Publications
THE HINT HALF GUESSED
mission, ecumenism and other holy things
by Alastair Hulbert
Hints and Guesses, Edinburgh, 2008 (266 pp.)
The aim of this book is to offer some help in the lethargy into which the ecumenical movement in Scotland has fallen in our day, a help to friends and relations on the fringes of church and culture, both to those who still have something to give and to those who are still willing to receive something.
These are essays in practical theology written from the author’s experience of mission and ecumenism in Europe. They include reflections on industrial mission, the student Christian movement, international solidarity, mission to institutions and ideologies, and the life and witness of an ecumenical conference centre.
The final essay, written when the author retired from his post as Warden of Scottish Churches House, Dunblane, is both an expression of gratitude for the ecumenical movement as he has known it and a lament for what he sees as the Scottish churches’ abandonment of their ecumenical, missionary vocation in the modern world.
“The age of the ecumenical movement is over in Scotland,” he writes. “Representative ecumenism has lost its way. The Churches Together are on auto-pilot and no one knows where they are going.” And he outlines his vision for Scottish Churches House, reflecting the original intention of its founders.
THE GIFT HALF UNDERSTOOD
essays on a European journey
by Alastair Hulbert
MELISENDE, London, 2002, (172 pp.)
ISBN 1-901764-11-7
These essays are a rich and thought-provoking account of a journey through Europe – geographical, cultural and spiritual. From Paris to Patmos, Västeräs to Wester Ross, they dwell on aspects of the character of the places visited, on their poetry and meaning. What Alastair Hulbert is searching for is a sense of place and a celebration of the beauty and diversity of Europe as it faces further unification and the shocks of globalisation.
The author has worked on the continent of Europe for much of his life. The essays in the first and third parts of the book draw on that background. During the 1990’s he was seconded by the Church of Scotland to an office in Brussels representing the European churches in their relations with the European Union. One of his tasks was to return to Scotland from time to time on deputation, visiting different parts of the country, presenting European affairs and the work of the churches to presbyteries and congregations, schools and groups of all sorts, and listening to their views in return. The essays in Part Two result from some of those visits. The shape of the book is intended to reinforce a sense of Scotland in Europe and Scottish-European identity.
Both books together in a slip case, available in a limited edition from the author, price: £7.50.
EUROPE IN SEARCH OF MEANING
Maps and Images
by Alastair Hulbert
DVD, 1 hour
This one hour slide show uses some 50 maps and pictures from the early Middle Ages until the present day. It was developed as an educational aid for use with groups and as a commentary on and critique of western culture.
GULFWATCH
The GulfWatch Papers
by Alastair Hulbert and Alastair McIntosh
Published in the Edinburgh Review, Polygon (Edinburgh University Press), No. 87, 1992, pp. 15-71.
An international peace movement documentation and analysis of the First Gulf War, produced daily on the internet during the war...
GulfWatch Index:
- Introduction – what GulfWatch was
- Community on the Edge of War
- The Role of the Media
- Military Dimensions & “Collateral” Damage
- The Reason Why - the war's geopolitical antecedants
- Linkage with Israel/Palestine
- The Role of the Peace Movement
- Psychospiritual Aspects of the War