WHAT’S ON @ ANGCHAP ~ TE PUNA KARAITI?

Semester One

We began after Easter with a five-part series looking at issues on which Christians are often divided. By examining the Bible and the Christian tradition, we suggested that biblical Christianity is often rather different from what both liberals and fundamentalists tell us. Topics covered were:

• The Authority of the Bible (2 May)
• Violence in the Bible (9 May)
• Jesus’ return and our care for the environment (16 May)
• The creation of the world (23 May)
• Hell (30 May)

We looked at a range of possible Christian views on these subjects, and tried to understand where these different views come from. We also spent some time looking at the biblical basis, or otherwise, for these beliefs. At each session there was a ‘resource person’ primed to help us discuss the issues.

Semester Two ~ Faith & Science

X-Nous continued in the first half of the second semester with a series on Faith & Science. For 200 years, many in the West have assumed that Science and Religion are incompatible, perhaps even at war.

In the middle of these assumptions, some people continue as both scientists and religious believers. In this series, four of them shared their discoveries about:

• The limits of science
• The limits of ‘religion’
• The role of faith in science, of science in faith, and of faith in ‘religion’
• Whether their scientific investigations point to, or away from, God.

Scientists featured:

• Lynton Baird (Chemist at VUW) – 18 July
• Dr Neil Whitehead (Forensic Radioecologist at the IGNS) – 25 July
• Dr Dennis Gordon (Biologist at NIWA) – 1 August
• Dr Sean Devine (Physicist, ex-DSIR, now at VUW) – 8 August

More details are available in the flyer [120KB PDF].
Visit the Issues page to view some of the papers presented.

Semester Two ~ The Middle East

The last X-Nous series is the Middle East: a guide for Christians (and other perplexed people). Historians, political scientists and theologians will help us explore the history of the region and suggest how we should understand the present conflict, and what we might do to contribute to peace.

The series begins Tuesday 5 September, at 5.30pm, at Ramsey House, 8 Kelburn Parade, and continues at the same time every Tuesday until 10 October. Full details in the PDF below:

the Middle East [110KB PDF]

Also check out papers presented at these events and other past events on our Issues page. More importantly, keep watching What’s On for future events.