The Wendland-Cook Program Presents: A Dinner with Sharaiz Chaudhry and Victoria Turner

Join the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt on Wednesday, November 16 from 6:30 - 8:00pm at St. Augustine’s Chapel (2308 Vanderbilt Place #D Nashville, TN 37212, see directions here: http://www.staugustineschapel.org/directions) for an evening of presentations by Sharaiz Chaudhry and Victoria Turner, Ph.D. students at the University of Edinburgh. Dinner will be served and there will be time for discussion and conversation on matters of religion, class, and various identities in Europe and the United States. Registration information is below.

Victoria Turner

Victoria Turner will talk about “Discerning the “Good Life”: The Prophetic, Anti-Capitalist Theologies of George Wilkie, Penry Jones, and the Young Industrialists associated with the Iona Community, 1941-1980.” This paper explores the thought and theology of two Scottish pioneers of industrial thought in a context of rising capitalism and dehumanization, drawing from their published pamphlets and small books, and the minutes and meeting notes left in the archive, alongside their impact on and ability to mobilize their younger generation. More information about this paper is below.

Sharaiz Chaudhry

Sharaiz Chaudhry will be presenting “Islam Liberation Theology and the Fight Against Capitalism: British Muslim Activism in the Class Struggle,” engaging how Islam influences the activism of three London-based Muslim organizations. This paper seeks to introduce the issue of class and economic marginalization into the expanding field of Islamic Liberation Theology and speak to the reality of the majority of Muslims in the UK and globally. It also provides a new way of doing theology, giving precedence to those engaged in praxis, over abstract knowledge production. More information about this paper is below.

Register Here!

Discerning the “Good Life”: The Prophetic, Anti-Capitalist Theologies of George Wilkie, Penry Jones, and the Young Industrialists associated with the Iona Community, 1941-1980.

Victoria Turner, PhD Cand. University of Edinburgh.

This talk draws predominantly from papers found in a newly remembered archive held by the Iona Community, in a storage unit in Glasgow. In a box named ‘Plenary Papers 1950-4’, was a 9 page document from the Christian Worker’s League, which was a youth group comprised of young adults working in industrial professions, that was set-up and overseen by the Iona Community. The young adults theologized about their context and formed a document in the style of a status confessionis of how the church, its members, and they themselves as a group, were falling short of following Christ’s vision for the world and God’s love for his children in a context of rising capitalism and dehumanization.

The work of the young adults was supported predominantly by George Wilkie, who became an Iona Community member in 1945 and was the ‘General Advisor’ to the Christian Worker’s League alongside being a minister to a church in an industrial, poverty-stricken area in Glasgow. Penry Jones was also a large influence to the Christian Worker’s League from 1948, with his role as Industrial Secretary to the Iona Community, which he held from the important Glasgow base of Community House. He ran a yearly conference, that involved these young people, that explicitly explored the industrial life, social problems, theology and the church.

This paper explores the thought and theology of these two Scottish pioneers of industrial thought, from their published pamphlets and small books, and the minutes and meeting notes left in the archive, alongside their impact on and ability to mobilize their younger generation.

Islam Liberation Theology and the Fight Against Capitalism: British Muslim Activism in the Class Struggle

Sharaiz Chaudhry, PhD Cand. University of Edinburgh

Islamic Liberation Theology is built on the foundational concept of opting for those on the margins and seeks to emulate God’s preference for the oppressed by using religion to change their material reality. This paper seeks to begin the conversation on economic and class inequality within the field, and answer the question: How do those involved in praxis against class and economic oppression use Islam as a liberative tool in the British context? The urgency of this task cannot be overstated in light of growing inequality, both globally and in the UK, which sees Muslims overwhelmingly placed in poor and vulnerable economic positions.

Taking this material reality as the starting point, this paper focuses on how Islam influences the activism of members of three London-based organisations, Who Is Hussain, Sufra NW London and Nijjor Manush, who are engaged in activities to combat class and economic inequality. Using participant observation and semi-structured interviews, it reveals how religion and praxis interact in the British Muslim context. It illustrates that religious interpretation can repeat mainstream remedies to current economic issues or provide radical and critical alternatives. Additionally, activists provide novel ways to interpret particular verses and hadith in light of their praxis, giving them agency not only as social actors but also interpreters of religion.

This paper primarily seeks to introduce the issue of class and economic marginalisation into the expanding field of Islamic Liberation Theology and speak to the reality of the majority of Muslims in the UK (and indeed globally). However, it also provides a new way of doing theology, giving precedence to those engaged in praxis, over abstract knowledge production. It prioritises changing the material reality of the economically marginalised and aims to understand how religion is used by British Muslim activists involved in the class struggle.