Mark Meynell

Mark Meynell is Senior Associate Minister at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London in England. He also works part-time as Chaplain to HM Treasury and Revenue and Customs in London’s Whitehall, as well as the European Coordinator for Langham Preaching (an arm of Langham Partnership International), which seeks to develop biblical preaching programmes across several countries.  He was previously on the faculty and Acting Principal of the Kampala Evangelical School of Theology (in Kampala, Uganda), where he also led the Uganda Langham Preaching seminar, ministering to pastors and lay preachers throughout Uganda.  He is the author of Cross-examined (IVP), The New Testament and Slavery (Latimer Trust), and The Good Book Guide to Colossians (Good Book Co). He lives in central London with his wife Rachel and two children, Joshua and Zanna.

2012 Forum Sessions

Afternoon Workshops

Conspiracy Theories, Spy Novels and the Culture of Suspicion: Western factors in the erosion of truth claims and how it affects us

The Cold War has a rather romanticised appeal today – despite the horrors and fear that characterised it on both sides of the iron curtain. But one lasting legacy has been the popularity of spy novels. Whether it is the absurdly fantastical world of Ian Fleming’s James Bond, or the sinister but unspectacular shadows of John Le Carré’s George Smiley, we are fascinated and drawn in.
But these worlds are all built on the culture of deceit – and the suspicion that we are being deceived by those in power has seeped out into all areas of society. Some of the fastest growing websites are those preoccupied with conspiracy theories of all kinds. They claim to have evidence proving that the Moon landings were hoaxed or that there was government/establishment involvement in the murder of Kennedy or the tragedy of 9/11.
Jean-Francois Lyotard famously defined postmodernity as incredulity towards metanarratives – but it seems that our culture has not stopped there. We now doubt everything. This workshop will examine some of these trends and attempt at some pointers for the church’s urgent task of helping to restore trust and integrity.

Music of all kinds offers a vast untapped resource for evangelism and apologetics. That vocal, choral and theatrical music has this potential is perhaps clear. So-called ‘pure’ music is less obviously adaptable to this sort of outreach. However, having had the experience of putting on recitals of piano transcriptions of these two great symphonies, this workshop will consider how some of the music’s great themes provoked discussions and offered gospel opportunities.

By considering the circumstances of their composition, their musical structure and themes, as well as the worldview of each composer, this seminar will aim to show how it might be possible to use almost any composition in this way.

.

back to top