sustain:if:able kiwi

IAPR 2025 abstract acceptance

Well this was not in the 2025 bingo sheet but delighted to have a conference paper accepted for the biennial International Association for the Psychology of Religion in Birmingham 2025.

Titled: Listen up: The Social Impact of selected religious practices, my paper will present initial findings from my social impact of religious practices research with Psychology and Theology Cross training fellowship, funded by John Templeton. Over 12 months, I am undertaking action research by gathering people to explore spiritual practices over 8 sessions and inviting their feedback through pre- and post-survey, keeping a research journal and sharing their experience in focus groups.

For years I have offered teaching in mission and discernment. This research project allows me to explore in greater depth what is happening for people and how the Spirit might be present through spiritual practices.

While I’m naturally curious, I find working across disciplines quite intimidating. The Psychology and Theology Cross training team have been so helpful. They provided encouragement to submit. They provided several abstracts from previous conferences to help demonstrate what it means to write up research in the domain of psychology (which is so different from theology). Further, they also offered feedback on abstract drafts, not only suggesting additions but also offering edits to help keep the abstract within the required word limits. So constructive!

Finally, I’m also grateful for grant funding from John Templeton which makes this possible. Being an independent scholar, there are significant costs in attending conferences and funding makes presenting research possible.

Best of all, my partner-in-life and research, Dr Lynne Taylor, has also had her research accepted. So we will get to experience Birmingham together.

It means a 3rd consecutive experience of a UK summer, following on from my Glasgow University funded research in 2023 and my IASH/Edinburgh University funded research in 2024.

3 weeks in UK for research presentations

I’m in the United Kingdom for 3 weeks, from 23 March to 14 April, 2025. I am excited to speak about three different research projects that I’ve been working on for several months.

First, I am in Glasgow, speaking at the University of Glasgow on Mission, Empire and Coerced Migration on Thursday 27th March, 5pm. This is the fruit of my 2023 University of Glasgow Library Research Fellowship.

Second, I am in Edinburgh as part of the Festival 55th of IASH. I am co-ordinating the Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium where I am one of 6 people delivering a paper. This is fruit of my time as a Research Fellow at IASH in Edinburgh in June/July 2024.

Finally, I am in Birmingham for the Psychology and Theology Cross-training fellowship. As part of this week in Birmingham, I am presenting a work-in-progress on my research into the social impact of spiritual practices in religious organisations.

Then home. Yippee.

introducing spiritual practices

I’m researching spiritual practices. The project is part of a Psychology and Theology Cross training fellowship, funded by John Templeton, that extends over 12 months.

I’m researching the social impact of spiritual practices. I could research by reading Scripture or exploring church history or reading books that seek to describe and explain spiritual practices. But I’m curious about how people respond to spiritual practices.

So I’m looking for people willing to explore spiritual practices over 8 sessions and to give feedback on their experiences in several ways, including several surveys, two focus groups and keeping and individual journey.

This week I offered an introductory session in a local Christian congregation to consenting adults. Arriving to an empty church, I noticed they had several couches in their foyer. I pulled several chairs around the couches into a circle and got myself organised.

Each couch and chair got a Bible verse and a post-it note. During the session, people would choose a brightly coloured pen to underline a key phrase that stood out to them from the Bible passage and write down their ideal snacks that I could provide to sustain us through our sessions. I got out a Bible and my go-to book, The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun. I laid out my teaching notes, along with my research diary and pen for taking my own notes as people shared.

It was great to be researching with people, beginnning a conversation about their experiences of spiritual practices and what it might mean to “learn to live freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:30, The Message).

Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium: April 4

I’m thrilled to have pulled together and to be part of the Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium, in Edinburgh on 4 April, 2025.

The day involves 6 papers, presenting research on faith-based digital activism in Asia, Africa and Oceania. The full colloquium programme, with abstracts and author details, is Conference programme Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism.

The Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium is nested within the 55th Festival of IASH, exploring fruit of their three year project around decoloniality. To further my June/July 2024 research fellowship with IASH, I proposed a gathering around indigenous digital faith-based activism. I wanted to gather other scholars from diverse contexts with the hope of working toward an edited book.

IASH agreed. Other sponsors came on board, including Researching Indigenous Studies and Christianity Network (RISC), the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI) and the Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC). A call for papers went out in late November. Blind peer review happened through January, along with lots of ongoing organising with IASH. It has been a thrill to work with different research centres and to collaborate with scholars from diverse contexts. And in a few weeks, to be able to present some of my research into Oceanic digital activism in Edinburgh.

People can attend either virtually or face to face.

To register for in-person at IASH, RSVP Dr Steve Taylor at kiwidrsteve@gmail.com and advise any dietary or access requirements. Lunch is provided. Bookings are limited to 8 people.

Virtual delegates can register here. This will allow access to the Grassroots and indigenous digital faith-based activism colloquium plus all events associated with the IASH’s 55th Anniversary Celebrations: Institute Project on Decoloniality Conference on Thursday 3 April and Friday 4 April.

Race, Justice and mission: Glasgow archival perspectives on missionary engagement and South Pacific “blackbirding”

With a nod to sea shanties and the need to decolonise history, here’s a summary of some writing I’ve just completed, and a presentation I’ll be doing at Trinity College, University of Glasgow, in a few weeks time.

Race, Justice and mission: Glasgow archival perspectives on missionary engagement and South Pacific “blackbirding”

“There once was a ship that put to sea … to bring us sugar and tea and rum.” Sea shanties make for catchy TikTok viral hits. They also make visible mercantile activity and migratory labour flows upon which empires expanded.

Historical imaginaries often begin with ships that put to sea and journey from north to south. Yet in the corners of the archives are experiences from the Pacific northward, as Indigenous peoples engaged in what they saw as reciprocity in Oceanic voyaging.

This paper analyses the work of Williamu, an Indigenous man from the islands then called the New Hebrides, who lived in Scotland between 1861 and 1862. During his time in Scotland, Williamu wrote nineteen letters. These were translated by Rev John Inglis, who in 1883 was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glasgow for his linguistic skills.

Williamu’s letters, housed in the University of Glasgow Archives and Special Collections, provide a remarkable account of the Indigenous meeting the imperial. They also contain tragedy as Williamu processes the death of his wife, Dora, from diseases carried by ships that put to sea.

This paper will examine these letters using frames of locating, initial encounter and theodicies of migration. It will document the agency of Indigenous people as initiative takers and the presence of “sugar and tea and rum” in the histories of migration and religion.

Listening with Purpose: A Theologian Reflects on the Interface between Theology and Psychology

I am privileged to be building bridges between theology and psychology as a Psychology Cross-Training Fellowship Programme for Theologians Fellow. This 16 month interdisciplinary programme is run by the University of Birmingham and is funded by John Templeton. It involves 3 intensives in Birmingham, monthly online coaching and mentoring. It also funds a small part-time research project over 12 months – in my case researching the social impact of religious practices. I wrote about the interdisciplinary experience a few weeks ago and the Cross-Training blog picked it up. My blogpost was prompted by a post from my mentor, Dr Guy Itzchakov, who researches empathic and non-judgmental listening at the University of Haifa. I’m cross-posting what I wrote for the Cross-Training blog here:

A few weeks ago, I cycled over a recently completed bridge. The modern two-lane structure, with eye-catching visual features, spans Mata-au, the South Island’s largest river. A 136-year-old single-lane bridge remains, repurposed for cycling and walking.

The two bridges got me thinking about the nature of interdisciplinary research. The historic single-lane bridge used traffic lights to regulate traffic flow. Each side took turns. Crossing meant waiting for cars from the other side to hurtle on past. In contrast, the recently built two-lane bridge allows both sides to move. The result is improved safety and new traffic flows.

Photo by Lynne Taylor at https://lynnetaylor.nz/.

Building bridges is the aim of the Psychology Cross-training Fellowship Program for Theologians. The Fellowship feels like the making of a modern two-lane bridge. Rather than separate disciplines hurtling past each other, the Fellowship invites the fields of psychology and theology to create new flows of traffic by exploring shared interfaces.

Listening
One shared interface between psychology and theology is listening. Psychology has explored how high-quality listening improves social connection. The intentional use of two ears builds community and enhances human flourishing. Research has outlined the essential roles of attention, comprehension and intention in high-quality listening.

Theology has commended listening as a spiritual imperative, a way of responding to God’s command to “listen” at Jesus’s transfiguration (see, for example, Matthew 17:5). Listening is then embedded in a range of spiritual practices.

But, like cars waiting to cross a one-lane bridge, research in psychology and theology has had little impact on the inquiry of the other. In a recent blog post, Professor Guy Itzchakov reflected on the interdisciplinary possibilities for listening between psychology and theology. As a psychologist in the science of listening, he utilised themes of connection, empathy, and loneliness to suggest that listening is a practice that “transcends disciplinary boundaries.”

Psychologists like Dr Itzchakov conduct research at one end of the bridge. As a practical theologian, I start at the bridge’s other end. At my end of the bridge, while listening to God is considered important, and listening is taught in practical ministry courses, empirical research into the social impact of religious listening practices is rare. What might building bridges with psychology contribute to theology? How might psychological theories of listening as attention, comprehension, and intention, illuminate sacred religious texts?

Attention
Attention involves being fully present to a speaker without internal and external distractions. Humans have a unique ability to filter sounds. We can listen closely in a noisy café or hear the voice of a loved one in a throng of people.

Attention provides ways to understand silence as a Christian practice. Christian services of worship often include silence as an element of corporate prayer or in hearing Scripture read aloud.

Silence is thus an antecedent or a precondition of quality listening. One cannot pay attention if one is speaking. Through the lens of attention, the religious practice of silence can be understood as similar to warming up before exercise. The practice of silence involves stretching the listening muscles in preparation for enhancing social connection.

Hands formed together create a red heart. Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash.

Comprehension
Comprehension refers to how listeners signal they understand the speaker. Summarising what I think I have heard from another demonstrates listening and deepens our sharing.

The lens of comprehension illuminates the practice of lectio divina, particularly in group settings. Latin for divine reading, lectio divina encourages listening to sacred texts. When used in groups, there is often a time of sharing what individuals are hearing. This sharing deepens comprehension. Sometimes, the interpretations of others in the group provide insight and deepen connection. At other times, diverse interpretations or provocative questions raise hermeneutical questions and encourage respect across differences.

Intention
Intention describes how the speaker experiences a listener. High-quality listening involves communicating acceptance, empathy, and curiosity. Sometimes, this is verbal, with words of agreement. At other times, it is through back-channel behaviours like body posture or a nod.

In The Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, Adele Calhoun introduces the practice of slowing and describes its use at the start of a meeting: “I want to give you a moment of silence to leave behind what you are coming from. I want us to be present to each other in our discussion together. Take some deep breaths and relax. We will start in one minute” (2015, 90). Slowing is a practice that signals an intention to fully present.

Through the lens of attention, slowing, like silence, is like a warming-up exercise. The intention of being “present to each other” enhances the possibility of high-quality listening.

Hence, psychology illuminates the social dynamics embedded in spiritual practices. Attention, comprehension and intention provide ways to think about the role of listening in religious practices.

The “I am” as a Listener
Attention, comprehension and intention can also be used to analyse theologies of revelation. A particularly striking description of God occurs in Exodus 3, a narrative of great significance to the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. God is a listener in the account of Moses and the burning bush. The “I am” pays attention as they hear the cries of the suffering in Egypt (3:7). The “I am” communicates comprehension as they send Moses to respond to human misery (3:10). The “I am” signals intention by instructing Moses to take off his sandals as an observable listening posture (3:5).

The narrative in Exodus also describes what it means for humans to listen. Moses pays attention by choosing to hide his face (3:6). His comprehension is deepened because he asks multiple questions (3:11-13). His intention is signalled as he returns to the suffering community from which he had earlier fled (4:29).

Moses’s behaviour can guide religious practice. The Exodus narrative encourages questioning the Divine and choosing solidarity with the suffering as a way of service. Ecclesiologically, the church glimpses ecclesia discens and the behaviours that mark a learning community.

Attention, comprehension and intention illuminate Moses encounter with “I am.” For the Abrahamic religious traditions, listening is defined, not as a one-sided monologue but as a co-creative movement toward solidarity with the suffering.

Conclusion: Listening as a Theological and Psychological Practice
Theology has much to learn from psychology. Attention, comprehension, and intention illuminate the social dynamics embedded in spiritual practices and provide ways to analyse theologies of revelation. As a practical theologian, I am finding practical and intellectual, individual and communal benefits in building a two-lane bridge with psychology.

Flow a theological film review of an ecological fable

Monthly I write a film review for Touchstone (the New Zealand Methodist magazine). Stretching back to 2005, some 180 plus films later, here is the review for February 2025.

Flow
A theological film review by Dr Steve Taylor

Flow is an animated and imaginative delight. A meowing cat must face her fear of water. In the face of rising waters, the cat sees a passing boat. Making a leap of faith, the cat pounces into a floating animal ark. Carried away by a sudden flood, an unlikely crew of animal creatures are swept toward uncertainty.

Flow is also a cinematic winner, awarded the 2025 Golden Globe [update – and an Academy Award] for best-animated feature. Big-budget studio films like Disney and Pixar have traditionally scooped film animation. Flow’s low-budget win is a triumph for Latvian film-maker, Gints Zilbalodis. It is also a ground-breaking moment for indie film and open source animation software, which was used by Zilbalodis and his animation team.

The animal characterisation in Flow is superb. Each animal’s journey across unknown waters is filled with humour. Cats cough hairballs and dogs chase tails. Secretary birds learn to steer, while lemurs and capybara learn to share. Together these animals learn that their survival relies on trust.

While Flow will attract families and delight lovers of cats and animals, the movie also offers much as an “ecological fable.” Flow’s animal ark floats past statues likely made by human hands and cities built by human endeavour. There are signs of civilization, yet humans are absent. Is Flow an apocalyptic telling of the collapse of human civilization? Or an imaginative reflection on pre-history of our planet? Approached as fable, Flow invites us to think imaginatively, first about ecology, then about theology.

Flow connects with several Genesis stories. In the beginning, in Genesis 1, God’s Spirit hovers over the waters. From the waters emerge sky, land and swarms of living creatures. Those of Pacific origin find in these verses the beginnings of a moana theology.

Flow invites us to think imaginatively about creation’s prehistory without humans. After all, there were no humans for five and a half of the six days of creation in Genesis 1. The earth grew and multiplied in ways unique and creative. Flow invites us to think with and among the creativity of the early days of the Spirit’s work in creation.

A few chapters later, in Genesis 6 to 9, God’s Spirit again hovered over the waters. In the Noah narrative, we read of an ark adrift on rising flood waters. We hear of animals together seeking salvation and a bird who acts as God’s messenger, a winged bearer of good news of ecological survival.

Flow invites us to think imaginatively about the survival of animals of both sea and land. After all, the rise of flood waters as described in Genesis 6 to 9 must surely have been a gift for fish, sharks and whales. As the waters of the deep burst forth, those who swim experienced new room to play. Equally, as floodwaters shrink, sea creatures of the deep risked becoming beached. In a world of finite resources, the ecological imagination of Flow reminds us that expansion for some is a contraction for others. Approaching Genesis in light of Flow offers animated and imaginative reminders of the Spirit’s work in a world without humans.

Rev Dr Steve Taylor is the author of “First Expressions” (2019) and writes widely in theology and popular culture, including regularly at www.emergentkiwi.org.nz.