Chaplaincy Network meetings


What we did in the first semester, 2003 :

March 12th Don Nield The latest about Intelligent Design
March 19th Alan Creak Superstition
March 26th Whosoever A current affairs session
April 2nd Terry Wall Can there be Christianity without the cross ?

There have been many different understandings of the place of the cross in Christian history. This paper examines some critiques of atonement theology. It proposes an alternative approach that takes incarnation seriously and explores implications for the suffering of God.

April 9th Alan Creak Belief and brains

The title was suggested by certain articles which appeared the the New Zealand Herald on March 24th. I suggested that, rather than discussing the articles in detail, we might concentrate on why people mentioned in the articles hold the beliefs attributed to them.

The three articles are :

( The local files were taken from pages published on the Washington Times web site, where they were given different titles; links to the originals are within the files, but the copies are here in case the originals move. )
Then came two weeks break. Some of us remembered and celebrated the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus; others simply called it the mid-semester break.
April 30th Don Nield If "creation science" and "intelligent design theory" are not the answer, then what is the answer ?'

( - or, in other words, what should we tell Christian students about the significance of Darwinism ? )

May 7th Whosoever A current affairs session
May 14th No one, really Undefined

I was assured that someone would turn up; a topic was hinted at. In the event, the mean attendance was 2.5, one of whom was there by accident. Not one of our best endeavours - but we had an interesting discussion anyway.

MORAL : Turn up anyway !

May 21st Don Nield Reviews of some recent books on science and religion.
May 28th Alan Creak, p.p. the Archbishop of Canterbury We discussed the Archbishop's Easter Sermon.
June 4 Alan Creak, p.p. the Pope We discussed the Pope's homily on church unity, delivered on 2003 January 25. ( I looked for an Easter address to compare with the Archbishop's from last week; there is one ( here, if you're interested ), but Canterbury won that one. This is a lot better. )


What we did in the second semester, 2003 :

July 23rd Don Nield The Big Bang, Continuous Creation, and their consequences for theology.
July 30th Philip Crump Philip had intended to lead a discussion of the notion of the Just War, but it became a presentation of the story of Ormond Burton. It was good anyway.
August 6th and 13th Terry Wall Discussion of "No religion is an island", by Abraham Joshua Heschel.

August 20th Peter Murnane Genetic engineering in New Zealand.

August 27th Jock Brookfield "Glimmers of light on foreshore and seabed" : a discussion of the Marlborough Sounds/Maori rights issues.

- then there was the mid-semester break, after which we burst into life once again with -
September 17 Don Nield If evolution has occurred, what implications does that have on our understanding of the nature of God ?

September 24 Contributions from those present A current affairs discussion.
October 1 Alan Creak Cooperating religions in world affairs.
October 8 Alan Creak Body and soul.
October 15 Whosoever A current affairs session
October 22 Alan Creak "Church, state, and behaviour". ( That's supposed to be about how and whether Christians and churches should be involved in matters of public interest. It isn't a very good title, but I realised I had to think up something just before the "Next Week" deadline. ) You can look at the notes.

Alan Creak,
2006 July.