Madeleine Pennington

Absolutely delighted to have stumbled on a new review of 'Quakers, Christ and the Enlightenment' including this line, which made my day. Thank you for your encouragement @MillerJayD.

Absolutely delighted that Motherhood vs the Machine has been shortlisted for a Sandford St Martin award! I learned so much making the podcast, and especially loved the range of different disciplines that had something to say on the topic. Do have a listen tinyurl.com/44f5y694

What do Brits actually think about acceptability of religious practice in public spaces? Most are permissive on open religious ceremonies & split on public evangelism. Where Britons tend to object is exclusionary practice or infringement on others freedom to public areas/spaces.

Happy #SocialPrescribingDay Today we note how social prescribing connects people to community–based activities to improve well-being, but what role do faith groups have to play in this? To find out more, read our report 'Creating a Neighbourhood Health Service' by @MLRozario: theosthinktank.co.uk/research/2025/…

I have to say, the reaction on here to Archbishop Sarah’s pilgrimage is very disappointing. First of all, the facts: she is breaking her pilgrimage to attend the Lords to vote on the abortion amendments, which obviously took some organisation because the pilgrimage was long planned and the date of the Lords debate only announced on Friday.

""Mummy, I want you to hold my hand." My 3yo daughter's last words before she settled and fell asleep last night. The need for reassuring touch is such a basic human instinct. I don't think we grow out of it. How are we accounting for that in the AI world that we're building?

Boy is living the dream.. 😊

the modern professor's feeling of warm relief and gratitude at encountering artisanal, human-crafted bad writing while grading papers

Amazing. Also: What we destroy when we close university departments…

"I was in London in the Blitz ... It was terrifying. Aren't Arabs terrified? Aren't Iraqis terrified? Don't Arab and Iraqi women weep when their children die? ... What fools we are to live in a generation for which war is a computer game for our children" — Tony Benn, 1998

Prayers for the people of Iran today, caught between a terrible tyranny that has killed tens of thousands of its own people since the New Year, and the most powerful military in the world who will sadly kill many innocents before the war is done.

🚨NEW REPORT 🚨 In partnership with @Christian_Aid, @mrbickley, @mlmpennington, and @GLapshynov explore a theological perspective on investment. Can investment prioritise people over profits? Follow along below to find out 👇 bit.ly/4sgf5hy

Brilliant from Martin Wolf in the FT today, summing up why we ignore the political implications of motherhood at our peril: giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/ac…

For all of you relying on AI for advice.

Fr. Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, nervously watching the Chicago White Sox at the 2005 World Series

In King Charles’ philosophy of harmony we find a vision for reconciling the universal and the particular - even if the new Amazon Prime documentary doesn’t quite do it justice. My review for @EngelsbergIdeas: engelsbergideas.com/reviews/charle…

12% of Americans believe Noah of Noah’s Ark is married to Joan of Arc.

I've attended the National Prayer Breakfast for much of the past two decades. I staffed the President and worked on his speech there for four years. I wrote extensively about the breakfast in my first book. One purpose of the Breakfast in history has been to position presidents and political leaders in such a way that they are humbled--their remarks typically focused on ways they fell short, the nation's reliance on grace that politics and politicians can't provide, etc. Not until this president has someone gone to the breakfast to make so much of himself, and so little of God. And he does it every year. These aren't policy disagreements. These aren't differences resulting from Church-State separation. This is Donald Trump going to a convening that has a central focus on the power of relationship with Jesus as the transformative force in the world, and he uses that opportunity to make light of prayer and suggest he'll go to heaven because he's earned his way in. He goes to a convening built on the premise that Jesus transcends all divides in society, including partisan ones, and says an entire group of people *who are specifically recruited and asked to be in the room and on the program* actually do not belong there. Like he did at a memorial service for one of his most prominent supporters, in previous years he's gone to the breakfast to directly contradict Jesus' teachings on loving your enemies. During the Clinton years, the Clintons sat on the dais while Mother Teresa lovingly confronted him on the issue of abortion. Now, people sit at their own breakfast while this president mocks their deepest beliefs to their face. And he tells them they love it. He tells them they're lucky to have him.

I literally do not believe these figures or dates. Something is catastrophically wrong with every aspect of this procurement policy.

This isn't a niche concern. The world's getting less stable and it's largely because of how we think about power; as Mark Carney said recently at Davos, "every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry". More on why it matters here: shorturl.at/zjzjw

I'm back from mat leave + it's launch day @Theosthinktank! In The Theology of Power @mrbickley and I argue the Bible offers an urgent corrective BOTH to abnegation of power's positive potential, AND to dominating, 'strongman' leadership. shorturl.at/p1T4O