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PEACEtalks

PEACEtalks

By Paddington Church

Political, Ethical, Artistic & Cultural Engagement (PEACE) – a monthly event hosted by Paddington Anglican Church, aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything
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Professor David Clough - Q&A The Christian Ethics of Eating Animals

PEACEtalksJul 02, 2019

00:00
23:50
Esther Lightcap Meek – Inviting the Real

Esther Lightcap Meek – Inviting the Real

I found out that our Modern Age touts a philosophy that disavows philosophy. It robs us of our philosophical birthright. It both spawns and dismisses our doubts about knowing and the real. It touts an approach to knowing and the real which actually obstructs our work, damaging ourselves and the world.

So I am a professional philosopher working beyond the ivory tower with people in the streets—where philosophizing ought to happen, to address people’s heartfelt but often thwarted longing for the real. I want to share with others what I needed desperately but took decades to find.

I have found a deeply healing, integrative, life-reorienting approach to our core philosophical questions about knowing and the real. And since our philosophical approach is foundational to everything else we do, this philosophical approach has been proven to positively and concretely impacts every other venture we undertake. I’d like the opportunity to share it with you.

Esther Lightcap Meek. Esther is Professor of Philosophy emeritus at Geneva College, in Western Pennsylvania. In addition to being a well known author and speaker, she is a Fellow Scholar with the Fujimura Institute, an Associate Fellow with the Kirby Laing Center for Public Theology, and a member of the Polanyi Society.

PEACEtalks is a quarterly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. As such, our events seek to take all of these areas of our shared humanity seriously in a world where such things are often marginalized. We also seek to demonstrate the ways in which spiritual and theological reflection enable us to look at all of these important areas afresh. All welcome!

Aug 21, 202201:02:03
Dr Michael Mawson - Speaking of God in the Midst of COVID-19: Insights from Julian of Norwich
May 23, 202101:02:59
Refuge Reimagined

Refuge Reimagined

The global crisis of forced displacement is growing every year. At the same time, Western Christians' sympathy toward refugees is increasingly overshadowed by concerns about personal and national security, economics, and culture. We urgently need a perspective that understands both Scripture and current political realities and that can be applied at the levels of the church, the nation, and the globe.

Mark R. Glanville and Luke Glanville reflect on their new book Refuge Reimagined offering a new approach to compassion for displaced people: a biblical ethic of kinship. God's people, they argue, are consistently called to extend kinship—a mutual responsibility and solidarity—to those who are marginalized and without a home. Drawing on their respective expertise in Old Testament studies and international relations, the two brothers engage a range of disciplines to demonstrate how this ethic is consistently conveyed throughout the Bible and can be practically embodied today.

Glanville and Glanville apply the kinship ethic to issues such as the current mission of the church, national identity and sovereignty, and possibilities for a cooperative global response to the refugee crisis. Challenging the fear-based ethic that often motivates Christian approaches, they envision a more generous, creative, and hopeful way forward.

Mark R. Glanville (PhD, Bristol University) is associate professor of pastoral theology at Regent College, Vancouver, and an Old Testament scholar. Mark’s research explores the topic of kinship in the Old Testament, focusing on how scripture calls God’s people to enfold vulnerable people as kindred, especially displaced people seeking a place to belong. He is the author of Adopting the Stranger as Kindred in Deuteronomy (2018) and Freed to Be God's Family: The Book of Exodus (2021).

Luke Glanville (PhD, University of Queensland) is associate professor of international relations at Australian National University. Luke’s research focuses on international political theory, the history of international political thought, responsibility to protect, and refugee protection. He is the author of Sovereignty and the Responsibility to Protect: A New History (2014) and Sharing Responsibility: The History and Future of Protection from Atrocities(2021).

With host Ebony Birchall a lawyer who specialises in large-scale public interest litigation. She has acted in landmark legal matters such as the Manus Island class action and the Immigration Data Breach representative complaint and is currently working on investigations concerning government accountability. She researches political philosophy, human rights and the impact of politics and culture on ethics. She is on the People Seeking Asylum team for Common Grace and is a fundraising co-ordinator for the Katoke Trust for Overseas Aid.

This event is PEACEtalks: a quarterly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) starting at 7pm hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks.

Mar 31, 202101:14:46
Rosie Clare Shorter - Marginalisation and Grace

Rosie Clare Shorter - Marginalisation and Grace

Marginalisation and Grace: Centres and peripheries in a world turned inside out.

There are many ways to think about and define the centres and peripheries of Christianity, who or what controls, shapes and influences the markers of belonging and right belief, who or what is mainstream or marginal. This talk, which focuses on ideas of centres and peripheries in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, was intended to sit alongside three other talks at a – now cancelled – conference in New Zealand, which combined, would explore ideas of centres and peripheries in Protestant Christianity in Australia, along the lines of gender, sexuality and ‘race’.

In this talk, Rosie Clare will consider some of the ways in which gender and sexuality can be used to mark the spaces of centre and periphery, power and non-power, and what we might learn or do differently if we were to listen to those who speak and lead from the margins.

Rosie Clare Shorter is a PhD Candidate in the Religion and Society Research Cluster at Western Sydney University. She is studying Anglicanism as a lived religion in Sydney. She is interested in hearing about how people live their faith, and in exploring the interaction of gender, sexuality, evangelism and religious authority. She has a Master of Research and Bachelor of Creative Arts from Macquarie University.

This event is PEACEtalks (see PEACEtalks.info): a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) starting at 7pm hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks.

May 18, 202058:23
Rev Dr Jason John - Up in Smoke: Beauty, Generosity and Justice amidst the Bushfire Emergency

Rev Dr Jason John - Up in Smoke: Beauty, Generosity and Justice amidst the Bushfire Emergency

Now that the bushfire emergency of the last few months has eased, the temptation—especially for those of us in major cities that may have been choked with smoke, but largely avoided the flames—is to think of life as having more or less returned to normal. But something happened this summer, something profound, with the potential to reshape our common life and our future if we will allow ourselves to soak it in. These fires have left their mark on the landscape, and their ecological impacts will likely resonate way beyond the years it will take for all the charred trees to be overtaken by fresh growth. But they have also scorched our cultural and political terrain as well. So if we’re looking for fresh growth, where might it be found? Will we allow ourselves to be shaped by the deep lessons of this catastrophe? The evening will explore the landscape—theological, political, cultural—left behind by the flames.   

This event is PEACEtalks: a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) starting at 7pm hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks

About our speaker: 

Rev Dr Jason John completed an honours in zoology before converting to Christianity, and studying for ordination.  After his first placement as a University chaplain, he completed a PhD and wrote some books on the implications of evolution, ecology and environmentalism for the Christian story, especially in rescuing us from our human-centred theology. Throughout his twenty years of ministry he has helped the church explore the implications of our faith in a Creator for our relationship with the rest of Creation, and in encouraging all people to live as better members of the Earth family. This included working as an environment officer in the University of Queensland Student Union, starting the Adelaide and Bellingen eco-faith communities, working on the team at Uniting Mission and Education, and now as a half-time member of the Uniting Advocacy Team, where his focus has swung more specifically to engaging Uniting and the wider church in emissions reductions and public climate advocacy. Recently Jason found a cathartic outlet for the often-arduous path of environmental engagement in slam poetry, winning the 2019 Bellingen poetry slam and placing 3rd at the Australian Poetry Slam national final at the Opera House in 2019. He lives in the forest with his family, and many other members of the Earth family, trying to be a good neighbour to most of them.  

Mar 18, 202001:18:22
Doing good: How do you work out what is ‘good’ when politics are at play?

Doing good: How do you work out what is ‘good’ when politics are at play?

Followers of Jesus are commanded to turn from evil to do good and to never cease in doing good. But when it comes to political issues, we find our nation and our churches, split over what exactly can be defined as ‘good’. For example, asking the question “is it good to allow asylum seekers into Australia?” will produce a range of responses amongst a Christian audience. Ebony will draw from her Ph.D. research regarding the impact of politics and culture on ethics to challenge us to think through how we reach our opinions around what is ‘good’.

Resources for more information: Common Grace.

Ebony Birchall is a lawyer who specialises in large-scale public interest litigation. She has acted in landmark legal matters such as the Manus Island class action and the Immigration Data Breach representative complaint and is currently working on investigations concerning government accountability. She researches political philosophy, human rights and the impact of politics and culture on ethics. She is on the People Seeking Asylum team for Common Grace and is a fundraising co-ordinator for the Katoke Trust for Overseas Aid.

This event is PEACEtalks: a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) starting at 7pm hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks.

Feb 24, 202001:03:60
Bethlehem with love: Advent with Palestinian Christian Theology

Bethlehem with love: Advent with Palestinian Christian Theology

Rev Katherine Rainger shares with us "From Bethlehem with love: Advent reflections in conversation with Palestinian Christian Theology"

“Come and see” and then “go and tell” is the message that Palestinian Christians give to the church. This PEACEtalks is an invitation to “come and hear” and reflect on what it means to welcome Jesus while also being attentive to the experiences of Palestinian Christians in the land of his birth. Rev Katherine Rainger leads an Advent reflection that draws on the witness of Palestinian Christians, the “living stones” of the holy land who live out their faith with a commitment to justice, reconciliation and peace.

The two YouTube clips included:

Open Your Heart {Christmas in Bethlehem: Real Peace In You and Me} - The story of the birth of Jesus told by the people of Bethlehem. In Palestine. {Credits} This is a mini-documentary titled "O Little Town of Bethlehem". Directed by Tim Parsons.

Areej Masoud at St. Andrews, Canberra

Resources for more information: Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network

Rev Katherine Rainger is a priest, chaplain, teacher and theologian. She is a member of Friends of Sabeel Australia, a group associated with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Centre in Jerusalem, and the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network.

This event is part of PEACEtalks: a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) starting at 7pm hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks.

Dec 13, 201901:11:19
The Ins and Outs of the Body of Christ: listening to the voices the church needs to hear

The Ins and Outs of the Body of Christ: listening to the voices the church needs to hear

For the PEACEtalk to discuss "The Ins and Outs of the Body of Christ: listening to the voices the church needs to hear" we heard from an exciting panel of speakers about what it's like to be LGBTIQA+, have a disability, be multicultural, and Aboriginal, in God's Family and in our churches. The panel of Steff Fenton, Shane Clifton, and Joanne Shan was moderated by Brooke Prentis.

Meet the panel
Steff is a self-identified gay Anglican Christian, currently studying a Masters of Divinity through the University of Divinity. Steff is involved in many projects supporting the equal membership of LGBITQA+ Christians in Australian churches. Steff is the Chair of Equal Voices Sydney, and is a candidate for ordination in the Australian Anglican Church. She blogs at queervangelical.com.

Dr Shane Clifton is Honorary Professor, Centre for Disability Research and Policy, the Faculty of Health Sciences, the University of Sydney. His current research is interdisciplinary, exploring the intersection between disability studies, virtue ethics, and theology. Shane is Married to Elly, and they have three sons. In 2010 Shane had a serious accident that left him a quadriplegic (C5 Incomplete). He is passionate about the flourishing of people with a disability. https://shaneclifton.wordpress.com/

Joanne is Tamil and Sinhalese, born and raised in Narrm (the place now called Melbourne). Joanne holds a Bachelor Degree in Australian Indigenous Studies and is completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Indigenous Theology through Naiits: An Indigenous Learning Community. Joanne loves working with young people to embrace culture, and is a Support Worker volunteering with VACCA (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency) and working in DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services).

Brooke is an Aboriginal Christian Leader, a descendant of the Waka Waka peoples. Brooke is the Director of PEACEtalks, Aboriginal Spokesperson for Common Graceand Coordinator of the The Grasstree Gathering.

This event is part of PEACEtalks: a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) starting at 7pm hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks.

Nov 03, 201901:21:50
Rev Dr Seforosa Carroll – Climate Change, Theology and Resilience in the Pacific

Rev Dr Seforosa Carroll – Climate Change, Theology and Resilience in the Pacific

Hear Rev Dr Seforosa Carroll explore Climate Change, Theology and Resilience in the Pacific – the importance of faith/theology in the Pacific and how it can be both a hindering and transforming agent of change. Also exploring the importance of Indigenous knowledge and wisdom as a source of resilience in a changing climate.

Seforosa (Sef) is a Fiji born Rotuman who spent her formative years growing up in Lautoka, the Western side of Viti Levu in Fiji. These formative experiences continue to inform Sef’s theological reflections on interfaith and cross-cultural relationships, and gender and culture from a diasporic perspective of a migrant who calls Australia one of her homes. Sef graduated with a PhD in theology at Charles Sturt University in 2015. Sef is a Research Fellow of the Public and Contextual Theology Research Center (PaCT), Charles Sturt University, Australia. She is a visiting lecturer with the School of Theology, United Theological College Charles Sturt University in theology.  Sef is a CTI Fellow and was a resident member of the 2017-2018 Inquiry into Religion and Migration at the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton. Sef just completed her time with UnitingWorld where she worked as a theological researcher (climate and gender) and facilitating church relationships in Australia and the Pacific.  Sef is a great believer in the powerful role theology can play in bringing about transformative change. Sef begins a new role with the World Council of Churches in Geneva in January 2020.

This event is part of PEACEtalks: a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) starting at 7pm hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks.

Sep 21, 201901:18:32
Can art change the world? Helen Wright, Claire Wall, Mary van den Berk

Can art change the world? Helen Wright, Claire Wall, Mary van den Berk

A panel of artists who have been part of Creative Conversations held at Annandale Creative Arts Centre as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival joined us for our August PEACEtalks and explored "Can art change the world?"

Speakers

Helen Wright is a Pastor at Newtown Mission and oversees Annandale Creative Arts Centre. She is the Artistic Director of Creative Conversations, a project inviting artists to create new work engaging with justice. With a background in dance and collaborative performance making, Helen is currently writing music for community contexts to bring about transformation.

Claire Wall is an actor and theatre-maker. She is passionate about creating theatre that gives voice to community and challenges dominant social narratives. Her recent production “Homesick” explored connection to place through the lens of the Armidale community, and recentred Indigenous story and knowledge.

Mary van den Berk is a visual artist who comes from a background of social work, research and art teaching. 2019 will be Mary’s second time participating in Creative Conversations, following her first contribution in 2014 for the Creative Conversations with Asylum Seekers. For this year’s Creative Conversations with Land, Mary is using needlepoint and sampler quilt craft to represent white colonial women present and how history wrongly attached the hunter-gatherer label to Aboriginal peoples.

With Brooke Prentis, PEACEtalks Director, Wakka Wakka woman, Aboriginal Christian Leader, Aboriginal Spokesperson for Common Grace, and Coordinator of the The Grasstree Gathering.

This event is part of PEACEtalks: a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’.

Sep 01, 201901:21:37
Professor David Clough - Q&A The Christian Ethics of Eating Animals

Professor David Clough - Q&A The Christian Ethics of Eating Animals

In this lecture, David Clough makes the case that Christians have strong faith-based reasons for urgent changes in their practice towards animals, particularly with respect to the ways they are now raised for food. He begins by arguing that despite the many important pressing questions of social justice and environmental responsibility, animal ethics is worth our time both because it is urgent and because it intersects with these other areas of ethical concern. He next provides an outline of where animals figure in Christian understandings of God’s work in creation, reconciliation, and redemption, showing that Christians have faith-based reasons for being concerned for the flourishing of fellow animal creatures. In the third section of the lecture, he provides a survey of how animals are currently being raised for food, which leads to the conclusion that there is a scandalous abyss between a Christian understanding of animals and our current practice in using them for food. In the final part of the lecture, he identifies two clear practical responses to the challenge of this abyss: to reduce overall consumption of animal products and move to higher welfare sourcing. He invites individuals, churches, and other Christian organizations to take action in relation to both goals, and offers resources to guide and support such action.

David Clough is Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Chester and has just finished a term as President of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics. He co-wrote Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War (2007), debating just war and pacifism in a 21st century context, and has recently completed the landmark two-volume monograph On Animals (2012, 2018), on the place of animals in Christian theology and ethics. He is the founder of CreatureKind (http://becreaturekind.org), a project aiming to engage Christians with farmed animal welfare, and Principal Investigator for a three-year UK Research Council funded project on the Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare in partnership with major UK churches and Compassion in World Farming. He is a Methodist lay preacher and has represented the Methodist Church on national ecumenical working groups on the ethics of warfare and climate change.

PEACEtalks is a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. 'PEACE' stands for 'political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement'. As such, our events seek to take all of these areas of our shared humanity seriously in a world where such things are often marginalized. We also seek to demonstrate the ways in which spiritual and theological reflection enable us to look at all of these important areas afresh. All welcome! More info - https://paddington.church/peacetalks 

Jul 02, 201923:50
Professor David Clough - Eating More Peaceably: The Christian Ethics of Eating Animals

Professor David Clough - Eating More Peaceably: The Christian Ethics of Eating Animals

In this lecture, David Clough makes the case that Christians have strong faith-based reasons for urgent changes in their practice towards animals, particularly with respect to the ways they are now raised for food. He begins by arguing that despite the many important pressing questions of social justice and environmental responsibility, animal ethics is worth our time both because it is urgent and because it intersects with these other areas of ethical concern. He next provides an outline of where animals figure in Christian understandings of God’s work in creation, reconciliation, and redemption, showing that Christians have faith-based reasons for being concerned for the flourishing of fellow animal creatures. In the third section of the lecture, he provides a survey of how animals are currently being raised for food, which leads to the conclusion that there is a scandalous abyss between a Christian understanding of animals and our current practice in using them for food. In the final part of the lecture, he identifies two clear practical responses to the challenge of this abyss: to reduce overall consumption of animal products and move to higher welfare sourcing. He invites individuals, churches, and other Christian organizations to take action in relation to both goals, and offers resources to guide and support such action.

Bio:
David Clough is Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Chester and has just finished a term as President of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics. He co-wrote Faith and Force: A Christian Debate about War (2007), debating just war and pacifism in a 21st century context, and has recently completed the landmark two-volume monograph On Animals (2012, 2018), on the place of animals in Christian theology and ethics. He is the founder of CreatureKind (
http://becreaturekind.org), a project aiming to engage Christians with farmed animal welfare, and Principal Investigator for a three-year UK Research Council funded project on the Christian Ethics of Farmed Animal Welfare in partnership with major UK churches and Compassion in World Farming. He is a Methodist lay preacher and has represented the Methodist Church on national ecumenical working groups on the ethics of warfare and climate change.

PEACEtalks is a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. 'PEACE' stands for 'political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement'. As such, our events seek to take all of these areas of our shared humanity seriously in a world where such things are often marginalized. We also seek to demonstrate the ways in which spiritual and theological reflection enable us to look at all of these important areas afresh. All welcome! More info - https://paddington.church/peacetalks

Jul 02, 201901:02:39
Erin Martine Sessions - Q&A on The Song of Songs and Australia’s Problem with Intimate Partner Violence

Erin Martine Sessions - Q&A on The Song of Songs and Australia’s Problem with Intimate Partner Violence

Hear from Erin Martine Sessions on The Song of Songs and Australia’s Problem with Intimate Partner Violence

Erin Martine Sessions is an Old Testament Academic, currently undertaking a Phd in The Song of Songs, the Domestic & Family Violence Justice Spokesperson for Common Grace, a poet and writer. 

Resources:

PEACEtalks. a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks

Jun 07, 201932:11
Erin Martine Sessions - The Song of Songs and Australia’s Problem with Intimate Partner Violence

Erin Martine Sessions - The Song of Songs and Australia’s Problem with Intimate Partner Violence

Hear from Erin Martine Sessions on The Song of Songs and Australia’s Problem with Intimate Partner Violence

Erin Martine Sessions is an Old Testament Academic, currently undertaking a Phd in The Song of Songs, the Domestic & Family Violence Justice Spokesperson for Common Grace, a poet and writer. 

Resources:

 PEACEtalks. a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. Also on iTunes / Apple Podcasts by searching for PEACEtalks

Jun 07, 201940:11
Brooke Prentis - Voice. Treaty. Truth – Q&A

Brooke Prentis - Voice. Treaty. Truth – Q&A

Engaging with the 2019 NAIDOC Week theme - "Voice. Treaty. Truth - Let's work together for a shared future", hear from our PEACEtalks Director, Brooke Prentis, Wakka Wakka woman, Aboriginal Christian Leader, Aboriginal Spokesperson for Common Grace, and Coordinator of the The Grasstree Gathering educate us on Treaty, share some truth, and echo the calls for Voice, Treaty, Truth.

NAIDOC Week runs from the first Sunday to the second Sunday of July each year and in 2019 runs from 7 – 14 July. NAIDOC Week follows National Reconciliation Week (#NRW) which runs from 27 May – 3 June each year. This year’s NAIDOC week theme puts the calls from the Statement from the Heart on Australia’s minds, and hopefully on Australia’s hearts. It follows that Australia remains the only Commonwealth nation and one of the last liberal democracies without a Treaty with Indigenous peoples, it follows the 1988 Barunga Statement where Prime Minister Bob Hawke promised a Treaty, and it follows Yothu Yindi’s 1991 song “Treaty”.

PEACEtalks is a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. As such, our events seek to take all of these areas of our shared humanity seriously in a world where such things are often marginalized. We also seek to demonstrate the ways in which spiritual and theological reflection enable us to look at all of these important areas afresh.

May 29, 201901:01:35
Brooke Prentis - Voice. Treaty. Truth – Let’s work together for a shared future

Brooke Prentis - Voice. Treaty. Truth – Let’s work together for a shared future

Engaging with the 2019 NAIDOC Week theme - "Voice. Treaty. Truth - Let's work together for a shared future", hear from our PEACEtalks Director, Brooke Prentis, Wakka Wakka woman, Aboriginal Christian Leader, Aboriginal Spokesperson for Common Grace, and Coordinator of the The Grasstree Gathering educate us on Treaty, share some truth, and echo the calls for Voice, Treaty, Truth.

NAIDOC Week runs from the first Sunday to the second Sunday of July each year and in 2019 runs from 7 – 14 July. NAIDOC Week follows National Reconciliation Week (#NRW) which runs from 27 May – 3 June each year. This year’s NAIDOC week theme puts the calls from the Statement from the Heart on Australia’s minds, and hopefully on Australia’s hearts. It follows that Australia remains the only Commonwealth nation and one of the last liberal democracies without a Treaty with Indigenous peoples, it follows the 1988 Barunga Statement where Prime Minister Bob Hawke promised a Treaty, and it follows Yothu Yindi’s 1991 song “Treaty”.

PEACEtalks is a monthly event (held on a Thursday or Saturday evening) hosted by Paddington Anglican Church aimed at serving the community by promoting and cultivating deep conversations about life, the world and everything. ‘PEACE’ stands for ‘political, ethical, artistic & cultural engagement’. As such, our events seek to take all of these areas of our shared humanity seriously in a world where such things are often marginalized. We also seek to demonstrate the ways in which spiritual and theological reflection enable us to look at all of these important areas afresh.

May 29, 201936:15
Brooke Prentis – Welcome to With All Due Respect an Election special
Apr 12, 201905:59
Dr Byron Smith - Heads in the Sand Q&A: Australian Climate Politics and the Church

Dr Byron Smith - Heads in the Sand Q&A: Australian Climate Politics and the Church

Australia contributes far more than our fair share to worsening the climate crisis, and yet our political leaders seem to be going backwards. What are the needs, opportunities and challenges of Australian Climate Politics? And where might the church fit? 

 Dr Byron Smith is an ecological ethicist and Christian minister. His PhD in theological ethics (University of Edinburgh) focused on emotional responses to climate change in the context of Christian identity. He also holds honours degrees in theology, philosophy and literature. His time is split between pastoral ministry at Paddington Anglican Church, and a speaking/writing ministry helping churches join the dots between ecological justice and faith. He has authored a number of scholarly articles and book chapters, is a climate consultant for Common Grace, writes for a variety of online platforms, hosts a news digest podcast, The Good Dirt with Byron Smith, and has joined in nonviolent direct actions against new coal projects and in support of people seeking asylum. Byron lives in Sydney with Jessica and their two young children and loves making soil and honey (or watching worms and bees do so). 

Apr 07, 201922:31
Dr Byron Smith - Heads in the Sand: Australian Climate Politics and the Church

Dr Byron Smith - Heads in the Sand: Australian Climate Politics and the Church

 Australia contributes far more than our fair share to worsening the climate crisis, and yet our political leaders seem to be going backwards. What are the needs, opportunities and challenges of Australian Climate Politics? And where might the church fit? 

Dr Byron Smith is an ecological ethicist and Christian minister. His PhD in theological ethics (University of Edinburgh) focused on emotional responses to climate change in the context of Christian identity. He also holds honours degrees in theology, philosophy and literature. His time is split between pastoral ministry at Paddington Anglican Church, and a speaking/writing ministry helping churches join the dots between ecological justice and faith. He has authored a number of scholarly articles and book chapters, is a climate consultant for Common Grace, writes for a variety of online platforms, hosts a news digest podcast, The Good Dirt with Byron Smith, and has joined in nonviolent direct actions against new coal projects and in support of people seeking asylum. Byron lives in Sydney with Jessica and their two young children and loves making soil and honey (or watching worms and bees do so).

Listen to All of Creation Groans, the first recording of HeartCries, original worship music by Helen Wright at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tboz8NjqZ3E 

Apr 07, 201901:00:48
Heads in the Sand - Welcome

Heads in the Sand - Welcome

 Welcome, and Acknowledgement of Country, by Brooke Prentis for Heads in the Sand: Australian Climate Politics and the Church. 

Apr 07, 201908:52
Making the World Strange: the Church’s intellectual vocation

Making the World Strange: the Church’s intellectual vocation

Since her conception the Church has seen herself as having a vocation to challenge the ideas that make the moral, political, and metaphysical claims of the Gospel unthinkable to the world around her. Yet when the Church becomes too at-home in the world we can begin to instead see our role as sanctifying whatever set of presuppositions makes us most comfortable with ‘the way things are.’ For this lecture Dave Taylor will argue that, rather than making itself ‘relevant’ or amenable to contemporary sensibilities, the Church must draw on her theological tradition to ‘make the world strange’, to question the unquestionable assumptions that our world is based upon. 

 Dave Taylor completed his master’s thesis in political theory in 2017 where he looked at the types of people and places that are included into nation-states only by way of their abandonment. Dave is the founder of PEACEtalks, and is co-host of the upcoming podcast Eucatastrophe which seeks to bring the Christian theological imagination to bear on pop-culture, politics, and social issues. He currently works as part of the research team at the Centre for Disability Studies and is a parishioner along with his wife Sarah at St John’s Anglican Church, Ashfield. 

Mar 01, 201901:21:55
Lisa Sharon Harper with Brooke Prentis - Repentance, Racism and Reconciliation

Lisa Sharon Harper with Brooke Prentis - Repentance, Racism and Reconciliation

Lisa Sharon Harper in conversation by Aboriginal Christian leader Brooke Prentis on the topic of 'repentance, racism and reconciliation.' Based in the US, Lisa is a prolific speaker, writer and activist. Her critically-acclaimed book, The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong can be Made Right, was recognised by Relevant Magazine as one of “Six Books that Will Change the Way You See the World”.
Sep 06, 201801:27:25
Gender, Power, and Violence

Gender, Power, and Violence

Panel discussion on gender, power and violence with Emma Pitman (writer), Kylie Maddox Pidgeon (psychologist), and Erica Hamence (minister); facilitated by academic, musician and pastor, Tanya Riches

May 27, 201801:29:17