Centre for Public Christianity

The Centre for Public Christianity (CPX) is an Australian not-for-profit media company that supplies mainstream media and the general public with material about the relevance of Christianity in the 21st century.[1] The Centre has no denominational affiliation and seeks to represent historic Christianity as defined by the Nicene Creed.

History

CPX was established in 2007. John Dickson and Greg Clarke[2] were its first directors, with Richard Grellman the Centre's Chairman. Initial funding from Mission Australia was critical in getting the venture started. After support from Hammond Care, CPX signed a Memorandum of understanding with Bible Society Australia.[3] Simon Smart, who has been with the Centre since its inception, is now Executive Director.[4][5]

Activity

Media

Writers from CPX have contributed articles to The Sydney Morning Herald[6], The Age[7], The Australian, The Canberra Times and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).[8] CPX staff have appeared on radio and on television providing Christian comment on a wide range of subject areas.

Public Library

CPX's large online resource library features hundreds of interviews with writers, scholars and commentators, such as Tim Winton, Hugh Mackay, Jane Caro and Stanley Hauerwas.

Podcast

CPX releases a weekly 'Life & Faith' podcast,[9] examining the 'beauty and complexity of belief in the 21st century'.

Events

CPX runs public events such as the annual Richard Johnson Lecture, a series that aims to ‘highlight Christianity’s relevance to society and positively contribute to public discourse on key aspects of civil life.’ 2018’s speaker was Nick Spencer, Research Director of Theos (think tank) in London.[10] Previous speakers have been: Amy Orr-Ewing, William Cavanaugh, Peter Harrison and Miroslav Volf.

The Centre for Public Christianity also offers a speakers bureau[11] and its staff speak at conferences around Australia and overseas.

Publications

The Centre has also produced a range of popular and academic works exploring the relevance of the Christian faith. These include Public Christianity: Talking about faith in a post-Christian world [12], 10 Tips for Atheists and other conversations in faith and culture [13], and The Wisdom of Islam and the Foolishness of Christianity [14]. In 2013, Simon Smart co-authored a book with Jane Caro, Antony Loewenstein and Rachel Woodlock called For God's Sake: An Atheist, a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim debate religion.[15] John Dickson has written many books including a 'Doubter's Guide' series published by Zondervan in the USA. The most recent of these was A Doubter's Guide to The Ten Commandments.[16]

Documentaries

In 2009 CPX released an historical documentary called The Life of Jesus [17] that was shown nationally on the Seven Network.

In late 2015 CPX began work on a documentary: For the Love of God: How the Church is Better and Worse Than You Ever Imagined.[18] This project considers the impact of Christianity on the world, both the good and the bad. It combines 'on-location' filming with interviews with experts, including Marilynne Robinson, Rowan Williams, Alister McGrath and Miroslav Volf.[19] The documentary was released in May 2018.

References

  1. ↑ "Centre for Public Christianity". Centre for Public Christianity. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Greg Clarke to head new national Bible Society". sydneyanglicans.net. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "New Alliance Brings CPX and Bible Society Together". biblesociety.org.au. 14 September 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  4. ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/news/simon-smart/27792
  5. ↑ "Product Details - Pan Macmillan Australia". panmacmillan.com.au. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  6. ↑ https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-generation-brought-up-on-selfesteem-is-struggling-20170413-gvk4ng.html
  7. ↑ Zwartz, Barney (2 December 2017). "Faith: When it comes to religion, as for gender, 'vive la difference!'". The Age. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "Finding the holy in Hollywood". Radio National. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "Life & Faith Podcast - Centre for Public Christianity". publicchristianity.org. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  10. ↑ "Christianity's Unique Contribution to Western Civilisation: 2018 Richard Johnson Lecture with Nick Spencer - The Gospel Coalition - Australia". thegospelcoalition.org. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  11. ↑ "Speakers - Centre for Public Christianity". publicchristianity.org. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  12. ↑ Smart, Simon (April 2011). Public Christianity: Talking about faith in a post-Christian world. Centre for Public Christianity.
  13. ↑ Moore, Natasha (June 2016). 10 Tips for Atheists and other conversations in faith and culture. Centre for Public Christianity.
  14. ↑ Shumack, Richard (April 2004). The Wisdom of Islam and the Foolishness of Christianity. Island View Publishing.
  15. ↑ Caro, Jane; Loewenstein, Antony; Smart, Simon; Woodlock, Rachel (July 2013). For God's Sake: An Atheist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim debate religion. Macmillan Publishers.
  16. ↑ Dickson, John (June 2016). A Doubter's Guide to the Ten Commandments. Zondervan.
  17. ↑ https://www.publicchristianity.org/scenes-from-the-life-of-jesus-documentary/
  18. ↑ "For the Love of God: How the Church is better + worse than you ever imagined". Centre for Public Christianity. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
  19. ↑ "'We need to be honest about the failings of the church'". eternitynews.com.au. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.