Convened by Dr Victoria Turner, the Scottish Episcopal Institute held an open day seminar on 23 March 2026 based on papers from two recent issues of the SEI Journal on gender (spring 2025) and the future of liturgy (autumn 2025) with students of the SEI (principally Pat Ellison) responding to the speakers in each session.
The morning was taken up by four papers from the Spring issue of the Journal on issues in gender, the speakers being Alison Jasper, Merete Thomassen (speaking from Oslo), Kathryn Wills and Naomi Browell. We began with a paper from Alison entitled ‘En/gendering God and Church’, opening up broad issues which led into further discussions on gender inclusive language (Merete), the role of art and imagination as ‘a para-liturgy of protest’ (Kathryn), and finally theology and male sexual violence against women (Naomi).
In the afternoon we shifted into a series of four papers on the future of liturgy, offering a wide variety of perspectives from Bob Gillies (speaking from Hawaii), David Jasper, Bridget Nichols and Chris Taylor. Bob began with a reflection entitled ‘At Work with Our Prayers’, followed by a discussion on the place of metaphor, and ‘dead’ metaphor, in liturgy and religious language (David), the revision and future of liturgy ‘in the age of resources’ (Bridget) and finally a practical exercise in liturgy as ‘performance’ (Chris).
Discussion throughout the day was lively in an atmosphere which provoked creative debate from a variety of perspectives rather than seeking solutions and conclusions. It is to be hoped that this is the first of many such days of reflection on matters of importance to all in the Church and beyond.
