Progressive Christianity Forum - Kym Bills - THE CONTRIBUTION OF PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIAN VOICES
Event description
* Due to unforeseen circumstances, the April and May Progressive Christianity Forum sessions have been swapped. Kym Bills will now be the speaker at the April Forum and Esmond Dowdy at the May Forum.
Join us for our April FORUM with Kym Bills presenting on The contribution of progressive christian voices.
While many will be aware of the early contributions to Progressive Christianity by key figures such as Bishop John Spong and Marcus Borg, the diversity of more recent contributions is less well known and goes beyond biblical studies to include spirituality, worship and the arts. Progressive Christianity also embraces the wonders of new scientific discovery, environmental stewardship, and social justice. Kym will outline some of this more recent work and its contributions. However, some writers aligned with Progressive Christianity, such as in the UK and Canada, have moved beyond open questioning and discussion to propose more dogmatic versions of atheism that Kym will suggest is unhelpful.
In semi-retirement since 2019, Kym is completing a PhD and is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide School of Public Health. A former economist and diplomat, Kym was a career Canberra public servant from 1978 including as foundation head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) from 1999 to 2009. He was employed by the CSIRO in Perth from 2011-2018 as CEO of a research joint venture. He first studied theology in 1981-82 as a graduate student in Oxford and completed a part-time Master of Ministry in 2005. In the Anglican Church he has been a school and tertiary board member, a lay examining chaplain and parish chair. His UCA congregation membership is at Christ Church Wayville where wife Anne is 5th generation and married Kym in 1991, where both their daughters were baptised, and where Kym is a regular worship leader and lay preacher. In early 2023 Kym joined the PCNetSA Task Group and has written a number of book reviews examining contemporary Progressive Christianity (eg: https://pcnetsa.org/2023/11/06/new-book-reviews-2/).