Progressive Christianity Forum - Jonathan Barker - CRITICAL ISSUES FACING THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY
Event description
Join us for a presentation by Rev Dr Jonathan Barker on the Critical issues facing the future of humanity.
This presentation was originally given at a forum organised by the South Australian Anthroposophical Society in March 2023. It proposes that there are key issues which have to be addressed if life on earth is to survive. Never before has the whole of the world been subjected to the same forces, which threaten its very existence. Yet the implication of living in an Anthropocene epoch is that we can not only recognise and name these threats, they can also be addressed and different ways forward forged which can save life on earth. There are five key words which frame this presentation: globality, hybridity, absolutism, chosenness and religion. Be teased by the last sentence. Humanity’s future challenges us to forge a new overarching mythology which binds us together as a global family and transcends the reduced, life denying forces with a spirituality, and energy which reconciles, restores and unites us to live a common future – all creatures of the life-giving mother earth.
Jonathan has served churches across all Australia. Experienced in Community Development, first in Chicago then when resourcing the Department for Social Welfare’s Community Councils of Social Development, he has integrated this experience into ministry practice. Examples are working with the Mowanjum Aboriginal community in the Kimberleys in its transition from being a “Mission” to managing its own life and when ministering with the homeless in Bondi Beach. As an educator he taught courses for the Lay Education Centre, Parkin-Wesley College and UTC Sydney. He was the Assistant Principal at Nungalinya College, Darwin. His retirement interests include integrating theology with social praxis and support for an informed appreciation of First Nations’ peoples. He is an active member of the Unley Uniting Church. His doctorate from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California is on a theology of social transformation.
This event is available via Live-Stream supported by the generosity of The City of Unley to improve access for all.