CASE News June 25, 2012

June 25, 2012

Case Magazine – Christians and Education

Issue 31 of Case Magazine will be available from the end of July. It will follow on from theme of this year’s CASE Conference held last month on the topic‘Education as Formation’ (for more on the conference see the article below). The edition will bring together some fine authors to cover the topic of Christians and Education, and will include an article discussing many of the issues raised during our conference.

Over the next few weeks subscribers who have let their subs lapse will be receiving a reminder email. Were you expecting Case Magazine #30 a couple of months ago and it didn’t arrive? Why not emailcaseadmin@newcollege.unsw.edu.au, and we can check to see that your postal address on file is current, or if your subscription just needs renewing!

New College Lectures.

The 2012 Lectures were very popular this year. For both lectures (May 23-24) the New College Common Room was filled with 130 attendees as James K A Smith and unpacked the theme Imagining the Kingdom. The first evening focused on how our actions flow from our most fundamental desires, longings and loves. He related this back to our Christian formation. On the second evening, James, continued his explanation as to how our desires influence our worship. Both evenings drew very informed and diverse audiences with attendees from interstate, Regional NSW and Sydney. We were pleased to welcome people of varied theological backgrounds from Reformed Evangelical, to traditional Anglo-Catholic as well as Roman Catholic, and a class of students studying Christian Worship from Avondale College who travelled down from the Central Coast for the second lecture. Question time during both evenings was an excellent time for discussion and the audience continued the discussions over tea and coffee for an hour or two after the lecture. We look forward to seeing you all again at next year’s lecture series.

Audio recordings from this year’s lectures are now live online, and can be found on our audio page

http://www.newcollege.unsw.edu.au/audios/audio-archives

CASE Conference 2012

The CASE Conference this year was held in conjunction with the Anglican Education Commission and the Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation. The over-arching theme of the day was ‘Education as Formation.’ Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen welcomed our 230 attendees to New College and presented an introduction describing the mission of Anglican education. James KA Smith was the plenary speaker, and his presentation Educating the Imagination: Christian Education as a Pedagogy of Desire, was very well received by the audience. In his plenary address Prof. Trevor Cairney suggested that authentic Christian education must recognise that schooling has a relationship to the ‘whole of life’, that it occurs within diverse communities of practice, and that it is delivered by people and institutions that view the world and their educational intent from a ‘particular standpoint’. The Christian school he argued is to nurture and assist the formation of the children God gives to us. A more comprehensive report on our conference can been found on the CASE blog at (https://www.case.edu.au/blogs/just-in-case/education-as-formation-conference-outcomes). Many of the teachers who attended the day found the presentations very beneficial. The feedback the college received after the conference will allow us to better cater future events. MP3 Recordings of the conference presentations will go live on the CASE website during the next week. Access will be free for current CASE Associates and conference attendees. A recording may be available for purchase at a later date.

Latest posts on the CASE Blog

In our CASE blog we seek to engage with issues and ideas that are relevant to contemporary life. We welcome your comments and feedback. Some of our recent blog posts are:

Upcoming ISCAST – CASE Events 2012

ISCAST/CASE Science-Faith Panel Discussion Meeting

‘The questions students ask: Science and faith in the classroom’

Thursday 19th July, 2012, 7.30 pm

Venue: Main Common Room of New College (UNSW Campus) (Access on Anzac Parade, Kensington)

Especially for Teachers and those Interested in Science Education. If you are involved at a school it would be great if you could pass this notice to any teacher you think maybe interested in attending. The event is very suitable for early career teachers, and teachers in training (A great networking and professional development opportunity).

Chair of Panel:

Dr Barry Newman, BSc (Hons), MSc & PhD in Chemistry (USyd); BA (Hons) in Education (USyd); Master in charge of Physics at Sydney Grammar School; Lectured at University of NSW (UNSW) in science education; Head of the School of Teacher Education; Member of Council & Governing Board of Moore Theological College for 27 years.

Panel Members:

Mr Vaughan Brown [BSc, Dip Ed; Master Assisting in Biology; Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore)];

Dr David Ruys [PhD in Materials Science; B. Materials & Engineering (Hons); Physics & Secondary Science; St Andrew’s Cathedral School];

Mr Jim Wright [BSc (USyd), DipEd (UNSW); Science and Chemistry teacher, Covenant Christian School].

Possible questions include:

Are science and Christianity in conflict? Has science replaced God?
Creation and evolution – can they both be true?
Does the ‘Big Bang’ theory rule out creation?
Can a scientist believe in miracles?
Are advances in biomaterials (or biotechnology) a challenge to Christian faith?
Are environmentalism and faith in conflict?
Sex and reproduction – ethical questions for today?

The questions will be divided between the panelists. For each question, a panelist will speak for 5 min with 5 min discussion (10 min total). The remaining time will then be followed by general questions and discussion.

Light refreshments will be served at the end of the meeting, which will be free. An RSVP to Prof Peter Barry (p.barry@unsw.edu.au) would be appreciated but is not critical. See ISCAST website link for future update information about this meeting, and for other ISCAST-CASE meetings on Sept 17th.

I hope you can get the chance to read some of our publications or just visit the website or our blog. Don’t forget that you can also follow my tweets on Twitter @AndJustInCase

Thanks for supporting CASE.

Trevor Cairney

Director, Centre for Apologetic Scholarship and Education (CASE)

New College, University of NSW, 2052.

Ph: +61 2 9381 1999 F: +61 2 9381 1909.

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