Off to Christchurch to speak at the Theology and the Natural Sciences in Aotearoa (TANSA) Talk this weekend which should be good. Graham and I will talk for a bit and stimulate some discussion, and hopefully we’ll have some sort of panel discussion at the end.

Official details can be found here but here’s the blurb anyway. Feel free to come along if you’re in Christchurch.

We’re going to lunch afterwards at a restaurant or café which people are welcome to tag along to too.

TANSA Talk

9.30-12 noon Saturday September 20th
Laidlaw College (previously BCNZ) Christchurch
70 Condell Avenue, Papanui,
Christchurch
(03) 354 4270

1. Science, Theology, and Ethics: An Emerging Alliance. (Graham O’Brien)

Graham O’Brien has a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology (Canterbury University), 3 years post-doctoral experience in molecular virology (Auckland University), and a Masters degree in Theology (Bible College of New Zealand). Currently Graham is the Vicar of the Picton Anglican Parish, in the Diocese of Nelson. He is also member of the InterChurch Bioethics Council, representing the Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian Churches of Aotearoa, New Zealand on issue relating to bioethics.

2. Thinking theologically about new technologies. (Stephen Garner)

Technology might be considered the environment in which we live, and breathe, and have our being. As such, where does one start to think theologically about the technological environment we find ourselves in? This presentation picks up themes common in bioethics, such as autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, as helpful conversation starters for thinking theologically about technology.

Stephen Garner lectures in Theology at the University of Auckland. His PhD in Theology looked at the imago Dei in the context of transhumanism, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. His also holds an MSc in Computer Science and is a member of the InterChurch Bioethics Council.

I printed this out yesterday to have a look at it, after I was forward the link to it the other day. Looks really helpful, and a good resource for something like the General Education course “Bible and Popular Culture” (old blurb about it here) that I’m teaching next year.

See Bitemybible: The Bible Style Guide

The Bible Style Guide is a reference text designed specifically for those working within the media industry. It provides a crash course in the Bible for busy journalists, broadcasters and bloggers.

I’ll add it to other resources I used to introduce students to basic biblical studies such as:

• “Be an Expert in 137 Minutes in Interpreting the Bible” (Richard Briggs) (Now available as “Light to Live by: How to Interpret the Bible” (Richard Briggs), I think)
• “Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms” (Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, Cherith Fee Nordling)
• “Pocket Dictionary of Biblical Studies” (Arthur G. Patzia, Anthony J. Petrotta, Stanley J. Grenz)
• Spirituality of Jesus (Jon Horne)

To tell you the truth I was surprised when I saw this. It’s a discussion I have with students pretty much every time I teach so I’ll be interested to see what kind of resource is actually produced discussion the language and imagery we use when referring to God.

See Zondervan – She 021—Rob Bell.

Something I stumbled across the other day while searching on the web for something else. It’s a collection of papers on theological anthropology prepared by Faith and Unity Commissioners of the National Council of Churches in Australia back in 2004/2005. I’ll have a peruse of it on the train this week sometime.

See ncca – Faith & Unity Commission and the document can be retrieved from http://www.ncca.org.au/__data/page/104/Anthropology_Study.pdf

In July Metanexus had their annual conference on the theme of Subject, Self, and Soul: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Personhood.

The papers for these are now available and I’m particularly looking forward to reading Technology and Eschatology: Scientific and Religious Perspectives on the Transformation of Human Nature by Ronald Cole-Turner.

Even though there are intimations of spring in the air it’s still very, very wet out in the back garden. So wet that one of our smaller trees fell over the other day – not very windy, but the roots just couldn’t hold onto the sodden ground any more. The same too with the spinning clothes line – it’s pole does appear to be slowly sinking into the ground under the weight of wet washing over the past few weeks, which has never happened before.

Also, I see the cricket stumps have been set up outside for backyard cricket, but I think my children are dreaming that it’ll be dry enough to run around out there in the next week.

Looking forward to summer and a little less rain (not no rain, just not everyday).

The kids football (soccer) season ended yesterday with all four playing their final games for the winter season. It’s been a really long haul – practices for second-born started back in early February for a pre-season tournament, with the others close behind in March. And then with the rain delays we’ve only just finished. Good games yesterday too – one cup final (loss), a plate final (win) and two other good games (wins, with both third-born and fourth-born scoring goals). Now we wait to see how what final positions the two older kids’ teams finish with and how that will affect promotion etc. for next season.

It’s been good on the whole, though I’m looking forward to having Saturday mornings back for a few months (assuming other sporting commitments for the kids don’t come up).

The other week I picked up a copy of the first series of the TV show My God produced by Pacific Crews in DVD. It’s been playing on TV One on Sunday mornings for a while (the third season is currently showing, and season 2 is also out on DVD) but because we’re out of the house before 9am on Sunday’s I’ve never seen it before.

The programme is described as exploring “the spirituality of New Zealanders, and considers how spiritual decision-making helps shape our everyday lives.” Sometime when I find a minute I’m looking forward to getting around to watching it.

Also, when I stopped by their booth at the recent diversity forum in Auckland, the producers mentioned that the licencing arrangements for the DVD are intended to allow it to be used for teaching or community group purposes without having to jump through hoops to use it, which is an excellent idea.

Tag Galaxy – wow!

Two different approaches to working towards treating the same condition. One via stem cells, the other via creating adapted foods.

• Stem-cell transplant staves off radical surgery for Crohn’s sufferer

• Nutrigenomics
• • Nutrigenomics | Biotech Learning Hub
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