Author: Peter Sidebotham
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Getting to the heart of safeguarding
Welcome to my new website. Having recently completed my PhD in contextual theology I thought it would be helpful to make some of this research accessible, along with my other research in child maltreatment, safeguarding and child death review. At the heart of all this, and as a significant thread throughout my career, has been…
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An In-between time
Growing up to be a child is all about Jesus’ challenge to become like children. This challenge was linked to a purpose: to enter and live in God’s kingdom here and now. While I believe we can be part of God’s kingdom right now, it is also clear to me that this kingdom of heaven…
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Becoming
Becoming a child is a gift from God; it stems from God’s grace. The challenge for us is not to strive to obey all the rules, practice all the right disciplines, and so somehow convince God that we are really like children. Rather it is to respond to God’s invitation and accept God’s grace. In…
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Satyagraha – A forgotten stream of true spirituality
Last week Lois and I watched the film Suffragette: an extremely powerful portrayal of one woman’s part in the non-violent struggle for women’s rights; and, interestingly, a pertinent exploration of the parallel processes of alienation and grooming that accompany any form of radicalisation. The main (fictional) character, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan), gradually finds the courage…
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Inheritance and Idolatry
The common interpretation of the word ‘inheritance’ is ‘what you get from your parents when they die’. In reality, though, an inheritance is far more than the material possessions left to you by your parents. What a child inherits from her parents is richer, deeper, and more profound than a sum of money. Who you…
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Image: a contemplative companion to chapter 9 of Growing up to be a child
Children love to play. That is perhaps one of the most striking aspects of childhood. Interestingly, their play largely seems to revolve around a combination of creativity, exploration, and relationship. If you give a child a box of bricks or a crayon, she will create something with them. If you leave a group of…
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Hanging up my stethoscope
Today, after 28 years of clinical medicine, I hung up my stethoscope, put away my box of bricks and toys, and closed my BNF for the last time. Yes, I have finally done it. No more will I drive to Rugby on a Monday morning, to sit on the floor of my clinic room…
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Re-imagine
Are you willing to take a step of faith, and re-imagine how God wants to work in and through you? Are you prepared to step out of your comfort zone? Will you allow the poor to be your teacher? How about joining a Servants internship in a slum community in Northern India next summer? Click here…
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Soul: a contemplative companion to chapter 8 of Growing up to be a child
In chapter eight of Growing up to be a child, I explore this deepest aspect of our humanity as a growing awareness of ourselves, of other people, of the world we live in, and of God. In each of these areas, I suggest that the call to ‘become like a little child’ is a call to…
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A Raja of the Road
Balvinder Singh, son of Punjab Singh, Prince of Taxi Drivers, may your moustache never grow grey! Nor your liver cave in with cirrhosis. Nor your precious Hindustan Ambassador ever again crumple in a collision – like the one we had with the van carrying Mongo Frooty Drink. Although during my first year in Delhi I…