August 4–11, 2024
Keble College, Oxford
Theme: The World is My Parish: Glad Tidings of Salvation in an Age of Crisis
The current age is marked by a host of interconnected global crises. These include widening economic inequity, systemic racism, the collapse of earth systems, the broad yet unequal impact of climate destabilization, political corruption, misogyny, discrimination against LGBTQ persons, and related forms of social violence, psychological distress, and civic instability. Wesleyan and Methodist communities have often drawn impetus and insight for addressing such issues from their core inherited convictions about the nature of salvation and holiness. Encouraged by this precedent, the 15th Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies will take up the work of public theological, biblical, historical, moral, and pastoral reflection on matters of sin and salvation, attentive to the distinctive resources of Wesleyan-Methodist traditions, for the sake of the threatened world God so loves. Topics might address questions like the following: What resources and challenges does Scripture provide concerning these crises? What are the precedents and resources in the early Wesleyan movement and later Methodist traditions for addressing such issues? What are the tasks, aims, and possibilities for a distinctly Wesleyan-Methodist public theology today? How might the doctrines of soteriology and holiness, including understandings and practices of atonement, inform broader public efforts to dismantle the intersecting realities of racism, sexism, and classism? What is the mission of the church and how are we to teach, proclaim, worship, and witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ amidst the disruptions of a rapidly changing climate?
Working Group Descriptions – With Specific Call for Papers
The Oxford Institute 