OK. I’ve managed to track down some details on Brian McLaren’s visit to Sydney and Melbourne, courtesy of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. You can now download the brochure from the Mission Consultants site at UCA Queensland Synod. Or click on the brochure picture below to download the pdf file.
Friday 17 February
6:30 - 10:30pm: Exploring A Generous Orthodoxy
Dinner and conversation. (Numbers limited) Cost: $60
Saturday 18 February
9:00 am � 5.30pm: Exploring A New Kind of Christian(ity)
Cost: $100 (includes all meals)
Special rate for both events $150
(students and concession card holders $125)
VENUE: Ryde-Eastwood Rugby Club, 117 Ryedale Rd, West Ryde.
Please note: Standard club dress standards will apply.
MELBOURNE The Melbourne Events are being presented by Urban Seed Church.
Tuesday 21 February
2.30-4pm: Tabor College Seminar 1.
To Register phone Tabor College, 03 9844 8800. $10
Wednesday 22 February
9.30am -1pm: Rev Up: Whitley Baptist College.
To Register contact Simone Rickerby at Whitley College, 03 9340 8100
Cost $25
Thursday 23 February
10.30am-12pm: Tabor College Seminar 2.
To Register PH: 03 9844 8800 Cost: $10
2.30pm-4pm: Tabor College Seminar 3.
To Register PH: 03 9844 8800 Cost: $10
7.30pm: Postcards From the Edge.
New Zealand
Brian will be in Auckland on February 24. Rich Johnson has his ear to the ground there. Steve Taylor, Emergent Kiwi, has posted a pdf file with details on Brian’s visit to Christchurch on March 4-5.
I note on Brian McLaren’s blog that he’s going to be in Australia and New Zealand between February 15 and March 6 next year.
February 15 - Sydney, Australia
February 20 - Melbourne, Australia
February 24 - Auckland, New Zealand
March 2 - Christchurch, New Zealand
March 6 - Sydney, Australia
It looks as though there’s a bit of movement…
Sydney
Brian will be speaking at an all day conference for the Converse Network, supported by the NSW Board of Mission, Uniting Church in Australia, on Saturday 18th Feb at Ryde Eastwood Leagues Club. In addition, he will speak at a dinner for denominational leaders on Friday 17th February.
Melbourne
Brian will also be visiting Melbourne and speaking at events on Tues 21st, Wed 22nd and Thurs 23rd February. Anyone know where?
Brian McLaren’s written the cover article for the latest edition of Sojourners, on building bridges between extremes of liberalism and conservatism. I like what he has to say. He starts by drawing our attention to the commitment Jesus made to entering the culture he lived in. Likewise he looks at Paul’s call to ‘be all things to all kinds of people’, despite our saying that ‘we can’t be all things to all people’.
McLaren’s hunch is that there are four bridges we have to deal with in our hyper-polarized world today:
1. Religious Right and Secular Left.
“On the one side we have people for whom the good news of Jesus and the policies of George W. Bush are bonded with super glue. On the other side we have people who believe that all religion is superstitious mush and wish we would just dispense with the whole business once and for all and trust science and government instead.”
2. Religious Right and Religious Left.
“More and more supposedly “secular Left” folk are coming out of the closet as people of faith. For them, being anti-war is more important than being anti-abortion for religious reasons, and for them, some form of recognition for homosexual couples is a moral issue based in faith. They want to argue these issues not only on the basis of politics and sociology, but also on the basis of the Bible and theology.”
3. Secular Right and Religious Left.
“I suspect that hiding behind some religious conservatives are some secular conservatives who are manipulating their religious colleagues for a secular, cynical, ideological conservatism. These are the people who have (in the worst sense of the word) a relativist-postmodern conservative ideology, best articulated in Ron Suskind’s article “Without a Doubt,” published in The New York Times Magazine last October. These conservative ideologues are happy for religious conservatives to win support for their policies, but in the end it’s ideology, not theology, that guides them. Ironically, they have less in common theologically with those they have the most in common with ideologically, and vice versa.”
4. Secular Right and Secular Left.
“In spite of the widespread assumption that religion is the new politics, there still are secular forces on both sides for whom a thoughtful Christian (or generically spiritual) voice is seen as stupid for actually believing in such unscientific and impractical things as God, hope, forgiveness, sacrifice, and prayer.”
McLaren says that there is a rising ‘purple peoplehood’ out there - people who don’t want to be defined as red or blue, but have elements of both, and for whom faith speaks to both abortion and war, both sexuality and ecology, both family values and fair, respectful treatment for gay people - then we will need to learn new ways of communication. He finishes with suggestions on how to engage in conversation that takes this complexity seriously.
Friday 17 February
February 15 - Sydney, Australia
Brian McLaren’s written the cover article for the latest edition of 
