James Alison Theology

Video

  • Contextualising Rene Girard

    In this episode of John G I Clarke’s Aletheia Dialogues with Witness Bearers, James explains Girard’s thinking on Mimetic Rivalry and Scapegoating given the context of sustained retaliation against whistleblowers and other speakers of truth to power.

  • No More Special Pleading: How Opening Up to LGBTQ+ Reality Flows Organically from Basic Christianity

    At St Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, US, James Alison presented a project he’s been working on for several years—a book, provisionally titled You Can… If You Want To, to be published in 2025, which aims to empower Christians to move on, in good faith, regarding LGBTQ+ issues. The narrative that Christianity itself demands the condemnation of LGBTQ+ lives…

  • Homilies (Year B)

    In 2020, James started Praying Eucharistically, a project exploring the ways of worshipping and Christian living in the Covid lockdown. For this project, he provides the appropriate liturgical texts for people celebrating at home. He offers Gospel readings and homilies in video format for Sundays and the main festivities of the liturgical year. All videos can be…

  • Catholicity, Sacrifice, and Shame: Subverting Polarization in Our Contemporary Ecclesial and Political Cultures

    How do we, who know that God’s glory showed itself among us by being lifted up in shame, find the grace to live with our shame uncovered such that we are not inclined to shame others?

  • Homilies (Year A)

    n 2020, James started Praying Eucharistically, a project exploring the ways of worshipping and Christian living in the Covid lockdown. For this project, he provides the appropriate liturgical texts for people celebrating at home and offers Gospel readings and homilies in video format for Sundays and the main festivities of the liturgical year.

  • What does radical inclusion really mean for a modern synodal Church

    The James Alison Forum, What does radical inclusion really mean for a modern synodal Church, on 27 September 2023 was organised by the Catalyst for Renewal in St Aloysius’ College Kirribilli, Sydney. It was moderated by Geraldine Doogue and assisted by Finn Stannard. The word of the night was “talkability”. If an idea has talkability the issue can be explored,…

  • On Natural Law and Conscience

    This article was published by Outreach, an LGBTQ Catholic resource On the most recent Outspoken conversation, the Catholic priest, theologian and writer James Alison offered a master class on the theology of natural law and conscience, two topics of interest to all Catholics, but especially for LGBTQ Catholics, who often find themselves confronting arguments that use…

  • Interview with Wisdom Ways

    An hour-long interview with Wisdom Ways ministry

  • Homily for Palm Sunday

    In 2020, James Alison started a project exploring the ways of worshipping and Christian living in the Covid-related lockdown. For this project, he records Gospel readings and homilies for Sundays and main festivities of the liturgical year.

  • Synodality and Truthfulness: The Workings of a Sideways God

    Webinar lecture in the “What Next?” series for Aquinas Center, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA given on Wed 24 August 2022.

  • YouTube playlist

    YouTube playlist of James Alison’s materials made available by various organisations, projects and people.

  • Conversation at St Alban’s Church (DC, USA)

    A conversation led by Rev Leslie Chadwick at St Alban’s Episcopal Church (DC, USA) that followed James’ talk, Choosing Judgment or Joy: Helping People of Faith Move from Anger to Love.

  • Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

    Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Lent at St Alban’s Episcopal Church (DC, USA)

  • Choosing Judgment or Joy

    Choosing Judgment or Joy: Helping People of Faith Move from Anger to Love of 2022 Endowed Memorial Lecture Program at St Alban’s Episcopal Church (DC, USA). It is an expanded reflection on the Parable of the Prodigal Son which James also discussed in two homilies for the Fourth Sunday in Lent given to the St…

  • Christ Church Cranbrook Lenten Series

    Six talks given to the Christ Church Cranbrook community in March 2022 are available to watch.

  • Understanding Matters LGBTQ in 2022

    James’ talk to the Scottish Laity Network’s Programme for Lent 2022. He is talking about the historical developments in understanding human sexuality, relationships and life of faith that have brough us to the point we find ourselves at now.

  • Evangelisation, Diversity and Conscience – some brief notes

    On diversity and evangelisation: the new “we” which is what Catholicism is all about, the “we” out of every people and nation and tribe and tongue, depends on all of us learning to preach the Gospel in the first person.

  • Belonging and being Church: what’s Catholicism all about?

    Belonging matters more than life or death. It gives us our approval, who we are to be. It is the hardest thing in the world to receive your approval and thus your sense of belonging from “Your Father who is in Heaven” rather than from those who can give you a quick fix.

  • Priceless Podcast Interview

    James talks to the Priceless Podcast about his journey to becoming a priest and what is happening within the church.

  • Sideways God: The giving of the Spirit and our being floated by Creative Wisdom

    The Pentecost reflections delivered at the invitation of the Sion Centre for Dialogue and Encounter, London, UK.

  • Interview to More Christ

    James Alison revisits the main themes of his writings in his extensive and lucid interview

  • People in the Church: Conversation with Fr James Alison

  • Reading Scripture and the LGBT question

    How do we begin to understand the ways religion is used to marginalize the LGBTQ+ community? What are thoughtful ways to move out of the binds around faith and a desire to be affirming?

  • The role of the Church in encouraging  a greater sense of community

    On 14 December 2016, Trinity Church Wall Street in New York, USA, convened a Trinity Institute Dialogue on the 2016 U.S. presidential election featuring theologian James Alison and Duncan Morrow, Director of Community Engagement at the University of Ulster (Belfast, UK). Given the highly-partisan and divided state of the nation, a question came up about the role of the…

  • Beyond us and them: the practice of faith in a post-election America

    On 14 December 2016, Trinity Church Wall Street in New York, USA, convened a Trinity Institute Dialogue on the 2016 U.S. presidential election featuring theologian James Alison and Duncan Morrow, Director of Community Engagement at the University of Ulster (Belfast, UK). A short answer to the question about the role of the church in encouraging  a greater sense…

  • James Alison on René Girard

    James Alison speaks to the America magazine on René Girard, the French historian, literary critic, philosopher of social science, and pioneer of anthropological philosophy.

  • Taking Cinderella to the Ball: How a Mimetic Anthropology Restores the Theological Virtue of Hope

    Many of us live with a characterisation of each of the three theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity that is run from within by at least a strong residue of a modern, individualistic, picture of the self. The result is that… a caricature of what those virtues are.

  • Renewing the Tradition

    James’ profile by Grant Kaplan, an associate professor of systematic theology at Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Mo., published by the America magazine. Renewing the Tradition: The theological project of James Alison Same in PDF (pp. 25-27). An interview recorded by Prof. Grant Kaplan:

  • Conversation with a gay priest

    Recorded by Eureka Street, a publication of the Australian Jesuits

  • Is it ethical to be Catholic? – Queer perspectives

    This talk represents James Alison’s participation in a panel discussion for LGBT people in Most Holy Redeemer Parish Church, San Francisco, 12 February 2006. The title “Is it ethical to be Catholic?” was given by the hosting group based at the University of San Francisco. James was invited to represent a positive answer to the question in…

  • Blindsided by God: Reconciliation from the underside

    Presentation for “Anatomy of Reconciliation” Conference, Trinity Institute, New York City, 30 January – 1 Feb 2006 One of the greatest moments that I know in all cinema is the ballet set to the music of Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” in Walt Disney’s 1940 film “Fantasia”. I ask you to remember the scene. Ostriches…