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Reports 2009

Summer Conference at All Saints Pastoral Centre, London Colney, St. Alban's

10th - 12th July

"CREATION AND EVOLUTION - AN ORTHODOX APPROACH"

with Revd. Fr. Dr. Christopher Knight
Professor George Theokritoff
Very Revd. Archimandrite Kyril Jenner
Professor Richard Swinburne
Wendy Robinson

Revd. Fr. Dr. Christopher Knight	Professor George Theokritoff	Archimandrite Kyril Jenner	Professor Richard Swinburne
Wendy Robinson	Plenary Session	Conference Participants	His Eminence, Metropolitan Kallistos
Divine Liturgy 1	Divine Liturgy 2	Divine Liturgy 3	Group Photograph
		Left: The relic of St. Alban returned to the Abbey by the church in Auxerre, (unfortunately not in the tomb itself and not on public display but kept securely elsewhere in the Cathedral).  We are grateful to the Dean and Chapter for brining the relic out on this occasion for our veneration.

The Summer Conference at St. Alban's was in one respect a first for the Fellowship in that it was convened to consider Orthodoxy's understanding of creation and evolution in the light of both science and revelation.  Issues of scientific interest do not always feature prominently in such gatherings which may be attributable the widening gap between frontier scientific research and public understanding.  Happily there was no such gap at the Summer Conference with our Orthodox speakers straddling both the realms of science and of faith - a geologist, astrophysicist, mathematician, philosopher and psychotherapist helping out. 

Our speakers spoke with great learning and lucidity on how their own fields of work had revealed the deep harmonies of natural science and natural theology with Orthodox epistemology and revelation.  In an age where anti-theists and fundamentalists alike maintain a mutual interest in the phoney "war" between these two ancient disciplines, it was refreshing and encouraging to see how such conflicts are entirely alien to the Orthodox ethos ... which is not to say of course that one will not find the occasional Orthodox fundamentalist on the internet and elsewhere! 

At the conclusion of the Conference and by the kind invitation of the Dean and Chapter of St. Alban's Abbey and Cathedral, the Conference visited the tomb of the Holy Protomartyr of Britain, St. Alban for a service and veneration of a relic - returned in recent times by the French Catholic Church in Auxerre - the other relics in England being destroyed at the Reformation.

Here are the audio files for the lectures given at the Conference:-

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Revd. Fr. Dr. Christopher Knight
Professor George Theokritoff
Very Revd. Archimandrite Kyril Jenner
Professor Richard Swinburne
Wendy Robinson

Plenary Session

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Study Weekend at St. Aidan's, Manchester, 30th January to 1st February

"STUDYING THE BIBLE"

with His Eminence, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

 

The Fellowship’s 2009 Study Weekend was hosted by the parish of St. Aidan, Manchester (Antiochian Orthodox Deanery).  The priest and community gave a warm welcome to the Guest Lecturer, His Eminence Metropolitan Kallistos Ware and the event was well attended with over 40 participants.  The theme of the weekend: “Studying the Bible” was developed through 5 talks and plenary sessions.  These were very well received and as is customary with our esteemed guest speaker the material was appropriate for a diverse range of understandings and abilities.  His Eminence also presided over the hierarchical services of the Weekend and the catering left no one hungry.  The priest, Fr. Gregory (Hallam) had arranged for evening meals to be taken in a large local Indian restaurant which worked very well for those who chose to attend.  The audio recordings of the Metropolitan’s talks are available below:-

 

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Metropolitan Kallistos Talk 1 (57.6 Mb)

Metropolitan Kallistos Talk 2 (59.1 Mb)

Metropolitan Kallistos Talk 3 (46.4 Mb)

Metropolitan Kallistos Talk 4 (53.1 Mb)

Metropolitan Kallistos Talk 5 (55.8 Mb)

(right click to download and save, left click to open)

 

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