Book: There is no God or is there?

Is there a God? Does the chaos in the world or in your life make you wonder? Do scientific discoveries and reasoning make you doubt?

How can there be a God when the world seems out of control and when religion seems to serve up more pain than promise?

You're invited to ponder your doubts and to confront the question of god's existence as you take a journey with two grandfathers. The story starts with a murder. It keeps going because of a miracle.

In "There is No God, Or is There?" Michael Newman recounts the tale of his two grandfathers and how the events of their lives led him to wrestle with the biggest questions of human existence. This 110-page book contains discussion questions after each chapter. It will take you on a journey you will never forget. It may even change your life.

Reflection: Flying with Herb - love not fear

Michael Newman a mission director/facilitator with teh Lutheran Church Missouri Synod regulaly writes a reflection piece.   In His reflection piece Flyign with Herb he reminds us of the importance of love over fear to read Flyign with Herb visit http://www.mnewman.org/blog.php

Book: Christianity's dangerous idea

The radical idea that individuals could interpret the Bible for themselves spawned a revolution that is still being played out on the world stage today. This innovation lies at the heart of Protestantism''s remarkable instability and adaptability. World-renowned scholar Alister McGrath sheds new light on the fascinating figures and movements that continue to inspire debate and division across the full spectrum of Protestant churches and communities worldwide.

CHAPTERS
Origination
The Gathering Storm 
The Accidental Revolutionary - Martin Luther
Alternatives to Luther - The Diversification of the Reformation
The Shift in Power - Calvin and Geneva
England - The Emergence of Anglicanism
War, Peace, and Disinterest - European Protestantism in Crisis, 1560–1800
Protestantism in America 

Contents
The Nineteenth Century - The Global Expansion of Protestantism
Manifestation 
The Bible and Protestantism
Believing and Belonging - Some Distinctive Protestant Beliefs
The Structures of Faith - Organization, Worship, and Preaching
Protestantism and the Shaping of Western Culture
Protestantism, the Arts, and the Natural Sciences

Transformation
The Changing Shape of American Protestantism
Tongues of Fire - The Pentecostal Revolution in Protestantism
The New Frontiers of Protestantism
The Global South
Protestantism
The Next Generation

book review available here
synopsis available here
ebook available here

Conference: Australian Conference on Lutheran Education

Australian College on Lutheran Education 

Wise Up! - Transforming Mind, Body and Heart in Lutheran Education

30th September to 2nd October 2013

Brisbane

Approximately every four years Lutheran Education Australia and the respective regions organise a major conference to celebrate Lutheran Education in Australia.  This conference is named ACLE, Australian Conference on Lutheran Education.  The 2013 conference will be held in Brisbane on the 30th September to 2nd October 2013.  The ACLE4 conference theme is Wise Up!  Transforming Mind, Body and Heart in Lutheran Education.

The theme takes up the work of the Lutheran church and its schools in providing the wisdom of God for the development of the whole of life for young people.  Education in a Lutheran school is a transformational activity that engages all aspects of the human experience.  The getting of this wisdom requires forward thinking, to address how the traditions passed onto us may be reformed into new ways of engaging learners.

During the conference there will be presentations and opprtunities to collaborate with expert contemporary thinkers as well as participate in numerous fellowship activities with like-minded professionals across Lutheran Schools in Australia and other countries.  Most of the conference will be held in the state-of-the-art Brisbane Convention Centre in one of Australia's beautiful cities, Brisbane.

Speakers
BISHOP MUNIB YOUNAN
Bishop Munib Younan is a co-founder of the Council of Religious Institutions in the Holy Land.
  
ALAN NOVEMBER
(Live Online Video Presentation & Event) Alan November is an international leader in education technology.
  
DR. THOMAS NIELSEN
A member of the National Values Education Project Advisory Committee, Dr Nielsen has served in several of the Australian Government values education projects. 
  
REV JOHN HENDERSON
Rev John Henderson was installed as Principal of Australian Lutheran College in February 2009. Prior to this, John was the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia from January 2002 until December 2008. 
  
EWAN MCINTOSH
Ewan McIntosh is a teacher, speaker and investor, regarded as one of Europe’s foremost experts in digital media for public services. 
  
KARI SUTTON
Kari Sutton is a Licensee for The Happiness Institute based in Queensland. Kari is an experienced facilitator in positive psychology, wellbeing, communication and teamwork 
  
PAUL HOLLAND

Paul Holland is Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Creativity Well, a new company established to provide services to the creative industries, particularly in the areas of management and business development.

For more information and to register visit http://acle.net.au/

Confernence: Kierkegaaard in the world

“Kierkegaard in the World” celebrates the 200th anniversary of Kierkegaard’s birth by examining the ways in which the world figures in his thought, and the ways in which his thought has entered the world.

Kierkegaard’s work is rightly seen as a corrective of “worldliness,” but he is equally attuned to the necessity that the life of faith appear in the world (not in monastic retreat from it). This conference aims to explore how worldly life is transformed by Kierkegaard’s insights. How does the Kierkegaardian subject appear in the world? What about the incognito: Is it a form of strict invisibility or does its counter-worldliness paradoxically show up in the world? Kierkegaard is a thinker of transcendence, but is there a Kierkegaardian theory of immanence? The priority of subjective truth is obvious in Kierkegaard’s philosophy, but what of his theory of objective truth? How would subjective truth make its way in the world? How would it be embodied or transmitted? What implications does Kierkegaard’s thought have for political orders, cultural artefacts, communicative strategies, or the founding and perpetuation of traditions? How might Kierkegaard’s work intersect with various world religions? And how has Kierkegaard’s own thinking been translated, transmitted, and given expression in contexts across time and space?

Keynote Speakers
C. Stephen Evans (Baylor University)
Kevin Hart (University of Virginia/Australian Catholic University)
Daphne Hampson (Oxford University)
Charles Guignon (University of South Florida)
John Lippitt (University of Hertfordshire)

Dates
16th to 18th August 2013

Location
All conference events on Friday, August 16, will be held at Catholic Theological College, 278 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne, Australia.
All conference events on Saturday, August 17, and Sunday, August 18, will be held at Australian Catholic University, 115 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy.

Registration
visit http://kierkegaardintheworld.com/