November 2009 – Darwin again

I know we are all getting heartily sick of Darwin, but he will not go away. Neither can we make some minor modification to our theology (e.g. the day age theory) and go on as though nothing had happened. The evidence for biological evolution is overwhelming and we must be honest about what it exposes regarding our assumptions about the Scriptures.

August 2009 – Established Centre

As I pen this text preparations are underway in Old St Paul’s Wellington to receive and process a select group of Kiwi men and women, cham­pions of our realm, into Knights and Ladies. The choice of Old St Paul’s as the venue for this is particularly fitting. Apart from it being extremely handy to the parliamentary precinct, it is gor­geous to be in a space that was created several cultural time-zones away from the world in which we now live. The difference of the interior from familiar workaday environments helps visitors put their preoccupations on hold and simply enjoy the feast of trusses hewn from our native forests and the sparkle of coloured light that tumbles through the glass into the space. Under the influence of such beauty, one must resist the temptation to over romanticise the past. This is probably how some also view the reinstatement of Knighthoods. 

May 2009 – What do the numbers 2009 and 2009 have in common?

2009 and 2009? What do these numbers have in common. Well, interestingly enough there are two celebrations occurring this year. It is five hundred years since the birth of John Calvin in Noyon Picardy. It is also two hundred years since the birth of Charles Darwin. One might think that these two august personages represent polar opposites – Calvin the rigid adherence to dogma over common sense, and Darwin the brave triumph of scientific inquiry over outdated superstitions. As you probably know, gentle reader, things are not that simple.

February 2009 – 10 past the hour – a conundrum

I frequently arrive late to church on a Sunday morning. This could be because I’ve become a bit sidetracked on the way (there’s plenty of potential for this, see, since it’s a thirty five minute walk – people you know, things you see, thoughts you have that really have to be written down so you have some proof of your profundity later on), but more often than not it’s actually a calculated lateness on my part, an attempt to skip Worship, or at least the bulk of it. I love a church that doesn’t frown on late arrivals.

November 2008 – Render to Constantine?

Today was the day that citizens of New Zealand had the opportunity to influence the make-up of the government. Hence, today, the discussion among the editorial committee over lunch focused around who voted for what, whom, and why, or why the person did not vote. So, how should citizens of the kingdom of heaven operate as citizens of New Zealand? How should they vote? There are, of course, as many opinions in the Church on this question as there are parties on the voting form!

August 2008 – Just the way things are at the end of history?

Pardon me if I don’t clap my hands and shout for joy. If this is the end of history, then it is a “pretty” bleak place. If this is the terminus of the world-spirit’s evolution, the conclusion must be that the demonic is ubiquitously incarnate. Francis Fukuyama wants us to settle for what he believes to be the completed, final, global, ideological victory of capitalism. But, if the world has arrived, then ever-increasing masses of poor people have found their destination to be an empty table.

May 2008 – Knock knock

Our editorial gatherings can get a bit random towards the end of proceedings; such is the evolution of many “carefully-crafted” issues of this publication! So, as we write, David Cashmore practises his Fender chops, while Howlin’ Wolf, distinctively intones the Blues out of Cashmore’s other sound system.

“You wonder why any of those white boys bothered to imitate,” David muses. Our response: Because the likes of the Stones and the Yardbirds were British, and because, in North America, the Blues wasn’t for white boys. It is the same reason, the same need to respond, that has moved David to plug in his own guitar, adjusted his effects, and improvise along.

 A purpose of an editorial is to entice the reader to engage with the offerings, something like the uncovering of a need. An editorial is somewhat like the opening joke of a long lecture. (It is also an opportunity for the editors to put in their fifty cents. Fifty cents doesn’t buy much cheese these days, so it is better invested here.)

February 2008 – Why is Lloyd Geering still important?

It is 2008, and the world is well into a century which looks like being dominated by climate change, by China, and by the challenges of religious pluralism in a religious age. New Zealand is slowly turning its attention to all three. It is ill equipped to understand the third, because it has been ill-equipped to understand religion.

Overall, our small country has shallow intellectual soil – we rely heavily on a few voices canonised by the media to interpret the wider world for us. This is especially true for the wider world of ideas. Generally, we have been shaped by an unreflective pragmatism which has its strengths, but also makes us vulnerable; we can too easily accept the assumptions and confident assertions of others about the state of intellectual play in the rest of the world. Nowhere have we proved more vulnerable to this than in the field of religion.

November 2007 issue – “Imagining a healed world”

Christians in the twenty-first Century need to heed especially the call to a renewed inner relationship with the natural world, and to resist the cultural mandate to control. As one phenomenologist has said, “The idea of a universe that is selfsubsistent – standing entirely on its own, fully operational and intelligible, independent of anything outside itself – is both odd and modern.” If Christians retreat to an other-worldly preoccupation it does no good to ourselves or the world.

The core papers presented in this issue of Stimulus are from a one-day Colloquium on Creation Care at Bible College, Henderson, on May 22nd. This Colloquium was jointly sponsored by A Rocha, an emerging Christian environmental organisation now affiliated with A Rocha International, and TANSA (Theology and the Natural Sciences in Aotearoa), a centre for science and faith dialogue within the Tyndale/ Carey Graduate School, partly funded by Metanexus.net.

Check out the issue here.

August 2007 issue of Stimulus out now

The August 2007 issue is being mailed out. Maurice Andrew discusses forgiveness, identity, and Christian witness. Murray Rae continues the theme of forgiveness and considers whether it can be part of foreign policy for a nation. Mike Mawson considers that old chestnut – Christendom – in the works of two seminal writers, John Howard Yoder and Oliver O’Donovan. Edmund Little responds to previous discussions in Stimulus about re-engaging with the Bible. Mike Grimshaw re-reads Romans 1 to 2:16 “after postmodernity”. And we have lots of book reviews… including Chris Marshall on Michael Baigent’s The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-up in History (!) Read the editorial and see a couple of the articles here.

May 2007 issue of Stimulus out now

The May issue of Stimulus is out now. The focus of the issue is on the challenge of Islam. Douglas Pratt provides an historical introduction to Islam as it has challenged and is now challenging Christianity. Peter McKenzie provides an expert analysis of Sharia law. Duncan Roper provides an overview of modern Islamic thought regarding the West and society as enunciated by Sayyid Qutb. Chris Beard shares some personal reflections regarding contact and friendship with Muslims in New Zealand. Peter Stuart presents some perspectives on religious freedom in a pluralist world. Tom Smail presents perspectives on trinitarian atonement.

February 2007 issue now out

The February 2007 issue is now out. The issue continues several of Stimulus‘ ongoing themes. A number of the articles engage overtly with our increasingly postmodern contexts and sensibilities.

February, May, August 2007 Issues

Stimulus is currently planning the next issues. February 2007 will include the annual Clyde Vautier lecture. This year it was Chris Marshall talking about re-engaging with the bible in a postmodern world. We also have Peter Stuart sharing some of the theological foundations for the ministry of preaching.

 We are currently proposing that the May 2007 issue be focused on the issues of Islam and Christianity. Further out, we are currently looking to have August 2007 looking at issues of ecology and the gospel. More to come…

November 2006 Stimulus now in the mail

Stimulus 14-4 is now available.   In this issue we look behind Dan Brown’s story and its pseudoscholarship at some of the considerations in scholarship implied by The Da Vinci Code. All but one of the “Christianity and the feminine: The Da Vinci Code phenomenon” articles were given as papers at a colloquium of the same name, organised by the Wellington Theological Consortium, on Saturday 8 July 2006, at the Mercy Centre, Wellington.  

August 2006 Stimulus now available

Stimulus 14-3 is now available. It presents papers given at the Forum of the Christian Left (FOCaL) Conference 2006. The conference, entitled “Church and Society after Election 2005”, featured papers from a number of New Zealand commentators including: Dr James Harding, FOCaL trustee and Old Testament lecturer at Otago University; Prof. Peter Lineham, Associate Professor of History at Massey University, Albany Campus; and Dr Anthony Dancer, Social Service Commissioner, Anglican Church New Zealand. Enjoy.