Schuman Talk (episode 48) - Rev. Dr. Helen Paynter

For the first Schuman Talk of 2025 we are joined by Revrd. Dr. Helen Paynter for a conversation on how to respond to the far-right's use of Christian-sounding language.

Revrd. Dr. Helen Paynter is the Director of Theological Education at the Bristol Baptist College, and Executive Director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence (https://www.csbvbristol.org.uk/).

While passionate about the Bible, Helen is concerned about how it is sometimes abused to cause harm, which led her to publish "Blessed are the Peacemakers: A biblical theology of human violence" (Zondervan, 2023).

In her latest book "The Church, the Far-Right and the claim to Christianity", Helen addresses the use of the Far-Right of Christian-sounding themes, often used to disguise values actually contrary to Christianity. The focus is Britain, but there is an obvious parallel to Europe as a whole, and indeed globally.