22 October 2024 – Jonathan Mitchell

Social mind, shared history

Shaping the present by reshaping the past

Who sets the narrative? Who decides what stories to tell, and how they are told? What happens to those who step out of line and tell a different story? For how long does a story have to be told and retold, and by whom, before it becomes accepted as historical fact?

Drawing on sources as wide as social representation theory, societal psychology, and Marxist ideas of socialisation, Fr Jonathan Mitchell invites us to take a critical look at our systems of values, metaphors, beliefs, and shared history. How do these get established? What is the utility of accepting them, and when do they need to be challenged? Now, and throughout history, those who control the stories of the past can control the shape of our present and our future. Fr Jonathan’s talk will reach back to the Reformation and before, and into a present-day multimedia multi-truth world and beyond.

Jonathan Mitchell

Fr Jonathan Mitchell is a Roman Catholic priest, currently serving in South Shropshire. His first career was in hotel management. He had little contact with the Roman Catholic church at the time, but then felt a sudden and life-changing calling to be a Roman Catholic priest. This led him to 6 years of training for the priesthood in Birmingham, followed by three years studying for a BA in psychology at Cambridge University. More recently, Fr Jonathan has completed a Masters Degree in History, looking at the consequences and outworking of the Reformation in Shrewsbury.