Two new resources added to the website:
Ian Harris’s latest ODT article: Say goodbye to belief and welcome to faith
A liturgical resource Affirmation of Faith—Living as if we matter by liturgist Bronwyn Angela White
Books by both these writers will be on sale at the Common Ground 2018 Conference, 7-9 September, St Andrew’s on The Terrace, Wellington – along with titles from St Andrew’s Trust for the Study of Religion and Society) including Ian’s “Creating God, Re-Creating Christ” (SATRS, 1999)
Another guest speaker, draft Programme, easier-to-complete Registration form, detailed information about transport, catering, accommodation, parking – and more!
I love the way Karen Armstrong always manages to offer a new way of looking at the material she is researching. Her books are always worth reading for that perspective alone, but also the depth of research she presents means the depth of her work is also outstanding.
Karen Armstrong is a British author and commentator known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical Christian faith
On August 14th at 7pm, St David’s, 68 Khyber Pass Road Grafton, is holding its annual Fergusson Lecture with Professor David Galston [a brief CV is below] speaking on Has Religion a Future? The greatness and tragedy of religion. Entry is by koha/donation and no registration is necessary.
On Saturday August 15th, 9.30am – 4pm, St Luke’s, 130 Remuera Road, is holding a seminar and discussion day with Professor Galston. The cost for the seminar [including morning tea and a light lunch] is $30.00.
At the seminar, the morning lecture, is titled Has Jesus a Future? If Christianity is to have a future, it must have something to do with the historical Jesus. This talk will look at the basic humanity of Jesus and what he had to say is the foundation for re-creating a Church for the future.
The second lecture is titled Session Three: Has God a Future? God is a bigger problem than Jesus in that God is historical only in the way that the idea of God relates to human cultural history and systems of thought. As human beings have grown and changed through the course of history, so has God. Is there a future for God as meaningful discourse?
Following lunch, the last lecture of the seminar, is titled: Is There a Post-Christian Christianity? People who take the conclusions of modern scholarship seriously look for ways to experience religious value outside of traditional, supernatural, beliefs. This raises many challenges, including how to relate to Jesus as a human being of history, how to celebrate life within a Christian community, how to talk about the Bible and God in a postmodern and post-theistic age, and how to develop and enjoy new forms of theology.
To register for the August 15th seminar, email Angela Murdoch nzangela.murdoch@gmail.com or post it to Angela Murdoch, PO Box 74-355, Greenlane, Auckland 1546.
David Galston
David is the Academic Director of the Westar Institute, Ontario, Canada, the Ecumenical Chaplain at Brock University, and an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Brock. He is also an Advisor for the SnowStar Institute of Religion (Canada) and the Quest Learning Centre (Hamilton, Ontario). He has played a key role, both in Canada and the United States, in the development of progressive forms of religion and theology, including being a founding member and chair of the Westar Institute’s new Seminar on God and the Human Future. David has published two books (Archives and the Event of God, McGill-Queens Press, and Embracing the Human Jesus, Polebridge Press) as well as written several articles for the Westar Institute magazine The Fourth R and academic
journal Forum.
David will be the guest preacher at a combined St David’s and St Luke’s church
“The recent rise of religious images in political conflict around the globe has led to a surprising religiophobia, as if religion itself were inherently violent. To this simplistic point of view, Karen Armstrong has written an elegant and powerful response. “Fields of Blood” is not just a defense of religion, but also an exploration of the relation between religion and the history of violence over the centuries. It is a book both erudite and accurate, dazzling in its breadth of knowledge and historical detail. Though it does not give all of the answers to the curious relationship between religion and violence, it sets us on the right path.
“Armstrong begins with the obvious truth that religion doesn’t do anything by itself. It’s not a thing but simply a dimension of human experience.”
Continue reading New from Karen Armstrong: ‘Fields of Blood’
Progressive Christianity Aotearoa 