Lectures
To mark the millennium St. Michael’s continues to present lectures with prominent speakers addressing major ethical or moral issues of the day. They are of the highest calibre and attract audiences of up to 300.
The evenings, which close at 10pm, include a short interval for a glass of wine or fruit juice followed by questions from the audience.
Tickets £10.00 (concessions £7.00) to include refreshments during the interval from: The Secretary, St Michael’s Church, 70 Sycamore Road, Amersham, Bucks HP6 5DR 01494 726680 (Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope)
Forthcoming lectures start at 8 p.m. on:
Thursday 18th March 2010 – ‘Til Faith Us Do Part?
Rabbi, writer and broadcaster, Jonathan Romain is minister of Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire.
What happens when people fall in love across the religious divide – be it Jew and Christian, Hindu and Muslim, believer and non-believer ? What are the issues such couples have to face, along with their family and also their community ? As Britain grows increasingly multi-faith, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, an expert in this field, explores both the trends and the myths of mixed-faith families.
Tuesday 29 June 2010 – ‘Communicating across divides – reflection on an authentic language of the Spirit’
Presented by Harvey Gillman. Harvey Gillman was outreach secretary for British Quakers for 18 years. He writes and lectures on spirituality, language and how we can use difference compassionately and with integrity. His books include: A Light that is Shining, an introductory book on British Quakers; A Minority of One; and Consider the Blackbird.
Thursday 16th September 2010 – ‘God beyond Church’
Presented by Dr. Sheila Cassidy. As a young doctor, Sheila Cassidy was imprisoned and tortured for treating a wounded revolutionary in Pinochet’s Chile. After her release she became an outspoken advocate for human rights and the author of Audacity to Believe. She wrote about her experiences of insomnia and depression and her attempts to found a religious order for women in Made for Laughter. She developed new approaches to the care of young cancer patients, before training as a psychotherapist. ‘God beyond Church’ is the title of a third book that she is in the process of writing.
Previous lecturers have been :
Dr Jack Dominion: Sex, Marriage and Relationships
Dr Peter Vardy: The Ethical Challenge of Genetic Testing and Engineering
Professor Keith Ward: In the Lion’s Den – The Impact on Christian Faith of Science and World Religions in the Third Millennium
Bishop Rowan Williams: Educating the Spirit – Has our Education System got it Wrong?
Wanda Nash: Stress and the Great Release
Bishop John Shelby Spong: Being a Christian in the third Millennium*
Affif Safieh: Peace in Palestine: From Breakthrough to Breakdown*
Dr. Rupert Sheldrake: The Extended Mind: Recent Experimental Evidence*
Jonathan Aitken: Prison Penitence and Prayer*
Bishop John Shelby Spong: God Beyond Theism*
Bishop John Shelby Spong: Christ Beyond Incarnation*
Russell Stannard: The Universe: Room for God*
Sir Mike Aaronson: Terror: The End of Humanitarianism*
Lord George Carey, Former Archbishop of Canterbury: Has Christian Mission Failed?*
Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger DBE: The Moral State We’re In: How we treat the most disadvantaged and what that says about our Society.*
Michael Mansfield QC: The Legal State We’re Not In.*
The Very Revd. Dr.Jeffrey John: Making the Bible Make Sense
Nick Hardwick: The Police are the Public and the Public are the Police.*
Revd. Dr. Steven Shakespeare: Dead Meat: “Human beings: careful stewards of the animal world or frightened and bullying butchers?” *
Revd. Lucy Winkett: “Suffer the children?”: What Is the Place of Faith in Education?*
Dr Karim Esmail “Islam and Islamic Mysticism”*
Daleep Mukarji: Act Justly: Power, Poverty & Politics*
Professor Brian Thorne: “The Challenge of the mystics to contemporary Christians”*
* Denotes CD recordings of these lectures are available for purchase.