Sea of Faith Christchurch Group

Our next meeting, on Friday 22 August, has no pre-defined theme. It will provide an opportunity for us to discuss whatever is on our minds. Here’s a few things that have been on my mind lately.

• How have Christian theologians responded to the environmental crisis? Surely any talk of God and the world has to deal with both modern scientific challenges to traditional ideas of God as creator and also to challenge the assumptions behind unlimited growth and mastery over the natural world. I’m leading a workshop on this at Conference and have been reflecting on a few writers with whom I’m familiar (Moltmann, Matthew Fox, Drewermann, and also Theodore Roszak, who wouldn’t want to be called a theologian, but who does have deep insights into the development of European thought).
• What does the Olympics say about the modern world? You might not agree with Brian that the Chinese would be better off protecting themselves against the encroaching desert than investing millions to host this sporting spectactular, but it is a bit naive to simply get caught up in Olympic fever, without reflecting on how the Olympics are tied up with the mass media, nationalism, and the professionalisation of sport.
• After Conference, we have a number of meetings before the end of the year. What themes do we want to explore? David has expressed interest in Eckhard Tolle and his latest book. Is his ‘universal spirituality’ something that we would like to explore? The human potential movement and new age spirituality is something that the Sea of Faith hasn’t looked at very closely, as far as I’m aware. If the old religion needs re-thinking, what new pathways in spirituality are there for us?