Greenflame

Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture, photography and faith from the Aotearoa New Zealand

  • Research report on childhood spirituality in NZ

    Received an email today saying EIDTS (the Ecumenical Institute of Distance Theological Studies) has put Peter Donovan’s research report Childhood Spirituality: A vital concern for NZ churches on their web site. I’ve had a quick skim and found the various resources and organizations listed in the second part looking useful for my spirituality courses.

    I do a week on spirituality and children in the Spirituality and Wellbeing course I teach, partly in response to requests I get each year asking what we do with theology and children, so additional resources are useful.

    You can find the report (both parts) here:

    EIDTS – Research Reports.

  • World-building

    A couple of articles related to creating worlds to inhabit in fiction and popular culture.

    The first, drawn to my attention by a colleague who knows I’m in vampires in popular culture mode at the moment, talks about world-building within the Twilight novels and books and some intersections with religion and spirituality in those worlds.

    The second is an op-ed piece by Saladin Ahmed, the author of “Throne of the Crescent Moon” (which I quite enjoyed), who talks about the ‘homes’ that people find in the worlds created particularly in fantasy fiction. See: At Home In Fantasy’s Nerd-Built Worlds : NPR

    Like a detailed model railroad the size of a football field, or a small city of fully furnished dollhouses, the well-built fantasy world astonishes us with the vastness of its intricacies. And from this wood, paint, cloth, metal, and hours and hours of painstaking nerds’ work, a kind of magic is made.

    A much more detailed essay on world-building from kiwi Dylan Horrocks can be found at the link below, as well as in the following collection of essays.

    • http://www.hicksville.co.nz/PerfectPlanet.htm
    • Horrocks, Dylan. “The Perfect Planet: Comics, Games and Word-Building.” In Writing at the Edge of the Universe, edited by Mark Williams, 197-223. Christchurch, N.Z.: Canterbury University Press, 2004.

    Of course, one of the classic essays on world-building is this one:

  • ANZATS Conference 2013

    The details for the annual meeting of ANZATS in late June-July is now out, including the call for papers.

    ANZATS Conference 2013

    Christians in Communities – Christians as Communities
    Call for Papers

    The Annual Conference of the
    Australian & New Zealand Association of Theological Schools will be held at
    Laidlaw College in Auckland, New Zealand
    29 June to 2 July 2013.

    The Conference will incorporate the annual gatherings of
    NZATS, ANZABS, PPTNZ and STAANZ.
    Proposals for papers in all fields of theological study are invited.
    (See attached guide)
    Titles and Abstracts may be sent to:
    martin.sutherland@laidlaw.ac.nz no later than 31 March 2013.
    Proposals will be accepted progressively
    KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

    Professor Nancy T. Ammerman
    Dr. Ammerman is Professor of Sociology at Boston University. In Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and their Partners (University of California Press, 2005), she describes the common patterns that shape the work of Americans’ diverse communities of faith. Prof. Ammerman is currently engaged in research exploring how religious belief and action are present in the stories people tell about their everyday lives.
    Fr Justin Taylor SM
    Now based in Rome Fr Taylor is a New Zealander who was Professor of New Testament at the Ecole Biblique et Archéologique Française in Jerusalem. He is author of The Origins of Christianity (1998) and Where did Christianity Come From? (2001).
    More details – including guidelines for paper submissions can be found in the PDF below.
    The 2013 ANZATS Conference coincides and will coordinate with the conference
    “Theology, Disability, and the People of God” 1-3 July 2013 at Carey Baptist College in Auckland.
    Speakers include Amos Yong (Regent) and John Swinton (Aberdeen)

  • New Year

    A week or so ago I renewed the greenflame.org domain name for the tenth time. Originally I acquired the domain name and web hosting to experiment with a web site for keeping track of various interesting web links and to have my own email address (pre-gMail).

    I started using phpWebsite, before starting a blog to keep track of my PhD research project and to connect with other bloggers. That started out in August 2003 using Blogger to FTP the blog onto this site. Later on I moved to MovableType before finally settling on WordPress.

    Since finishing the PhD and starting a full-time academic role the frequency of blog posts declined (esp. with Facebook becoming more useful to connect to people) and last year I really didn’t blog much at all as work, health and family kept me very, very busy.

    This year I’m planning on getting back into blogging. Facebook doesn’t really work for organising things I want to keep track of, and I enjoy other people’s blogs – even though it might be considered blasé in some circles.

    With the old iPad I’ve inherited and a mobile connection, I’m thinking the commute on the train might be a good time to do that.

    Anyway, the new year is well underway now so it’s time to get back into it. Hope your new year has started well. All the best for 2013.

  • Merry Christmas

    2012 has been a hard year, hence the lack of regular blog posts. However, I’m hoping 2013 will be a marked improvement and will aim to get back into blogging mode in the new year.

    In the meantime have a good Christmas and a happy New Year.

  • Technology, teaching and learning

    Clearing out links that have been in the browser for a while. These ones relate to teaching and learning.

    Learning Aloud – Videos are what students want and not what they need

    and

    Derek’s Blog » Thinking more about game-based learning
    Post links through to some game-based learning blogs and sites, and has some comments on Minecraft (which my kids really seem to like).

  • Scrivener, EverNote and EndNote

    Have decided to try out Scrivener to get the writing back on track. So a week or two of trying things out while I write my conference paper ‘Divine Demons and Demonic Angels: Biblical Afterlives and the Inversion of Good and Evil in Contemporary Popular Culture’

    I’m hoping this will help get me up to speed: Scrivener and EndNote – YouTube

    As well as the longer video that does EverNote in combination too.

  • Back to the blog

    Things look good – no more dramas with the blog, so time to get back posting.

  • Blog fixed

    Blog needed some urgent maintenance so has been offline while I found time to do that. But I think I’ve got everything sorted now.

  • Church Technology Blogs

    A recent list of some blogs focusing on church technology – may get my religion and media class to have a look at them in a week or two’s time.

    ChurchMag’s 2012 Top 20 Church Technology Blogs | ChurchMag