Christianity

and the Hard Questions

Wednesday Evenings,

March 23, 30, & April 6, 2011

at 7:00 pm

in the Parish Hall

In any adult education class, raise the issue of why a loving God allows such evil things to happen, and you will not be the best friend of the teacher. Most teachers will hem and haw and hope someone will change the subject. On the other hand, the Church speaks a lot about our version of heaven, but is there anyone in hell? Perfectly sensible people will often settle for “we all believe in the same God, don’t we?” as the banner acclamation for interfaith dialogue. Well, we really don’t. But what do we believe about other faiths?

· March 23: The Only Son of God?

Christianity and other religions, does it make any difference and why?

· March 30: What the Hell?
Is there a grim alternative to heaven and what do we think about it?

· April 6: Why do bad things happen to good people?
and why does the famous book of the same title miss the point?

Leader: Archbishop Peter Carnley, was born in Newcastle NSW in 1937 and grew up and was educated at a town called Young NSW (the Cherry Capital of Australia!) In 1966 he married Ann; and they have two children (Ben and Sarah). He was Archbishop of Perth from 1981-2005 and Primate of Australia from 2000-2005.

In 2005 he retired to ‘Stillpoint Tulip Farm’, at Nannup , Western Australia (though it is not a farm and has only a few tulips!). His retirement interests are gardening and grandchildren (of whom there are 4 under 9 years), along with some continuing international work for the Anglican Communion which keeps him fairly busy.

From 2004-2008 he was Anglican Co-chair of ARCIC II (the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission). He has always been interested in fostering good ecumenical relations; retirement gives him the opportunity to concentrate on this more or less full-time (but without a secretary and without pay!) He also has a continuing interest in social justice issues, equal rights for women, a fair-go for indigenous Australians, and compassion for refugees. He will be teaching systematic theology at General in 2010-2011.

In 1992 Archbishop Carnley ordained the first women priests in the Anglican Church of Australia, after winning a court battle in the Supreme Court of Western Australia the day before. At the time he said that negotiating the seemingly endless legal difficulties thrown up by the opponents of the ordination of women was like ‘swimming in shark infested custard.’ He is looking forward to clearer sailing when it comes to his Lenten presentations at St John’s, even if the three topics at first sight look a bit daunting.