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Preaching the New Testament as Rhetoric
The Promise of Rhetorical Criticism for Expository Preaching
by Tim MacBride
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
Since the rise of the "New Homiletic" a generation ago, it has been recognized that sermons not only say something to listeners, they also do something. A truly expository sermon will seek not merely to say what the biblical text said, but also to do what the biblical text did in the lives of its original audience.
In Preaching the New Testament as Rhetoric, MacBride looks how at the discipline of rhetorical criticism can help preachers discern the function of a New Testament text in its original setting as a means of crafting a sermon that can function similarly in contemporary contexts. Focusing on the letters of Paul, he shows how understanding them in light of Greco-Roman speech conventions can suggest ways by which preachers can communicate not just the content of the letters, but also their function. In this way, the power of the text itself can be harnessed, leading to sermons that inform and, most importantly, transform.
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Gender in Solomon’s Song of Songs
Discourse Analytical Abduction to a Gynocentric Hypothesis
by Alastair Ian Haines
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
The thesis shows that the Song of Songs can be read as a circular sequence of sub-poems that follow logically from one another if they are understood as contributing to two main points, made in a woman's voice. The woman urges men to take romantic initiative to be committed exclusively and for life, and urges women three times to wait until they are approached by such men. If this reading is the best explanation of the text of the Song, then the Song is a unified work centered on a woman singing about human romantic love from a woman's perspective.
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Christ's Under-Shepherds
An Exploration of Pastoral Care Methods by Elders in the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia Re
by Leo Douma
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
The calling of elders is to be "shepherds of God's flock." Yet across the world elders are struggling to do that well. This very practical investigation identifies the obstacles to pastoral care from the side of the clergy, the elders, and the people themselves. A practical way forward is developed using an approach that enables the local elders themselves to find a solution.
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The Word Became Flesh
A Rapprochement of Christian Natural Law and Radical Christological Ethics
by David Griffin
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
Is following Jesus natural? Many would say no, but this book argues yes. Saying no suggests that grace and human nature are alternate moral categories. Saying yes implies that our humanity is gracious in origin, capacity, and intent. Much of this discussion hangs on what is meant by "nature" and "natural," and this book explores these ideas creationly and christologically. Part One considers natural law as commonly found in the classical Christian tradition. Part Two explores the radical christological tradition of Anabaptism. Part Three then proposes the two-nature christology of the Chalcedonian definition as a theological resource enabling their reconciliation. The Chalcedonianism of the modern Barth and the ancient Maximus the Confessor are appropriated, along with scientific theology of T. F. Torrance and Nancey Murphy. If Chalcedon correctly affirms Jesus's humanity as being homoousios (one nature) with our humanity, created like Adam's through the eternal Spirit, then Jesus's life was natural--proper to its created intent. And as his divine nature was homoousios with the Father's nature, he is the human expression of the divine Word which gives creation its contingent moral rationality. As such, the life of Jesus (Anabaptists' concern) is morally normative for all humanity (natural law's concern).
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Theological Education
Foundations, Practices, and Future Directions
by Andrew M. Bain
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
This volume draws upon historical and theological sources and empirical research to provide a unique and diverse perspective on theological education in the twenty-first century. The volume develops and promulgates the best thinking about theological education by drawing upon the breadth of expertise represented by the faculty of colleges within the Australian College of Theology. This volume not only produces crucial insights for the future of theological education around the world but gives the Australian theological sector a voice to make its own unique contribution to the global dialogue about theological education.
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Son of Mary
The Family of Jesus and the Community of Faith in the Fourth Gospel
by Margaret Wesley
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
Son of Mary offers new solutions to some persistent exegetical problems in the interpretation of three of the most puzzling passages in the Gospel of John, and does so in a way that illuminates the social-cultural context to the New Testament world. Old Testament resonances are heard here afresh: The miracle at Cana is seen in the light of God's people living without the wine of God's blessing, and Jesus' interaction with his brothers is placed alongside the story of Joseph.
Margaret Wesley explores the world of kinship relationships in First Century Palestine, discovering how an understanding of family expectations and obligations can illuminate Jesus' words and actions and guide our relationships within the church as sisters and brothers of one another and as daughters and sons of God. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are understood in a fresh way as the creation of a new family.
Margaret demonstrates a mastery of current research while drawing on a wide range of primary patristic sources. She shows a respectful yet firm and assertive spirit when dealing with controversy.
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The Impact of Church Consultancy
Explore the Impact of One Model of Church Consultancy on Church Health and Church Growth in NSW/ACT
by Ian G. Duncum
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
This book follows the journey of ten churches who underwent church consultancies, and explores in depth both the consultancy and its outcomes. Pre-consultancy and post-consultancy "snapshots," four to five years apart, of vitality indicators and attendance figures (using National Church Life Survey and other data) are used to compare these with churches that have not undertaken church consultancies. Theologies of church consultancy, church health, and church growth are also developed and examined, intersecting with a wide body of literature, including contemporary ecclesiologies.
Consultancy outcomes are examined in detail. This includes interviews with pastors of some of those churches, reflecting on their perceptions of whether and how the church consultancy impacted the health and growth of their church. Conclusions are drawn about the efficacy of church consultancy in influencing the health and growth of churches, as well as contexts for the best use of church consultancy.
This is a significant book for denominational leaders, theological lecturers, pastors, and church leaders as they encounter lack of health in churches and seek ways forward for greater health and impact in their local communities.
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Ministry in Context
A Guide to Theological Field Education and Ministry Internships in Australia and New Zealand
by Various Authors
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
“Ministry in Context: A Guide to Theological Field Education and Ministry Internships in Australia and New Zealand” has been written for students, field placement supervisors, and theological college coordinators to introduce the basic principles and practices of theological field education and ministry internships. The book covers all aspects of field-based learning, including biblical and historical foundations, the place of calling and vocation, the importance of supervision, the practice of theological reflection, and the setting and evaluation of goals. Chapters have been written by experts across Australia and New Zealand and reflect the diversity and cultural uniqueness of this region.
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Living to the Praise of God's Glory
A Missional Reading of Ephesians
by Mark A. Simon
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
The letter to the Ephesians is missional to its core. It effectively exhorts its readers to understand, support, and participate in God's mission to rescue humanity and all creation from the damage and distortion of sin, and so bring about a renewed creation filled with God's glorious fullness. Working at the creative intersection of biblical studies and missiology, this study adopts a missional hermeneutic to overcome the scholarly neglect of mission in Ephesians. The book systematically explores each passage in Ephesians, delving into the characterization of God and his mission; allusions to Old Testament missional texts in Ephesians; and the portrayal of the apostle Paul and believers as participants in God's mission. A multi-faceted vision of mission emerges which encompasses God's actions in salvation history; the church as mediator of God's glory, reconciliation and grace to the nations; prayer; ethical witness; and verbal proclamation of the gospel. Reading Ephesians through this missional lens yields fresh insights into its purpose and context, and the richness of its portrait of mission.
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Wide-Awake in God's World
Bible Engagement for Teenage Spiritual Formation in a Culture of Expressive Individualism
by Graham D. Stanton
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
In an expressivist culture, effective engagement must acknowledge teenagers' freedom to choose their own spiritual path. Yet, in an evangelical theology, faithful formation must hold on to biblical authority. As we seek to engage young people with the Bible, key questions need to be explored. Such questions include: how can pedagogical freedom be affirmed without undermining theological authority; and how can authority be asserted without diminishing personal freedom?
This study explores a freedom-authority dialectic in theological dialogue with the educational philosophy of Maxine Greene. Greene's reflection on the arts and the imagination are brought into conversation with insights from Charles Taylor, Garret Green, and Nicholas Wolterstorff.
As a work of practical theology, the book concludes with a framework to shape the purpose, content, and values for Bible engagement in contemporary youth ministry.
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Grounded in the Body, in Time and Place, in Scripture
Papers by Australian Women Scholars in the Evangelical Tradition
by Various Authors
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
"In my bibliographies there are no women in the evangelical tradition, and no Australian women scholars." This unique volume addresses this gap, with eighteen biblically rich and academically rigorous chapters by established and emerging Australian women scholars in the evangelical tradition. The authors consider our relationship with the land and Indigenous peoples, neighborhood, embodiment, (dis)ability, abortion, leadership, work, architecture, the media, Song of Songs and domestic violence, and Jeremiah and weaponized rape, and demonstrate recent methodologies such as a social identity reading of Exodus, sensory readings of Psalms and John's Gospel, and discipleship readings of Mary and Martha and the woman at the well. A contemporary Kriol psalm and stories of pioneering Australian women theological students and teachers complete the volume. Valuable for students and teachers across Bible, theology, ministry, and practice subjects, this book is an essential inclusion in any theological library.
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Beyond Four Walls
Explorations in Being the Church
by Michael D. O'Neil
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
The church today is in many places "on the nose." For many people, it stinks. It has passed its "use-by" date and should be relegated to the dustbins of history, and the sooner, the better. Nevertheless, the contributors to this volume believe that the church, in spite of its somewhat checkered history and its many present failures, remains an integral part of God's redemptive purposes being worked out in the world, and that God's call to the church is now what it has always been: to be the faithful people of God, bearing joy-filled witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ in word, worship, and work, in its corporate life, and in the lives of each of its members. Each chapter in this book explores an aspect of what it means to be the church, both with respect to its own life, and with an eye to its presence and mission in the world.
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Transforming Vocation
Connecting Theology, Church, and the Workplace for a Flourishing World
by Various Authors
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
There has been an explosion of publishing in the faith-work movement in the last twenty years. Work is increasingly seen as the new frontier for Christian mission. However, the church and theological colleges have failed to keep up with the interest among, and needs of, workplace Christians.
This book is the urgent corrective that is needed, moving past Theology of Work 101 to much deeper encounters with God's word as it relates to daily work. These twelve academic papers look at work through three different lenses: the workplace, the church, and theological education.
It is prefaced by Mark Greene from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, reflecting on what work, church, and theological education would look like if there was no sacred-secular divide. In the concluding remarks, the editors imagine a future where each domain is transformed by the gospel, working dynamically together for the life of the world.
While academic in terms of depth of thinking, quality of research, and referencing of crucial sources for further exploration, this book is never dry. Rather, it's life-giving and provocative for every vocation, asking fundamental questions of the reader: What is the work that God is calling you to do? How can the gospel transform your work? And how well-positioned are churches and colleges to be at the forefront of transforming vocation?
With contributions from:
Mark Greene
James Pietsch
Peter White
Peter Docherty
Gordon Preece
Keith Mitchell
David Fagg
Ian Hussey
Colin Noble
Andrew Matthews
Sarah Bacaller
Samuel Curkpatrick
Maggie Kappelhoff
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The Narrative Integrity of Mark 13:24–27
by Peter G. Bolt
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
Applying a literary and reader-oriented approach, this book asks what the Gospel of Mark refers to, when it promises "the coming of the Son of Man" (13:24-27). This reading not only provides the solution to the various difficulties in understanding those verses, but, unlike other readings, it allows Mark 13:24-27 to be read as an integral part of the Gospel according to Mark. An examination of the wider narrative of the Gospel and Mark 13 itself, both in form and function as well as in its many details, demonstrates that these verses raise expectations that are then shown to be fulfilled in Jesus' death, resurrection, and launch of the gentile mission. As contemporary Christians await the future return of Christ, we already look back on "the coming of the Son of Man," which ought to inspire us to take further steps forward in Christian mission.
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T. E. Ruth (1875–1956)
Preacher and Controversialist
by Ken R. Manley
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
T. E. Ruth (1875-1956) was one of the most controversial Baptist ministers ever to serve in Australia. After a successful career in England as preacher, pastor, and writer, Ruth came to the significant Collins Street Baptist Church in Melbourne in 1914. During the tumultuous years of the World War, Ruth cared for the bereaved and bewildered people in his congregation and in the city. He also led public debates about conscription, engaging in intense platform clashes with his Catholic opponent, Archbishop Daniel Mannix. He later moved to the Pitt Street Congregational Church in Sydney where he was soon involved in public opposition to the Labor premier J. T. Lang as well as becoming a popular columnist in the secular press.
To his critics he was a "sectarian bigot" and was, mocked as "Ruthless Ruth"; to others, he was an ardent Empire loyalist, an admired and successful Protestant defender. Some critics accused him of being a Christian spiritualist and others have suggested that he formulated a theology for fascism. Ruth denounced millennial Adventism and hellfire eschatology as he affirmed universalism and a continuing spiritual development after death.
This fascinating study of a progressive thinker, public theologian, and controversialist illuminates one of the more divisive and formative periods in Australian religious and political life.
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Growing Young Leaders
Faith, Freedom, Failure, and Flourishing
by Donald Smith
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
This book fills in gaps in research on leadership development programs for youth through taking the opportunity to research a long-standing leadership development program for young men that has evidenced some success. The research question was: What factors contribute to the apparent success of the Boys' Brigade leadership program?
Using a grounded theory methodology, the program was examined through the lenses of communitas, liminality, servant-leadership, masculine spirituality, rites of passage, and wilderness.
Research findings are that program is characterized by its uniqueness and the final theory that emerged identified the importance for youth ministry of acceptance, imperfection, and freedom and empowerment, within an overarching spiritual dimension, evidenced throughout the study, most remarkably through the positive response to worship. Staff factors were also critical, including the description of the staff team as being multi-generational, non-hierarchical, and servant-led, not placing a high value on differentiation of status and allowing a seamless transition of course graduates into staff roles.
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Foundations of Anglican Evangelicalism in Victoria
Four Elements for Continuity, 1847–1937
by Wei-Han Kuan
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
For more than half a century, the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne was unquestionably the most rigorously evangelical and missions-oriented diocese in Australia. The Diocese of Sydney, in that same period, was decidedly broader in theological and liturgical practice. How and why did Melbourne move in one direction, while Sydney in the other?
This study suggests that the answers are to be found in four vital contributors: local churches, evangelical societies, theological colleges, and diocesan bishops. For three broad periods of history between 1847 and 1937, the presence of these four contributors is uncovered, described, and evaluated for the Diocese of Melbourne. Evangelical activism, theological reflection, and leadership are each shown in their contemporary contexts to help us understand how people with gospel passion sought to respond faithfully to their times.
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The Son of Man in Mark's Gospel
Exploring its Possible Connections with the Book of Ezekiel
by David Forrest Mitchell
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
Many scholars disagree about what was meant by Jesus's intriguing self-designation the Son of Man. This book attempts to find some clarity by working through every example of the phrase in the Gospel of Mark to determine how the phrase functions and what it means in that narrative. While every use of the phrase is self-referential and describes Jesus and his ministry, the analysis yields three main distinctions in use of the phrase as well as three significant unifying features. The book then moves to explore whether, despite of the skepticism of some scholars, there is some background for the phrase in the book of Ezekiel's use of son of man in relation to basic form and function and to thematic import.
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Engaging Ethically in a Strange New World
A View from Down Under
by Michael Brautigam
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
Christians in Australia are facing serious ethical issues. Contentious topics, such as same-sex marriage, the assisted-dying bill, gender fluidity, and attempts to censor Jesus-talk in the schoolyard, present serious challenges and require us to think more deeply about how we are to live in a strange new world. This volume presents papers from the 2018 Paradosis Conference at Melbourne School of Theology and brings together a number of voices to explore doctrinal foundations and their practical out workings in the fields of biblical studies, systematic and practical theology, Islamic studies, and medical ethics. Contributors examine questions of contemporary interest as they pertain to both the Christian community itself and to Christian engagement with wider society. Part 1 comprises papers examining ethics in the Old Testament wisdom books, decision-making according to an early church model, the theological history of ethics, and the pastoral implications of Jonathan Edwards's reflections on beauty. Part 2 investigates the ramifications for Christian social ethics of the paradox of Jesus's stringent moral commands and his inclusive lifestyle, Islam's approach to homosexuality, virtue ethics as an alternative narrative within the "assisted-dying" debate, and the role of docility as a virtue in teaching, pastoral theology, and mission.
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Holding Forth the Word of Life
Essays in Honor of Tim Meadowcroft
by John De Jong
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
Holding Forth the Word of Life is a collection of essays offered to honor Tim Meadowcroft on his retirement from Laidlaw College. An international authority on Daniel, over the last twenty-five years Tim has established himself as one of New Zealand's leading biblical scholars.
While specializing in Old Testament, Tim has taught and published in New Testament as well as hermeneutics and theological interpretation of Scripture. Beyond academic work he has also remained committed to the church and its voice in wider society.
This collection of essays, written by leading scholars from New Zealand and beyond, covers all of these areas-Old Testament, New Testament, intertestamental texts, hermeneutics, theological interpretation of Scripture, reception history, and theological reflection on pressing issues facing society.
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Making the Word of God Fully Known
Essays on Church, Culture, and Mission in Honor of Archbishop Philip Freier
by Paul A. Baker
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
Making the Word of God Fully Known is a collection of essays on church, culture, and mission relevant for the Australian church in honor of the sixty-fifth birthday of Archbishop Philip Freier, archbishop of Melbourne. The essays cover aspects of mission strategy, ministry of women, ministry to Australian indigenous people, responding to past history of child sexual abuse, and issues of liturgy and ecclesiology. The target is Australian ministers and laypeople. The essays largely come from Melbourne, a richly diverse Anglican diocese and reflect the priorities and strategies of Archbishop Freier's thirteen years as archbishop.
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Out Here Down Under
Ancient History in the Antipodes
by E. A. Judge
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
“Out Here Down Under” is a collection of documents and papers illuminating the development and character of ancient history as a discipline in the Antipodes. It considers especially the distinctive and extraordinarily popular program, championed by E. A. Judge, of studying classical and biblical corpora together under one discipline, with an emphasis on the interpretation of documentary sources. In twenty chapters, this volume considers such issues as the relationship between British and Antipodean scholarship, the story and legacy of Antipodean scholars of the ancient world, the nature and ideology of ancient history programs at schools and universities (especially in NSW and at Macquarie), the interaction between biblical and classical disciplines, and the function of history in contemporary Australia. These texts, mostly written by Judge himself throughout his career, appear here with new introductory notes outlining their historical significance for the discipline and Judge's own practice.
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Shifting Allegiances: Networks of Kinship and of Faith
The Women's Program in a Syrian Mosque
by Moyra Dale
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
What happens when Muslim women gather together at the mosque to read the Qur'an, learn, and pray? How does family loyalty interact with mosque attendance for women? This book explores the growing Muslim women's piety movement through looking at one women's program in a Syrian suburban mosque. Community models shape individual behavior. The place and power of blessing help define the boundaries between orthodox and popular Islam. Modesty and shame, feasts and fasting, purity and prayer, interact to shape daily life possibilities for women involved in the mosque program. At the same time, the growing accessibility of religious teaching for women allows them to take up new places of authority in the Muslim ummah. Women read the Qur'an not just for blessing, but for what it has to say to issues of daily female and family life. And the words of communal dhikr devotion offer a window into the worshippers' consciousness of God and of Muhammad, Prophet of Islam.
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Finding Lost Words
The Church's Right to Lament
by G. Geoffrey Harper
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
The brokenness of this world inevitably invades our lives. But how do you maintain faith when overwhelmed by grief? When prayer goes unanswered? When all you have are questions, not answers? What do you say to God when you know he is in control but the suffering continues unabated? Is there any alternative to remaining speechless in the midst of pain and heartbreak?
This book is about finding words to use when life is hard. These words are not new. They are modes of expression that the church has drawn on in times of grief throughout most of its history. Yet, the church in the West has largely abandoned these words--the psalms of lament. The result is that believers often struggle to know what to do or say when faced with distress, anxiety, and loss. Whether you are in Christian leadership, training for ministry, or simply struggling to reconcile experience with biblical convictions, Finding Lost Words will help you consider how these ancient words can become your own.
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Contextualization of the Gospel
Towards an Evangelical Approach in the Light of Scripture and the Church Fathers
by Andrew James Prince
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
There has been heightened interest and prolific publication by missiologists about contextualization since the term was first coined in 1972. There has been ongoing debate, particularly amongst evangelicals themselves regarding which of these meanings, methods, and models of contextualization are acceptable to use. Much of the debate has been carried out by academics and practitioners whose observations and conclusions have been largely shaped by the social sciences and practical theology. In contrast, the disciplines of biblical studies and Christian thought have not featured significantly in the debate. The purpose of this research is to establish that biblical studies and Christian thought in general (and Scripture and the church fathers in particular) have an essential contribution to make in the contextualization debate and should form part of an evangelical approach to contextualization of the gospel alongside the social sciences and practical theology. Following a review of the literature on contextualization over the past forty years, the research examines the book of Acts as representative of Scripture, and the work of John Chrysostom as a representative church father. Contextual principles that are consistent with an evangelical approach to contextualization of the gospel are drawn from each work, establishing the value of biblical studies and Christian thought in contextualization.
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Anglican Evangelicalism in Sydney 1897 to 1953
Nathaniel Jones, D. J. Davies and T. C. Hammond
by John A. McIntosh
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
John McIntosh attempts to describe more accurately and completely the spectrum of Evangelicalism (Anglican) that three successive principals of Moore Theological College appropriated and taught in the period. Each was an outstanding graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, respectively. The study traces the circumstances of their appointment and seeks to define the convictions they held--against the background of challenges and changes to their Christian faith they faced in their day. A close examination of their published and unpublished literary oeuvre clears away misunderstandings and even misrepresentations of their thought and influence. In so doing it explains how it was that those Evangelicals in the diocese who adhered more closely to their Reformation tradition finally prevailed decisively over those who were Protestant but liberal.
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Passion and Resurrection Narratives
Post Nicene Latin Interpretations
by Andrew M. Bain
Part of the Australian College of Theology Monograph series
By grasping how the church of a particular time period reads the Scriptures, we can understand much of the Christianity of that age. This volume examines how the Gospel accounts at the heart of the Christian faith, the passion and resurrection of Christ, were interpreted by four key authors from late antiquity. In analyzing the readings and methods of Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, this work advocates for a reshaping of the categories commonly used to understand Latin patristic exegesis. It also prompts reflection upon habits of biblical interpretation and the pastoral application of Scripture in our own time.
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