The Centre for Public Christianity (CPX) is an Australian

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

media company that supplies mainstream media and the general public with material about the relevance of Christianity in the 21st century. The Centre has no denominational affiliation and seeks to represent historic Christianity as defined by the

Nicene Creed The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is a ...

History

CPX was established in 2007. John Dickson and Greg Clarke were its first directors, with Richard Grellman Chairman. Initial funding from

Mission Australia Mission Australia is a national Christian charity that provides a range of community services throughout Australia. It has its roots in the Brisbane Town and Country Mission (1859) and Sydney City Mission (1862), but was only officially establish ...

helped get the venture started. After support from Hammond Care, CPX signed a memorandum of understanding with

Bible Society Australia Bible Society Australia is an Australian non-profit, non-denominational, Christian organisation. It is part of a worldwide network of Bible Societies. Bible Society Australia maintains that the Bible is a significant historic text which has deepl ...

. Simon Smart has Executive Director since 2018.

Activities

Writers from CPX have contributed articles to ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', and the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

(ABC). CPX has an online resource library featuring interviews with writers, scholars and commentators. CPX releases a weekly 'Life & Faith' podcast. CPX runs the annual Richard Johnson Lecture, a series that aims to "highlight Christianity’s relevance to society and positively contribute to public discourse on key aspects of civil life." 2018’s speaker was Nick Spencer, Research Director of

Theos THEOS, which translates from Greek as "God", is an operating system which started out as OASIS, a microcomputer operating system for small computers that use the Z80 processor. When the operating system was launched for the IBM Personal Compu ...

, a think tank in London. The Centre has produced popular and academic works exploring the relevance of the Christian faith, including ''Public Christianity: Talking about faith in a post-Christian world'', ''10 Tips for Atheists and other conversations in faith and culture'' and ''The Wisdom of Islam and the Foolishness of Christianity''. In 2013, Smart co-authored a book with

Jane Caro Catherine Jane Caro (born 24 June 1957) is a feminist social commentator, writer and lecturer based in Australia. Early life and education Caro was born in London in 1957 and emigrated to Australia with her parents as a five-year-old in 1963. ...

, Antony Loewenstein and Rachel Woodlock called ''For God's Sake: An Atheist, a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim debate religion''. In 2009 CPX released an historical documentary called ''The Life of Jesus'' that was shown nationally on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

. In late 2015 CPX began work on a documentary: ''For the Love of God: How the Church is Better and Worse Than You Ever Imagined''. The project considers the impact of Christianity on the world, both good and bad. It combines on-location filming with interviews with experts, including

Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and ...

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...

Alister McGrath Alister Edgar McGrath (; born 1953) is a Northern Irish theologian, Anglican priest, intellectual historian, scientist, Christian apologist, and public intellectual. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in ...

and

Miroslav Volf Miroslav Volf (born September 25, 1956) is a Croatian Protestant theologian and public intellectual and Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology and Director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University. He previously taught at the Ev ...

. The documentary was released in May 2018.

References

{{reflist Christian organisations based in Australia Christian organizations established in 2007 2007 establishments in Australia