Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Theology in Pennant Hills

Just a reminder that tonight I start teaching an introduction to theology course at St Mark's Anglican Church, Pennant Hills (cnr Rosemount Ave and Warne St). It's not too late to just turn up on the night. There is a small cost, but I can't remember what it is. The course runs from 7.30-9.30 pm each Wednesday night for seven weeks, with an exam in the eight week, and can be taken in order to gain credit towards a Diploma of Biblical Studies from Moore Theological College's External Studies Department. We'll be covering the following: an introduction to studying theology as well as the doctrines of Christology, Trinity, creation and providence, humanity (and sin), revelation and scripture. No prior experience in formal theology necessary.

6 comments:

Rory Shiner said...

Go well Byron. Would be a treat to hear you teach this stuff!

byron smith said...

Hmmm, hearing was the issue. My voice didn't do so well at holding up for two hours of talking...

byron smith said...

...but thanks for the encouragement!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the Diploma, ok... I'll have to think about it. I really enjoyed Joshua Ng doing "Biblical Theology" and even ran a thread on Sydney Anglicans asking what part time course might be right for my situation, and the Moore Diploma has been on my mind.

I'll have to look into it for the next semester... after we've moved our work office and 4 year old girl's bedrooms around. (Painting up a new room for "Lankshear Design" to live in... except I get a little high on the oils we are using. ;-)

BTW — we're designing your "P.O." piece for "C"... (not sure how confidential this is.)

Some nice points in there mate, especially about Christians with "blind faith" that God has given western civilization the golden stamp of approval. That's something I'll have to ask "Moore" about if I do the Diploma. ;-)

Thanks for the warning and encouragement to faithfulness in that article. You neatly summarized some fairly abstract reactions and temptations that I often see when discussing P.O. in the Christian world. You nailed it.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I was thinking faster than I was typing. I meant to say...

I really enjoyed Joshua Ng doing "Biblical Theology" about 10 years ago and have been meaning to complete it ever since, but life, Leukaemia, and P.O. kind of got in the way.

But since life has returned to some normalcy and this year my youngest daughter will also be attending school, I've been thinking about it some more... and even ran a thread on Sydney Anglicans asking what part time course might be right for my situation, and the Moore Diploma has been on my mind.

ahhh, that's better, makes much more sense.

byron smith said...

The diploma might well be useful for you. I'm not totally familiar with everything that is covered in it, but any chance to wrestle over the scriptures and our lives with other thoughtful Christians is a good opportunity.

As for P.O. in C, I don't think there's any great secret (For those who might be wondering, I've got an article on Global Scarcity (esp Peak Oil) coming out in the next edition of CASE magazine). I wasn't really very happy with the article myself; it was originally a sermon at the start of last year that was written in the middle of chemo (based in turn on this series) and some of the reasoning was pretty fuzzy. Even with Trevor's help editing, it still seems to have a few too many non sequiturs for my liking.