25 Facts About James Alison

James Alison was born on 4 October 1959 and is an English Catholic priest and theologian.

James Alison's father, Michael Alison, was a prominent Conservative Member of Parliament and minister in Margaret Thatcher's government.

James Alison was an Evangelical Christian, a John Stott's convert.

James Alison described his parents as "part of that generation that sought to redefine Christianity as being a hardline, moralistic and conservative political social movement".

James Alison left the Church of England at the age of eighteen to join the Roman Catholic Church.

James Alison studied Spanish and History at New College of the University of Oxford.

In 1986, James Alison took part in a conference organised by the English Dominicans to propose Catholic pastoral involvement with AIDS.

In 1987, James Alison went to continue his studies at the Jesuit theology faculty in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

In 1985, James Alison came across Rene Girard's book, Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World.

Since 1995 onwards, James Alison remained a priest, though not incardinated in any diocese.

Since 2008, James Alison has been awarded a fellowship at Imitatio, the organisation set up by the Thiel Foundation for researching and promoting Rene Girard's thought.

In 2020, James Alison started Praying Eucharistically, a project exploring the ways of worshipping and Christian living in the Covid lockdown.

James Alison offered to let them issue a decree saying that his ordination was null, but they declined, saying it was valid.

James Alison said he had no objection to the outcome of the process, but would not participate actively as he believed he was never truly a member anyway.

James Alison eventually received a letter stating that he was a priest in good standing, not currently incardinated but available to be incardinated if a bishop wished to have him.

James Alison declined, but instead offered to be incardinated into the diocese.

The bishop then began a process of laicization without James Alison's consent using a recent change in canon law; James Alison was not informed of any charges, and believed this use of canon law was not applicable to his situation.

For James Alison, "it was shocking to be tangential to a process in which it is unnecessary to inform the one charged of the charges against him, in which no legal representation is permitted, and whose sentence does not require the signature of the sentencee".

James Alison noted that this was how Pope Francis had acted towards those he appointed as missionaries during the 2016 Jubilee of Mercy.

James Alison reflected on Girard's influence on his own thought on numerous occasions.

James Alison explains it as "the inner dynamic of the whole life and death of Jesus and what had formed his relationships with his Father".

James Alison uses the language of divine "utter vivacity" and "ineffable effervescence" to stress that there is no death in God, and God is not involved in the death of humans nor judgement leading to death.

James Alison sprinkled the temple with the blood of the Lord, thus setting the world and people free from their impurities and sins and transgression.

James Alison contrasts "getting right" the theory of atonement with "undergoing atonement":.

James Alison believes that the Catholic Church's teaching about homosexuality so far has been anomalous as it rests on a fundamentally flawed premise of the presumed intrinsic heterosexuality of all humans.