New College Lectures
In 1986 the College set up a Trust to conduct an annual series of public lectures. This resulted in the formation of the New College Lectures. Each New College lecturer is asked to take up some important issue or aspect of contemporary society and to comment on it from the standpoint of their Christian faith and professional expertise. These lectures have become an important public event and have attracted large interest and generated much discussion. The New College Lectures 2012 will be presented by Professor James K.A. Smith from Calvin College in the USA. They will be in the month of May (23 & 24th) instead of our traditional September timeslot.
New College Lectures 2012
‘Imagining the Kingdom: On Christian Discipleship and Action’
Professor James K.A. Smith, Calvin College
Christian worship and Christian education have a similar end: sending. The goal of each is to form disciples of Jesus who bear God’s image to and for the world. Each seeks the formation of actors who bear witness to God’s coming kingdom. In these lectures, James K.A. Smith will challenge some of our assumptions about why and how we act and the central role of the imagination in shaping our perception of the world and our action within it.
6:00pm Wed 23 May - Opening Event Pre-Lecture Drinks and Canapés At New College Village (Opposite New College)
7:30pm Wed 23 May - Talk 1 - Erotic Comprehension: The Bodily Basis of Meaning
7:30pm Thurs 24 May - Talk 2 Sanctified Perception: How Worship Works
FREE ADMISSION | REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL
Venue: New College (Get Directions)
‘Erotic Comprehension: The Bodily Basis of Meaning’– Wed 23rd May, 7.30pm
Both our identity and our action flow from our most fundamental desires, longings and loves. In this first lecture Prof Smith will outline an alternative theological anthropology as the basis for Christian formation, both in worship and education. He will argue that humans are primarily lovers; the core of the human person is located in the heart defining what we love as ultimate. Christian faith is not just a set of beliefs and doctrines but a mode of erotic comprehension by which we imagine the world differently.
‘Sanctified Perception: How Worship Works’– Thurs 24th May, 7.30pm
Psychology and cognitive science have begun to appreciate what Christian spirituality has known for ages: action flows out of our habits. Action and behavior is generated by acquired dispositions and habits that become “second nature”. In this lecture, Prof Smith will draw on the work of Pierre Bourdieu to consider how perception is shaped by communal practices inscribed in us a pre-intellectual way of relating to and perceiving our world. He will suggest that the goal of Christian worship and Christian education, is to “sanctify” perception in order to shape Christian actors.
Education As Formation
A Joint Conference of The Anglican Education Commission (AEC) and The Centre for Apologetic Scholarship & Education (CASE)
Smith's work resonates strongly with the work of the Anglican Education Fellowship as represented in our recent book 'New Perspectives on Anglican Education: Reconsidering Purpose and Plotting a Future Direction'. As a result, we will be exploring some of these issues through the lectures and at an all day conference on the 26th May at New College. If you can get to Sydney in May please join us for the New College Lectures and the conference at which Professor Smith will present a keynote address.
New College Lectures History
The inaugural New College lectures were delivered in 1987 by Professor Malcolm Jeeves of the University of St Andrews, Scotland. In subsequent years lecturers have come from Australian and overseas universities as well as the wider community. The 2005 New College Lecture series had the largest audiences in the history of the lectures with the important topic of ‘Church and State’ addressed by The Hon John Anderson, The Hon Kevin Rudd and Rev Dr Andrew Cameron (Moore College). Over 850 people attended over two nights to hear this landmark lecture series.
In 2010 the New College Lectures were delivered by Professor Jeremy Begbie Jeremy Begbie, BA, BD, Ph.D., LRAM, ARCM, FRSCM, is Thomas A. Langford Research Professor at Duke Divinity School, Duke University. He was previously the Associate Principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, as well as an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.
In the 2010 Lectures Series: Music, Modernity & God Begbie concluded that yes, music is much more than just an accompaniment to life, it is an important part of the life God has given us and both reflects and speaks of God’s purposes for us. He suggested that if we didn’t have music we would be all the poorer because music can help us to ‘read’ the story of our culture with the eyes of Christian faith, responding in fresh ways to some of the deepest dilemmas and truths of our time. Furthermore, music offers metaphors that can help us to understand the deep truths of Christianity – God, creation, freedom, rebellion and sin, salvation and redemption, the new creation to come and the fulfilment of God’s promises in Christ. He led us to this conclusion by teaching us over three nights using word, image, recorded music and performance on the piano. It was a memorable and deeply challenging series.
