Theos Think Tank

05/06/2026

We're delighted to announce that tickets for the second of our 20th anniversary events are on sale now.

Our panel discussion 'Art, creativity and what it means to be human in the age of AI' will include Dr Rowan Williams, Prof Marcus du Sautoy, Rev Ayla Lepine, Dr Nathan Mladin and will be chaired by Chine McDonald - Author, speaker, broadcaster.

📍The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square
🗓️ Friday 10 July

Sponsored by CCLA

Find out more and get tickets here: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/theos-at-20-being-human-in-the-age-of-ai-10-07-2026

04/06/2026

"We are a spiritual species. Largely irrespective of what we actually believe in any formal sense... human beings and culture naturally and always gravitate to 'spiritual' language."

Nick Spencer explores what linguistics can tell us about humanity's spiritual dimension.

Read it here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2026/06/04/learning-to-speak-human

This blog is adapted from Nick Spencer's opening remarks at a recent event in collaboration with The Fetzer Institute and LSE Faith Centre to mark the publication of the Fetzer book 'Retelling Sacred Stories'. Find out more here: https://fetzer.org/news/retelling-sacred-stories/

Theos, the Fetzer Institute and LSE’s Faith Centre recently held an event at the RSA on ‘Exploring Sacred Stories in a Secular Age’, to mark the publication of the Fetzer book Retelling Sacred Stories. Senior Fellow, Nick Spencer opened the event with an exploration of what it means to “spea...

03/06/2026

What does the Lincoln memorial have to do with Christian humanism?

Nick Spencer reflects on ruling power and our humanity following his recent trip to Washington DC.

🔗 Read it here: https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2026/06/03/bc-in-dc-christian-humanism-and-the-lincoln-memorial

Nick Spencer reflects on the real meaning of Christian humanism after visiting Washington DC. 03/06/2026

02/06/2026

Unpalatable truth as it may be, there are some, especially today, who draw on the Bible to exclude and vilify others, as a way of protecting and the "pure" Christian culture of Europe or the West.

It's not an altogether new phenomenon, people have deployed the Bible for militaristic ends since the Crusades, but it appears to be growing once again as Europe comes under "attack" from immigrants and Islam.

How does this happen? What Bibles do the Far Right use? What texts do they quote? What principles underlie that usage? And what can be done about it?

In today's episode, Nick Spencer talks to theologian Hannah Strømmen, whose latest book The Bibles of the Far Right, examines just these questions.

27/05/2026

Last chance to attend!

We can't wait for next week's lunchtime discussion 'Exploring Sacred Stories in a Secular Age' in with The Fetzer Institute and LSE Faith Centre.

We'll hear two fascinating panel discussions:

1. The Sacred Dimension with Mark Vernon, Elizabeth Oldfield, Luqman Ali and Bill Vendley.

2. The Sacred Direction with Chine McDonald, Prof. Linda Woodhead, David Smith MP and Daisy Scalchi.

🔗 Find out more and reserve your place here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1988317105988?aff=oddtdtcreator

How do we rediscover the sacred in a world that often ignores it - and why does it matter now more than ever?

26/05/2026

Buddhism is often seen in the West as a religion of peace and serenity - rarely, if ever, associated with violence. But that comforting image has obscured a darker and more complex reality playing out across Southeast Asia.

Journalist and author Sonia Faleiro joins Nick Spencer to explore her latest book 'The Robe and the Sword', which examines how Buddhist nationalism has fuelled ethnic tension, discrimination, and outright genocide in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand.

From the militant monks who emerged out of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war, to the Facebook-driven hatred that preceded the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, the patterns Faleiro uncovers are uncomfortably familiar to anyone watching the rise of religious nationalism elsewhere in the world.

23/05/2026

Research identifies ‘warm but passive’ attachment of general public

22/05/2026

Cathedral deans are to meet MPs next month to discuss the financial sustainability of cathedrals in light of the report, it was announced at the National Cathedrals Conference on Tuesday

Read more 👇

22/05/2026

"Beneath the flags and headlines of a 'racist and xenophobic' march, then, we observed something much more complex than social media clickbait or political polarisation will allow."

Last weekend, a team of Theos researchers attended Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom rally to see how Christianity and nationalism intersect.

Find out what Coco Huggins and George Lapshynov discovered here 👇
https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2026/05/22/christ-culture-country-unfurling-the-flags-of-the-unite-the-kingdom-rally

A team of our researchers attended the last Unite the Kingdom rally last weekend to investigate the rise of “Christian nationalism”. 22/05/2026

21/05/2026

Join George and Nathan to discover the 3 ways they collected data for their Cathedrals project fieldwork.

Our new report 'Living Stones' with Association of English Cathedrals draws on qualitative and quantitative research from six representative cathedrals (Carlisle Cathedral, Derby Cathedral, Exeter Cathedral, Rochester Cathedral, St Albans Cathedral and York Minster)

Their qual fieldwork involved almost 150 in‑depth interviews across the six Anglican cathedrals. But there's more to fieldwork than interviews alone…