References to Jim in online articles, blogs, and books
There is a fair amount of material about Jim on the Web. Some of it difficult to find. And some of it not likely to be there permanently.
It includes
- people writing about the influence Jim's speaking or writing had on them;
- people talking about the personal support Jim gave people;
- people praising Jim's skill in encouraging people
- people assessing Jim's place in the development of evangelical thinking in the 1970s and later.
Some are writing about a one-of encounter with Jim and writing more than 30 years later on that.
The number of references to Jim on the Web is difficult to measure - certainly into the hundreds - and we keep coming across pages that are new to us. And what comes as a surprise is how recent many of these references to Jim are. And not just pages in English - there are Portugese pages which speak of Jim's Community of Shalom material, for example here.
Recent mentions
Jim's shalom material is mentioned in a report (May 2017) by the Church of Scotland on the centenary of the Balfour Declaration
Jim is mentioed in David Torrance's autobiography oublished in 2015. Jim was in his Bible Class in Haddington - "An energetic and wild lot, but loveable"
Jim mentioned in online articles and blogs
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Pip Wilson in his blog has on a number of occasions paid tribute to Jim. His blog is at www.pipwilson.com .
John Davis on his pages has material on Jim, especially relating to his shalom writings. (Use the search box on his site to find the pages about Jim.)
The Barnardo's CANDL project mentions Jim's work in this paper on "Theological models for churches community involvement"
The pages of Andrew Prior recount listening to Jim in the Australian desert 300 miles from the nearest town, and not knowing how he got there.
Singer/songwriter Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue is quoted on a large number of music sites explaining why he dedicated Riches on his Raintown album to Jim. One such interview (with Dougie Adam) is here, but a Google search will point you to a number of others.
Jim gets a brief mention in Wikipedia in articles about Greenbelt and articles about Deacon Blue.
The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization website has the Lausanne Occasional Paper 22, Christian Witness to the Urban Poor, which Jim was involved in producing.
The archives of the Lausanne Committee which are held at Wheaton has a reference to a folder of documents produced prior to "MiniConsultation on Reaching the Urban Poor" held in Pattaya in 1980, chaired by Jim. (We have no idea what is in that archive - but it would be interesting to investigate it.)
Former SU (England) schools worker Kenny Wilson mentions Jim in a page on looking back on the past 50 years of SU schools work
Reg Burrows in an article on "The Kingdom of God and Mission" gives a long quote from Jim speaking on 'Kingdom theology' at the Anglican Evangelical Assembly in January 1982 and is critical of the position taken by Jim. The article by Burrows can be found here.
In Michel Eastman's paper on the first 25 years of FYT in strategic network (March 1992), he talks of "Jim Punton's work in coordinating the track on the urban poor at the Pattaya 1980 consultation and the significant influence that had."
The FYT website has various references to Jim, including a report on the event in Edinburgh in May 2011 where a large number of friends of Jim met to recognise the 25th anniversity of this death in 1986.
Jim mentioned in books
Over the past 35 or more years Jim has been mentioned or quoted in a large range of books. The books range from Year Books for nursing students to youth work manuals to academic publications!
Brian Stanley in his book "The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism: the age of Billy Graham and John Stott", 2013 mentions Jim in relation to his role in 'A response to Lausanne' produced at Lausanne 1974 by the Theology and Radical Discipleship Group. "It represented both the new Latin American evangelicals and some more radical evangelicals in the North, such as American Mennonite John Howard Yoder, or Jim Punton of the Frontier Youth Trust an offshoot of the Scripture Union movement in Britain with a radical vision for mission to youth in the inner cities."
Doug Gay, lecturer in Theology, Glasgow University, in his book "Remixing the Church - towards an emerging ecclesiology" (2011) mentions Jim. "Towards the end of my student years I was influenced by a more politicized 'radical' evangelical strand, in particular the work of Scotland's Jim Punton and from North America the work of Ron Sider and of Jim Wallis." (He also mentions Jim in his previous book "Alternative Worship" 2003 SPCK.)
Howard Sercombe, an Australian working at Strathclyde University, mentions Jim in his book "Youth Work Ethics" (2010 ISBN 1847876048)
Jon Bonk, writing from a Roman Catholic perspective, mentions Jim in relation to the Thailand Report on Reaching the Urban Poor, in his book "Missions and Money: Affluence as a Missionary Problem" (2006 ISBN 1570756503)
Jim is quoted in Tom Slater's book "The Temporary Community" (1984 Albatros Books) p68, p13 and back cover
Jim is mentioned on p97 of "Godward - Personal Stories of Grace" by Ted Koontz (1996)
Jim is quoted on p119 of "Inside Out" edited Michael Eastman (Falcon Books, 1976)
"Colorado Christian University - Nursing Student Handbook, 2012-2013" has a reference to Jim.
Jim is mentioned in Alan Krieder's book "Journey Towards Holiness" (p15) 1987.
Ross Langmead has a reference to Jim's work in "The Word made Flesh - towards an incarnational missiology" University Press of America 2004 (p.110)
"Jesus and the Christian in a Pop Culture" by Tony Jasper (1984) mentions Jim on p142.
Jim is quoted in the "National Christian Council (of India) Review vol. 102" p575 1982. The quote is of something he said in Australia.
There is a mention of Jim in "Rise and Fall of the Nine O'Clock Service" by Roland Howard (p15)