• Workshop - August 2nd 10.00am till 3.00pm, St David’s Presbyterian Church, Khyber Pass Rd, Grafton - “What makes a good city? Lessons from the Commission on Urban Life & Faith.”
• 2008 Ferguson Lecture - August 8th 7.00pm, St David’s Presbyterian Church, Khyber Pass Rd, Grafton - “Doing God? Public Faith and Secular Reason.”
• School Of Theology Lecture - August 13th 6.00pm, Room 018 Clock Tower, 22 Prince Street, University of Auckland - “Health, Wealth or Wisdom? Religion and the Paradox of Prosperity.”

More details about all the sessions in the PDF below.

Looking forward to parts 2 though 99(?).

I’ve used Thielicke’s book in theology classes in the past - particularly the section on the first year theological student returning to their home church and failing to talk the language of the people there, and instead parading all the terms and language they have learnt but without significant reflection upon them, or having integrated of them into a robust theological view, and without the humility essential to a theologian serving the people of God.

Good to catch up with lots of different people over the week.

Various random highlights included:

Going to a presentation in an ecological stream and in the question time finding out about Transition Towns (see also Transition Towns New Zealand Aotearoa)

Having Steve (the emergentkiwi) to stay for a couple of nights and enjoying his paper/presentation on female Christic figures in cinema (especially in “Whale Rider”, “The Fifth Element” and “Serenity”).

Seeing a new crop of postgrads (and a few undergrads) from around the country front up and present their research. Some really good presentations today which bodes well for new people coming through in biblical studies in this part of the world.

Doing my paper on “Broadening the application of the co-creator metaphor”, getting some good feedback, and surviving getting into my talk before realizing I was using the version of the paper without the last minute changes I’d made to it the night before. (Luckily I had the new version on me and could grab it without breaking stride too much).

Listening to an intriguing paper after mine on Melanesian perceptions of the world (especially time) and how that shapes the enculturation of the the gospel and teaching theology. Some good material there that would intersect with developing an Oceanian theology of technology.

It’s been a long week so I’m now looking forward to a lazy weekend.

I’ve used Thielicke’s book in theology classes in the past - particularly the section on the first year theological student returning to their home church and failing to talk the language of the people there, and instead parading all the terms and language they have learnt but without significant reflection upon them, or having integrated of them into a robust theological view, and without the humility essential to a theologian serving the people of God.

So far the highlights for me have been the opportunities to meet new people, to catch up with old friends and acquaintances, and to get a feel for the different ways in which people present their material. My presentation is later in the week so getting a sense of what works and what doesn’t with the audience here is nice to have. Plus, picked up some cheap books which is always a bonus.

Still tired from an excellent birthday party for Kim over the weekend out at Whatipu with friends and family staying at the Whatipu Lodge for the weekend, so nice just to sit in some presentations and catch up with people.

Free CD-ROM of resources if you’re in the UK.

So, I’ll post on and off over the next few weeks.

My first random thought about the topic is that we often forget that the Church (or church) is the Spirit’s. And that, while human endeavour and action shapes both its good and bad, ultimately the Church is the community formed, shaped and sustained by the Spirit of God. Sometimes, in our efforts to shape the church, predict the church’s future, and point out it’s good points and bad points we often forget that, as do lapses into Christomonism and such like.

The liturgical imperative, “Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church,” should be more proactively engaged with, rather than just passive background noise.