Does God have emotions?
	Can human language carry divine meaning?
	What is Christian art meant to do? Does it work?
	Is being Evangelical enough?
	Do we all have to think the same way?
	Is human tragedy merely part of a divine comedy?
	What (if anything) does Postmodernism mean?
	How do we understand the Bible's relevance to a 21st Century faith?

SIFT is a group based in Sydney, organised by Evangelical Christians concerned to understand better the demands and possibilities of a Christian lifestyle in the contemporary world.

We believe that the questions posed by such a lifestyle are best confronted together. SIFT is about meeting with other Christians to grapple with answers to difficult questions, working out how better to live as Christians in the confident knowledge that the earth and all that is in it belongs to God.

1999 Conference | Online Papers | Becoming an Associate | Mailing List | Contacting SIFT | About SIFT

Online Papers:

	Embracing Uncertainty: Some Perspectives on Evangelical Thought in Postmodern Times.
	Darren Mitchell, Presented May 97.
	Is Being Evangelical Enough? Or, How to Live among Imperfect Company.
	Andrew Katay. Presented August 1997
	The New Physics - What's God got to do with it? An appreciation of Stephen Hawking and Paul Davies.
	Bruce Yabsley. Presented September 1997

Becoming an Associate of SIFT

If you support the aims of SIFT, we would like to invite you to become an Associate of the Society.

For a fee of $30 ($20 if unwaged) you will be entitled to a copy of the Proceedings of the 1997/1998 conferences. Fees amounts are for Australian Associates: international inqiries shouild be emailed to info@sift.org.au.

To become an Associate...

Conference Tapes

Tapes from the 1997 conferences are available for $5 each. Send your order to tapes@sift.org.au, and you will be sent a pro-forma invoice.

		Bruce Russell: Necessity's Elusion: The Strange But Fresh Perspective of Ecclesiastes
		Merrick Russell: Following Christ through the Architects' Playground.
		Darren Mitchell: Embracing Uncertainty: Some Perspectives on Evangelical Thought in Postmodern Times.
		Rachel Ellis: Thoughts on the Role of the Artist in Society.
		Richard Lane: The 'Wright' Jesus: Why Tom Wright is Asking the Right Questions.
		Bruce Smith: Tragedy in life and literature.
		Andrew Katay: Is being Evangelical Enough? Or how to live among Imperfect Company.
		Bruce Yabsley: The New Physics - What's God got to do with it? An appreciation of Stephen Hawking and Paul Davies.

Mailing List

The sift-announce list carries announcements regarding SIFT conferences and other activities.

To subscribe to sift-announce, send a message to majordomo@sift.org.au, containing just the line "subscribe sift-announce".

If you experience any difficulties with the mailing list, drop a line to info@sift.org.au,

Contacting SIFT

If you have any questions or comments, write to us at info@sift.org.au, or Box 207, Wentworth Building, University of Sydney 2006, NSW Australia.

About SIFT…

The integration of faith and thought needs little apology. God is, after all, Lord of the whole world, and our faith in him must reflect this in every aspect of our lives. But why a society?

We decided to start a society because we feel that the Christian church in Australia is currently facing a critical moment. Our situation is both difficult and promising: difficult, in that our culture is undergoing a major upheaval, shedding many of its residual Christian trappings; promising, in that they are changes which render Christ's message and the lifestyle it summons distinctive and significant in ways not previously realised.

Of course, this doesn't really answer the question. There is no reason per se why a difficult and/or promising situation should lead to the formation of a Society. The real reason is you. We think that, under God, you have a lot to say about these difficulties which we all face. You have undergone many of them, and you can tell us what it has taught you about how to be a Christian now. You, ultimately, are the reason why the present moment, in all its difficulty, is promising rather than threatening. We have formed a Society because we believe that it is through our association with one another that God will teach us more about how to integrate faith and thought.

SIFT is not about experts. We believe that many Christians are conducting faithful and thoughtful lives, communicating the Gospel well through what they say and do. SIFT is a place where we can share insights gathered from ordinary lives, insights which will help other ordinary lives be more faithful.

Our intention, therefore, is that your part in SIFT will be to contribute, not merely to consume. While papers will be presented at each Public Meeting, there will be time to respond, time to ask questions, and time to discuss. Beyond this, however, we also hope that SIFT will contribute to the wider Christian community. And so the papers will generally have an "afterlife", their authors being encouraged and assisted in their eventual publication. SIFT is a safe and sympathetic atmosphere where ideas can be developed, and then given to the world.

SIFT has been advertised as a group organised by evangelical Christians. The faith which we are seeking to integrate with our thought is therefore the Christian faith viewed from an evangelical perspective. That is to say, it is a faith which looks to the Bible for its authority, and to a personal response to Christ for its grounding in the world.

Lyn Davey, Laurence Emmett, Ruth French, Andrew Katay,
Richard Lane, Darren Mitchell, Bruce Russell, Peter Wesley.