Worshipping
Ecumenically
A
guide to Preparing and Evaluating Ecumenical
Worship
This great resource
is now available
for download in a much tidier format.
One
Faith - Multifaith
Read (click on image) the Faith
and Order Commission publication 'One
Faith - Multifaith: a theological basis to multifaith
gatherings'.
Read
Bishop Christopher Prowse's speech which he
gave in the presence of the Dalai Lama in Canberra
(12th June, 2007).
Christian
Care for the Environment
A contemporary problem in the
light of long-standing Christian tradition
For several decades
now the protection and care of the environment
have been important social issues. Environmentalism
has sometimes been accused of being a form of
pantheism, a competitor to Christian theology.
But Christians know that our relationship with
the triune God demands that we care for the
environment in which we see the self-expression
of the Trinity. Read
on>>
Theological
Resources on Care of the Environment and Climate
Change
The Ecumenical
Patriarch on Environmental
issues.
Theology of Climate
Change paper put together by Micah
Challenge.
Interchurch
Dialogue
The WCC Assembly
in Porto Alegre invited the churches to continue
their journey together, as a further step towards
full visible unity. The purpose of this invitation
was two-fold: (a) to reflect what the churches,
at this point on their ecumenical journey, can
say together about some important aspects of
the Church; and (b) to invite the churches into
a renewed conversation - mutually supportive,
yet open and searching - about the quality and
degree of their fellowship and communion, and
about the issues which still divide them.
Papers on local
dialogues have been made available:
Australian
Churches Covenanting Together: a Commentary
Churches
of Christ Dialogues
Australian
Lutherans in Dialogue
Christian
Unity Working Group (UCA)
Anglican
Dialogues
Contemporary
Gnostic Religion
The western world
in recent years has witnessed increasing popular
speculation about the origins of the Christian
religion. Media interest in archaeology and
religious history, as well as popular culture
phenomena (e.g. Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code
novel and movie, or National Geographic's documentary
on The Gospel of Judas), have prompted
many people to ask:
- Is the New
Testament portrait of Jesus reliable?
- Are there secret traditions about Jesus that
have been suppressed by the 'established church'?
- What about all these 'gnostic' religious groups
that existed in the first centuries of the Christian
era?
- Are there new discoveries that discredit Christianity
as it has been taught and practised for 2000
years?
Such questions
deserve a clear response. Christian churches
must ask: what are the foundational sources
of the Christian faith, and do traditional accounts
of Christian origins stand up to historical
scrutiny? The following notes on Gnostic
Religion have been prepared by the VCC Faith
and Order Commission to answer some of these
questions. If you have any comments or further
questions on this issue, please email: vcc@vcc.org.au.
Helpful
articles on the rise of Atheism
Terry Eagleton,
Professor of English Literature at Manchester
University, reviews Richard Dawkins' controversial
book 'The
God Delusion'.
Eagleton's Review
has been widely cited. It explains the intellectural
heritage out of which Dawkins writes. Eagleton
calls this 'a very English brand of common sense
that believes mostly in what it can touch, weigh
and taste, and 'The God Delusion' springs from,
among other places, that particular stable.'
One of the limitations of Dawkins position,
as shown in his recent appearances on the ABC,
is that he makes no distinction between religion
and its associated theological inquiry and fundamentalism.
Frank Brennan
revue in 'Eureka
Street' of God
is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,
Christopher Hitchens, Twelve, New York, 305pp
The Atheist Manifesto: The Case Against
Christianity, Judaism and Islam, Michel
Onfray, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne,
2007, 219pp
Against Religion, Tamas Pataki, Scribe,
Melbourne, 2007, 136pp, is
also worth reading.
