‘Having children is being regarded increasingly in Western societies as an optional lifestyle choice; for some, an irresponsible one at that. Climate anxieties, pursuit of personal happiness, and disillusionment with human beings’ place on earth have contributed to a cultural shift away from family and children. Population decline looms in much of the world, with potentially drastic economic and relational consequences. This paper considers how the church can respond – and remain distinct – in a world which is turning its back on childrearing as a source of blessing and hope.’

Christopher Watkin on Christianity and Critical Race Theory

Cambridge Papers are published once a quarter and address a wide range of topics, offering ‘Christian reflection on contemporary issues’.

The latest paper is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded here), this one by Christopher Watkin:

Christopher Watkin, ‘Christianity and Critical Race Theory’, Cambridge Papers 31, 2 (June 2022).

Here is the summary:

‘For some Christians critical race theory is part of a dangerous “woke” agenda threatening the church; for others it holds valuable insights into biblical themes of justice and reconciliation. This paper takes a careful look at critical race theory through the work of Derrick Bell, one of its founders, before contrasting it to classical liberalism, which is often seen as the default alternative. It is argued that the biblical pattern of creation, fall, redemption and consummation stakes out a position on race, oppression and freedom that is different to both critical race theory and liberalism, from which they both borrow, which they both distort, and which alone offers concrete hope for the future of race relations.’