As participants in the work of Venn, you’re invited to a Short Course with Andrew Shamy

 

Venn exists to help people embrace the depths and riches of the Christian tradition for the good of their homes, universities, workplaces, churches, and communities in Aotearoa, New Zealand. To this end, we’re excited to open registration for our upcoming Short Course Recovering the Wonder of Creation: Living a Christian Theology of Creation in an Age of Disenchantment.

 

Held in Wellington and Auckland, this will be two days of learning to see creation as it really is—full of wonder and mystery and life, seen and unseen—and about learning to live well in this reality.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT

Wonder and grief. For many of us, these are the entwined poles of our experience of creation. We feel the wonder of deep space and deep time and of an earth teeming with life, but also the scars and absences left by our hewing and delving, our restless consumption of nature’s “resources.”

 

The Christian doctrine of creation helps us make sense of these realities, and shows us ways to live rightly and well in this glorious and yet groaning world. But too few of us are familiar with its treasures. We are, in Christopher Thompson’s delightful phrase, “indoor Christians.” We don’t see, feel, experience, or care for the natural world as Christian faith would have us. We need to take our faith outside.

 

This two-day course is about learning to see creation as it really is—full of wonder and mystery and life, seen and unseen—and about learning to live well in this reality.  We will explore these topics in the company of voices ancient, modern, and non-human.

 

This course is for anyone who has looked with wonder on the created world, who has felt grief at the harm we have done to it, and who longs to make sense of these experiences in light of their Christian faith. Numbers are limited for this course, so please register early.

DATES

Wellington

6-7 May, 2022

Please register by Monday, 2 May, 2022

 

Auckland

27-28 May, 2022

Please register by Monday, 16 May, 2022

TIMINGS

Friday, 9:30am – 5:00pm
Saturday, 9:00am – 4:00pm

COST

$145 per person, covering all teaching, materials, lunch, and snacks.

VENUES

Wellington

Wadestown Presbyterian Church Hall

118 Wadestown Road, Wadestown, Wellington

 

Auckland

Blockhouse Bay Boat Club

91 Endeavour St, Blockhouse Bay, Auckland

A NOTE ON COVID-19

We will be operating under government guidelines. 

REGISTRATION

TEACHER

ANDREW SHAMY is committed to helping people live out their faith creatively and authentically in every area of life. He graduated from the University of Canterbury with a BA (Hons) in American Studies, before working as a public policy researcher. In 2005, Andrew moved to Vancouver to study toward a Master of Arts in Theology at Regent College. Upon graduation, Andrew moved back to Auckland to work for Compass Foundation, during which time he co-authored The Insect and the Buffalo and The Hare and the Tortoise. He has developed curricula for the Venn Summer Conference, the Venn Residential Fellowship, and the Venn Vocational Programme. Andrew has long loved the natural and wild world. In recent years, he has reflected deeply on the Christian tradition of reflection on creation and found it a rich resource for making sense of the wonder and grief that so often attend our relationship with the other-than-human world as modern people. Andrew is married to Rachel Kitchens and they are parents to Ella, Georgia, and James.