
Chris ShannahanCoventry University | CU
Chris Shannahan
Doctor of Philosophy
About
24
Publications
5,131
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Citations
Introduction
Chris is Associate Professor in Political Theology at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University. Chris was a lecturer in theology at the University of Manchester and a postdoctoral researcher in the Theology and Religion Department at the University of Birmingham. Chris' research focuses on theology and poverty, theology and 'race' and faith-based political activism. His entitled 'Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty and Politics in the 21st century city'.
Additional affiliations
September 2015 - present
Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University
Position
- Fellow
September 2013 - August 2015
September 2009 - December 2012
Publications
Publications (24)
Urban theology affirms the importance of context - notably the place of the city - in theological reflection. However, it has often been confined to particular contexts or theological camps and thus failed to engage with the fluidity of contemporary urban societies. 'Voices from the Borderland' presents an overview of urban theology, arguing that t...
This article explores the impact that the experience of deep-seated social exclusion amongst unemployed white young men on a large urban housing estate in Birmingham, UK has on the ways in which they talk about identity, meaning and ‘belief’. Arising from detailed ethnographic fieldwork, the article forwards an analysis of current debates about you...
The rising importance of community organizing in the US and more recently in Britain has coincided with the developing significance of social movements and identity politics, debates about citizenship, social capital,
civil society, and religion in the public sphere. At a time when participation in formal political process and membership of faith g...
This article draws on the culturally transgressive encounter between the Canaanite woman and Jesus in Matthew 15 to consider the nature of social space, diversity and social exclusion on urban housing estates. The article re-frames key emphases within liberation theology, arguing that urban liberation theologies need to be characterised by the prio...
This article, which arises from three years of ethnographic fieldwork, explores the negotiation of faith, place and social identity amongst British-Muslim youth in one inner-city community in Birmingham, UK. Narratives drawn from fieldwork are brought into a critical dialogue with theoretical discourse about the nature of culture, the built urban e...
This chapter examines Christian engagement in tackling poverty in the UK over the last decade. We draw on three years of research which included interviews with 16 national UK Church leaders, an online survey with over 100 regional Church leaders, and six ethnographic case studies in Birmingham, London, and Manchester. We examine the different ways...
The ‘Age of Austerity’ has ruptured the social fabric of contemporary Britain. Arising from our three-year Life on the Breadline project, this article represents the first fieldwork-led analysis of the multidimensional nature of austerity-age poverty by academic theologians in the UK. The article analyses the impact that austerity has had on Christ...
Drawing on qualitative fieldwork data this chapter analyses the causes and impact of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, arguing that it should be seen as a form of unresolved trauma and an example of structural violence resulting from systemic inequality and austerity-age poverty. The chapter explores the response of Christian communities to the fire, p...
This detailed research report for policymakers arises from the 3 year ESRC funded 'Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty and Politics in the 21st century' project led by Chris Shannahan between 2018 and 2021. The report summarises our methodology, fieldwork findings from 6 ethnographic case studies, national Church leader interviews and an o...
Drawing on a range of methodologies, editors George D. Chryssides and Stephen E. Gregg shift attention from normative textual and doctrinal matters to issues of materiality and everyday life in Christianity. This handbook is structured in four parts, which include coverage of the following aspects of Christianity: sacred space and objects, cyber-Ch...
Whilst ethnic and religious diversity in the postcolonial city is now normative rather than exotic, difference is increasingly demonised and presented as a threat to social cohesion. Multiculturalism, once a vibrant concept, has largely been appropriated by the political right as a synonym for ethnic and religious segregation. Against this backdrop...
Faith groups are in the front line of the struggle to defeat poverty in breadline Britain. Given their roots in local communities Churches and Christian NGOs are well-placed to challenge economic policies that have resulted in the spiraling of food poverty, homelessness, personal debt and child poverty. By framing poverty as a political choice, a f...
This short article focuses on the phenomenon of 'holiday hunger' amongst children in the UK and on the wider rise of child poverty during the current 'age of austerity'. The article suggests that themes form Christian theology can help to attack poverty at its roots.
This report describes and evaluates extent to which the schools linking work of The Linking Network in more than 20 local authority areas across England offers us an effective model of community building and intercultural dialogue.
This paper grapples with an unresolved tension – twenty-first century Britain is indelibly multicultural and yet diversity is increasingly depicted as a threat to social cohesion. A society characterised by superdiverse cities where some suggest that ‘multiculturalism has failed’. On the basis of an analysis of three dominant theoretical and ideolo...
'Gallons of ink have already been spilt celebrating or mourning the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. As the dust begins to settle on the referendum campaign, the nation appears fractured. In such uncertain times neighbours seem to have become strangers. How can we heal a fractured Britain?'
https://theconversation.com/we-must-stop-living...
This article emerges from many years work in diverse inner city communities. It suggests that urban Britain will be understood properly, and public theology engaged fully with contemporary society, by seriously exploring the normative and contested nature of difference. The article critiques the view that diversity poses a threat to communal life a...