Meet Greg Clarke
Greg Clarke is our guest speaker at the main meetings and dialogue meetings this week. Jono Dallimore interviewed him to expose his darkest secrets to us.JD: What constitutes a (relatively) normal week for you?
GC: Writing, reading, teaching and organising. I try to spend most time on the first three. I’m based in a university college, so there are lots of students around to talk with, and activities on campus to get involved in. But most of the time I’m either at the desk, reading and writing about Christian issues, or in a lecture hall talking about them.
JD: Describe your family?
GC: Three cats, three kids at school, one delectable wife.
JD: Which do you like better - Obadiah or Zephaniah?
GC: Zephaniah, because his name doesn’t contain ‘bad’.
JD: - Peas or carrots?
GC: Definitely peas. I’m praying for peas on earth.
JD: - Rock or jazz?
GC: Is jazz music?
JD: - Books or film?
GC: Books, because I’m a slow learner.
JD: - Bus or train?
GC: Train. Much more romantic.
JD: - Paul or Peter?
GC: I’m a Jesus fan, full stop.
JD: - Reading or Writing?
GC: That’s a hard one. I try to do both at the same time.
JD: What have you studied and where?
GC: I started out in professional psychiatry at UNSW, but ended up with Honours in English. I then did a PhD in English at Uni of Sydney, and wove into that about half of the Moore College B.Th. I’m currently pushing on part-time with the theology.
JD: You work for CASE. Can you briefly tell us about it?
GC: CASE is a research and teaching centre based in New College at the Uni of NSW. We offer short courses, publish a quarterly magazine and a website, and host regular lectures and conferences. We’re trying to present a case for the credibility of Christianity in today’s intellectual environment. We engage with academic issues from a Christian perspective, as well trying to serve Christian churches with good quality explorations of the Christian world view. We are growing nicely, and our hope is to be a normal, accepted part of UNSW life as the years go on. We also hope to grow in reputation as the place to turn when you need an intelligent Christian approach to an important intellectual or social issue.
JD: Some of us are studying apologetics. In your opinion, what is the key to being a good “apologiser”?
GC: There may only be two ways to live, but there are a lot of ways to do apologetics! In my view, we need more variety in apologetics: some who can defend the faith philosophically, others who can engage with popular culture, others who are good at critiquing non-Christian worldviews. One important element for anyone who wants to do this sort of work is remembering that apologetics is about communicating with people not just debating ideas. You can have the best argument in the world, but if you don’t know how to communicate it to Bob Smith, you’re not doing apologetics.
JD: How much contact have you had with worldview thinking (read any books? Been to any conferences? Covered it in your studies? Etc)
GC: I’ve been reading a book called Worldview: the history of a concept by David Naugle that explores how this kind of thinking developed. He reminds us that Christianity is not a philosophy but a theology, and that this limits the usefulness of the concept of worldview. We’re not constructing a system as Christians, we are glorifying our God. That’s been a helpful idea.
JD: In 25 words or less…describe your worldview.
GC: God exists, loves the world, and became flesh in Jesus Christ. Believing in Christ brings true spiritual life, and makes sense of past and future. (25 exactly!)
JD: Will CASE be running a “worldviews” conference in the near future?
GC: If you all promise to come along, sure!
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