Centre for Theology and Public Issues

The Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI) is a research centre based in New College, the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. Founded in 1984 by Duncan B. Forrester, CTPI promotes Christian theological reflection and research on important public issues. CTPI research is global in orientation and rooted in the tradition of public theology. Issues are examined by bringing together theologians, social scientists, church leaders, policy makers and the public. CTPI has particularly close relations with the Scottish Parliament and other institutions of Scottish public life.

CTPI was created to carry on New College's long tradition of public engagement. The founding director of CTPI, Duncan Forrester, reflected in the mid-1990s on the purpose of the Centre:

Theology and the problems of the world have tended to drift apart, as theology has sometimes seen the academic world as a refuge from relevance. Nor is it any longer possible to expect a magisterial theology which descends from above to interpret and resolve the world's problems, more or less on its own. We clearly need to develop a theology which is neither deductive nor inductive, but which grows out of a dialectic between the tradition and the praxis of those who are involved in endeavoring to transform the situation.

CTPI was intended to foster such dialectical theological research. Forrester goes on to describe CPTI's working method as a three-step process:

Forrester stepped down from the Centre in 2000, handing over his directorship to Will Storrar. Storrar is now the Director of the Centre of Theological Inquiry, in Princeton. Whilst at Edinburgh, he founded the Global Network for Public Theology, which connects academic research centres in public theology from around the world. Subsequent directors include Cecelia Clegg and Jolyon Mitchell.

Since its founding, CTPI research has resulted in a number of conferences and publications. Topics have included poverty and welfare, justice and the penal system, peace and international security, suicide and public health, finance and ethics, national identity, and devolution and citizenship.

CTPI is currently launching a three-year research project on Peacebuilding through Media Arts. In addition to producing scholarly research on the relationship between peace, violence and religion in media arts, the major aim of the project is to increase public awareness of peacebuilding through arts events, workshops, lectures and seminars. The project is funded by the Binks Trust, and begins in 2011 with an art exhibition, Shadows of the Divine. The exhibition, which runs from 14 May-11 June, showcases select pieces from the Methodist Art Collection alongside works from Scottish and Scotland-based artists. These original artworks are displayed with one of Scotland's rare first editions of the 1611 King James Version of the Bible, combining historic words and artistic images in the 400th anniversary year of its publication. According to the exhibition organizers, King James sought to bring together conflicting religious groups through a new translation of the Bible. The exhibition aims to explore how pictorial and literary creations can represent and contribute to the search for peace.

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