Religion & Public Life
The Christian Responsibility to Muslims
Exploring the dialogue between Christian Orthodoxy and Islam in the ancient world, the current landscape of Muslim-Christian conversation and how Christians may think about the Prophet Muhammad.
(Camrose, Alberta: Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion & Public Life, 2014)
Working in the Fields of Meaning
This is the first volume in a monograph series, The New Pluralism and Institutional Transformation.
(Camrose, Alberta: Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion & Public Life, 2012)
In Conversation with
Tahir Uluc
Professor Uluc is a keen observer of Turkey, a fine professor who has a deep interest in his students and in education in Turkey. He is also the author of a number of books largely on the Sufi tradition of Islam in Turkey.
In Conversation with
Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro
Rabbi Shapiro is the author of a number of books on Jewish theology and law, on Bible and Talmud. His magnum opus, The Empty Wagon: Zionism’s Journey from Identity Crisis to Identity Theft, a 1400-page comprehensive historical and ideological treatise on the incompatibility of Judaism and Zionism. He has recently attained international renown with his videos on Zionism, which have been seen by millions worldwide. His seven minute video on President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has been viewed close to two million times.
Season of Prisoners' Social Justice
Robert Betty's conversations with several people who are working with incarcerated inmates is hosted on the website of the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton.
Place, Displacement, “Home blindness” and the Gift of Memory
In this Month in Review conversation we will roam from the local and what is happening in our neighbourhood to large issues that have unfolded both here in Canada and in many parts of the world riven by war and systematic displacement. Are we blind to the removal of the memory in our midst, the ground we walk on and the places we pass by? Why do we see an appetite for “clear cutting” the built memory of local and regional communities? What is the cost? Do local communities, governments, universities, and international agencies have any responsibility for the spread of cultural amnesia? At a gathering of Church of England prelates just prior to his death, Henry Chadwick, the great English church historian, was heard to murmur, “the saddest thing in the world is a person who has lost their memory. Sadder still is an institution that has lost its memory.” And, what of a community that has lost its memory?
Pietism and the Challenges of Modernity
With Cam Harder and Eugene L. Boe.
(Edmonton: Chester Ronning Centre, 2011)
A Christian Response to Physician Assisted Death
A seminar for the International Medical School, Vasile Goldis University, Arad, Romania. Following a description of the legalization of MAID in Canada I explored the cultural and social conditions that have led to this change and invited a conversation with medical students from many countries, including Romania, to explore the spiritual implications of such legislation. Romanian and English.
In Conversation with
Amjad M. Hussain
Professor Dr. Amjad M. Hussain is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Divinity at Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey. Previous to this position he was a Lecturer in Religious Studies at several universities in Wales. His many publications include the books, A Social History of Education in the Muslim World: From the Prophetic Era to Ottoman Times (2013), The Study of Religions: An Introduction (2015), The Muslim Creed: A Contemporary Theological Study (2016) and Islam for New Muslims: An Educational Guide (2018).
Welcoming The Stranger As An Act Of Delight
I was recently invited to talk with Jeremy Klaszus on Sprawlcast. In this conversation we delve deeper into how living across difference can strengthen a neighbourhood and create places of belonging.
We talk about the "spiritual disaster" of the suburbs—and the perils of homogenous neighbourhoods where we don't encounter people who are different from us or make room for the stranger.
In this conversation I affirm that we don't need to do it for the sake of others, we need to do it because our own life will be richer, because there'll be more communion and more delight and more surprise.
Cilehane: Shifts and Challenges to the Spiritual Life
Presented at the 6th Symposium on Religious Studies and Humanities to Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey. Cilehane: Shifts and Challenges to the Spiritual Life offered by a Pandemic is a paper that examines the religious and spiritual implications of how we have handled and organized our response to the pandemic. How do these responses reflect our understanding of what it means to be human? Does our personhood exist or is our biology the only matter to be considered?
A Religious Institution in Contemporary Syriah
This is an introductory book on a major theological institution in contemporary Syria: the Fatih Islamic Institute. Established in 1956 in Damascus by the late Shaykh Muhammad Salih Farfour, the Fatih Islamic Institute’s objective is to spread Islamic education and empower the students of the Institute to think about contemporary Islamic issues from a theological perspective.
The Bible: Fact or Fiction?
Is that really the right question.
This is the first of a couple talks forthcoming that David gave at the symposiums hosted by Betty Spackman at her exhibition A Creation Chronicle: Considering Creation: Faith and Fable, Fact and Fiction. The exhibition was an installation engaging the post-human.
Following the introductory song by Lincoln Tatem and Joellel Lush Tatem, David speaks about and engages a conversation on: The Bible: Fact or Fiction? Is that really the right question.
In this talk the title question is examined along with the framing of scripture as a polyphonic, multi-genre epic that leads reads through deep valleys and over high crests on the perilous path from alienation to presence in communion.
Place, Displacement, “Home blindness” and the Gift of Memory
In this conversation we will roam from the local and what is happening in our neighbourhood to large issues that have unfolded both here in Canada and in many parts of the world riven by war and systematic displacement. Are we blind to the removal of the memory in our midst, the ground we walk on and the places we pass by? Why do we see an appetite for “clear cutting” the built memory of local and regional communities? What is the cost? Do local communities, governments, universities, and international agencies have any responsibility for the spread of cultural amnesia? At a gathering of Church of England prelates just prior to his death, Henry Chadwick, the great English church historian, was heard to murmur, “the saddest thing in the world is a person who has lost their memory. Sadder still is an institution that has lost its memory.” And, what of a community that has lost its memory?
Religion & Public Space
The politics of the control of public space dominates the discussion within cultural communities when they, for one reason or another, begin to ask why some of what the community treasures in its self-understanding is excluded from consideration. Why are the interpretive projects in which the community participates so often hijacked by professionals who, having used their friendship and field research work to acquire knowledge and materials about the community, suddenly turn their backs and censor matters of the cultus at the heart of the very culture the professionals say they want to illuminate for the public?
Make it stand out
At least once a season, David Goa is invited to talk with the hosts of The Rector’s Cupboard. Given what is happening in the world right now, in this episode David talks about the ongoing crisis in Israel/Gaza and about the nature of righteousness, rightness, and evil. David’s words to us are insightful, considerate of the challenges of our time, and even consoling.
In Conversation with Calum McCracken
My conversation with Calum began during his undergraduate studies. We talked about his interests in the political life of a number of countries, on international relations and issues of human rights as both a civil gift and a challenge for some cultural communities. We have also talked about the difficult issues often found in the public square and how we might deepen public understanding across the usual political silos. In these three conversations we talk about religion and
→ the prophetic tradition
→ public policy in the Civil Rights Movement
→ shaping political movements