Left and Right are talking about the Common Good but what does it mean?

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1 For immediate release 26 March 2015 Left and Right are talking about the Common Good but what does it mean? This new book begins a national conversation on the Common Good between people of widely differing political affiliations and faith traditions. Religious and non-religious, Christians, Jews, Muslims are getting behind an idea which brings people together. Together for the Common Good: Towards a National Conversation published by SCM and launched on 25 March 2015 As the General Election approaches, movements on both left and right within the main political parties are starting to explore the common good as an antidote to the uninspiring partisanship that characterises politics today. Together for the Common Good puts meaning and depth into those explorations for the sake of active politicians and perplexed voters alike. In Together for the Common Good, thirteen distinguished contributors - Christian, Jewish, Muslim and nonreligious explore the idea of the common good, where it has come from, and where it might take our political and cultural life. Their work begins a national conversation about how, despite differences, people can work together - locally, nationally, internationally - for the common good. The book is endorsed by Jean Vanier, recently announced as the 2015 winner of the Templeton Prize: This is a remarkable book and should be read by all those interested in human rights, justice and politics in a secular and multi-cultural society. To work towards the common good is to work for peace. Jean Vanier, Founder of L Arche, Winner of the Templeton Prize Key sections of the book: The Language of the Common Good; Traditions of the Common Good; The Market and the Common Good. The book is accompanied by a Study Guide for individuals and groups to use as they explore the questions that the book raises. The book comes from Together for the Common Good, a national initiative encouraging all people of goodwill to become agents of change for the common good. [Ends] 1

2 Notes to Editors For further information, and for interviews with the contributors, editors or a T4CG spokesperson, please contact Ali Lyon, Alison@we-equals.co.uk, Contributors: Dr Anna Rowlands, Dr Jonathan Chaplin, Professor Andrew Bradstock, Dr Esther Reed, Patrick Riordan SJ, Dr Jon Wilson, Lord Brian Griffiths, Professor Phillip Booth, Lord Maurice Glasman, Tehmina Kazi, Clifford Longley, Sam Burgess and Revd Dr Malcolm Brown. Together for the Common Good is edited by Peter McGrail and Nicholas Sagovsky. Peter is Associate Professor of Catholic Studies at Liverpool Hope University, where he is also head of the Department of Theology, Philosophy and Religious Studies. Nick holds professorial posts in theology at two ecumenical universities, Roehampton and Liverpool Hope. As well as their academic backgrounds the editors bring long experience of working together across religious differences. They serve together on the steering group of the national Together for the Common Good initiative. Together for Common Good Together for the Common Good is a national initiative, encouraging all people of goodwill, especially Christians of different traditions, to work together, alongside people of other faiths and secular allies, to become agents of change for the common good. T4CG is non-partisan, ecumenical, independent of any church denomination and promotes the common good as a way of strengthening civil society, seeing beyond party politics, that places human dignity at the centre of cultural, economic and political decisionmaking. The T4CG book: Together for Common Good: Towards a National Conversation A book of 13 essays edited by Nicholas Sagovsky and Peter McGrail. SCM Press, published March 2015, To contact any of the book s contributors or to arrange interviews, please contact Natalie Watson at SCM Press, tel Order online at To request a review copy, please contact SCM as above. The book has an accompanying Study Guide for individuals and groups to use as they explore the questions that the book raises, available to download from Endorsements for the book: The common good, differently expressed, can be found in all our faiths. But the question remains of how it should be made real, who needs to take ownership of it, and how easy it is to make a difference when public attitudes seem to be shying away from any such concept. This book gives us brilliant insights into how faith and other leaders think of what can and should be done. Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger This is a remarkable book, and should be read by all those interested in human rights, justice and politics in a secular and multi-cultural society. To work towards the common good is to work for peace. Jean Vanier, Founder of L Arche, Winner of the Templeton Prize

3 "Together for the Common Good" is a timely and accessible collection of helpful essays about a phrase which has become synonymous with Catholic social teaching but has application for believer and nonbeliever alike. Combined with a belief in human dignity, and that every human being should be treated, as if made in the image of their Maker, the ideas which constitute the Common Good should inform political manifestos and discourse about policies, priorities, and the allocation of resources. Lord Alton of Liverpool The idea of the "common good" is often dismissed as being hopelessly vague or impossibly ambitious. This excellent collection shows us what it really means, and how it can renew our life together. Canon Dr Angus Ritchie, Director of the Centre for Theology and Community 3

4 T4CG book contributors biographies: Philip Booth is Editorial and Programme Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor of Insurance and Risk Management at Cass Business School, City University, London. He is a fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and of the Royal Statistical Society. His publications include Catholic Social Teaching and the Market Economy (2nd edn, 2014, as editor and co-author), Catholic Education in the West: Roots, Reality, and Revival (2013, as co-author) and Christian Perspectives on the Financial Crash (2010, as editor). Philip was a school governor of a Catholic school for around 20 years. Andrew Bradstock was during Howard Paterson Professor of Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago, New Zealand. He is currently Secretary for Church and Society with the United Reformed Church and a member of the Joint Public Issues Team of the Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches. He is a visiting professor at the University of Winchester and a member of the steering group of Together for the Common Good. Malcolm Brown is Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Archbishops Council of the Church of England. He has been a parish priest and an industrial chaplain and has taught Christian Ethics and Practical Theology in a number of universities. He was Executive Secretary of the William Temple Foundation in Manchester from He is the author of Tensions in Christian Ethics (SPCK, 2010) and editor of Anglican Social Theology (Church House Publishing, 2014). Samuel Burgess is currently completing his DPhil at the University of Oxford. His thesis offers a theological defence of Burkean conservatism and argues for the continued relevance of Burke s thought to contemporary political questions. He was brought up in Bath and educated at Monkton Combe School before studying as an undergraduate at Durham and as an MPhil student at Cambridge. Jonathan Chaplin is Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, Cambridge, a member of the Divinity Faculty of Cambridge University and Senior Fellow of Cardus, a Canadian Christian think-tank. He is a consultant researcher for the UK think-tank Theos and has written for Guardian CiF Belief. He has taught political theory and political theology in the UK, Canada and the Netherlands. Maurice Glasman (Lord Glasman) is an English academic, social thinker and Labour life peer in the House of Lords. He is best known as the originator of Blue Labour, a term he coined in His research interests focus on the relationship between citizenship and faith and the limits of the state and the market. Author of Unnecessary Suffering (1996), he worked for ten years with London Citizens and through this developed an expertise in community organizing. He has a long-standing interest in Catholic Social Thought and was a speaker at the Together for the Common Good Conference in Liverpool. Brian Griffiths (Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach) is a member of the boards of Goldman Sachs International and Goldman Sachs International Bank. He taught at the London School of Economics before becoming Professor of Banking and International Finance at the City University and Dean of the City University Business School. He was a director of the Bank of England from He left the Bank of England early to serve at 10 Downing Street as head of the Prime Minister s Policy Unit from As special advisor to Margaret Thatcher, he was responsible for domestic policy-making and was a chief architect of the government s privatization and deregulation programmes. He is a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs. Lord Griffiths was chairman of the Archbishop of Canterbury s Lambeth Fund and is chairman of Christian Responsibility in Public Affairs. He has written and lectured extensively on economic issues and the relationship of the Christian faith to economies and business and has published various books on monetary policy and Christian ethics. Tehmina Kazi, Director of British Muslims for Secular Democracy since May 2009 and Executive Producer of the documentary film Hidden Heart, was also a freelance consultant for English PEN s Faith and Free Speech in Schools project. She is a trustee of Hope Not Hate, an advisory board member of the Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks project, an Inclusive Mosque Initiative committee member, and was a judge for the Accord Coalition s Inclusive Schools Award, She was named as one of the BBC s 100 Women in October 2013 and 2014 and held the Eric Lane Fellowship at Clare College, Cambridge in January March She is a Centenary Young Fellow of the RSA. 4

5 Clifford Longley is the author of Just Money: How Catholic Social Teaching can Redeem Capitalism published by the think-tank Theos and available at where a printed version can also be ordered. He formerly wrote about religious affairs for The Times and the Daily Telegraph and is now editorial consultant, leader writer and columnist at The Tablet, the international Catholic weekly. He has written a number of books and contributed regularly to the BBC Radio 4 s Thought for the Day and Moral Maze programmes. He was the principal author of The Common Good and the Catholic Church s Social Teaching published by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales in He was awarded a Lambeth Master of Letters in Peter McGrail is a priest of Liverpool Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Associate Professor of Catholic Studies at Liverpool Hope University, where he is also head of the Department of Theology, Philosophy and Religious Studies. He has had several years parish experience, and was director of the Department for Pastoral Formation ( ) in Liverpool Archdiocese. He is the author of two books exploring the gaps between formal liturgy and life. He is a member of the Liturgy Committee of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales and chair of its Liturgical Formation subcommittee. He is the Roman Catholic observer on the Liturgical Commission of the Church of England. He is a member of the steering group of Together for the Common Good. Esther D. Reed is Associate Professor in Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, where she is also Director of the Network for Religion in Public Life. Her current research delves into questions of theology and international law, narrative theology in religious education and the theology of work. She has most recently published Theology for International Law (2013). She was also a co-author of the Christian Aid Report, Tax for the Common Good: A Study of Tax and Morality (October 2014). Patrick Riordan SJ has taught political philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London, since 2002, having formerly worked at the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy in Dublin. His current research interests are religion in public life, the philosophy of justice and the good. His latest book, Global Ethics and Global Common Goods, is published by Bloomsbury. Other publications include A Grammar of the Common Good: Speaking of Globalization (2008) and Philosophical Perspectives on People Power (2001). He has also published articles on human dignity, natural law, business ethics and the just war theory in the context of terrorism. Anna Rowlands is Lecturer in Contemporary Catholic Studies and Deputy Director of the Centre for Catholic Studies in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. As a theologian she has worked closely with CAFOD, the Citizens Organising Foundation and the Caritas Social Action Network. She is founding Chair of a new UK network for academics and practitioners involved in the development of Catholic Social Thought and practice. Nicholas Sagovsky holds professorial posts in theology at two ecumenical universities: Liverpool Hope and Roehampton. An Anglican priest, he has been a member of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) since In 2008, he published a study entitled Christian Tradition and the Practice of Justice. He is a member of the steering group of Together for the Common Good. Jon E. Wilson is a historian at King s College London, where his research and teaching focuses on politics and government in South Asia and Britain. His book on British power in India, India Conquered. Britain s Raj and the Chaos of Empire, will be published by Simon and Schuster in He is also a Labour activist and writes a weekly column for labourlist.net. 5