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Recent Submissions

A Round Church in a Square Hole: Indigenous Theologies and the Challenge of Decolonising Liturgical Space in Australian Journal of Liturgy
(2026) Couchman, Adam; St Francis College
This paper argues that church architecture in Australia is not a neutral backdrop for worship but a form of spatial theology shaped by colonial power. Colonial-era churches, marked by linear and hierarchical design, embody and reinforce imperial assumptions about authority, place, and community. Drawing on postcolonial critique and Aboriginal theological insights, particularly the work of Garry Deverell and the relational worldview expressed in Song Spirals, the paper contrasts these inherited forms with more circular, participatory, and Country-connected modes of gathering. Using Carlson and Farrelly’s framework of topple, preserve, rectify, and rewrite, it outlines practical ways churches might engage their built environments. Decolonising liturgical space involves not only reconfiguring architecture but reimagining worship as relational, situated, and open to the presence of Country.
Between two welcomes: towards an evangelical "second people's missiology: in the lands now known as Australia
(2026-06) Jackson, Darrell; Whitley College
The Cape Town Commitment (2010) is an important summary statement of evangelical mission theology and practice as it is understood in the opening decades of the 21st century. Its emphasis on ‘love of God and neighbour’ as the ethic and motivation towards participation in God’s mission is welcomed by many evangelicals, albeit not unanimously. The Commitment envisages new theologies and practices of mission that value and express a ‘love for God’s world’. Among these theologies and practices is an extended discussion of our care of creation. The discussion, unsurprisingly, is primarily focused on ecological issues. However, the Commitment also makes references to valuing the cultural diversity of humanity as well as hinting at the potential connections between the land on which we live, and the human identity and agency that are intricately connected with the places we live. Such developments lend credibility to evangelicals trying to understand and engage with issues of indigenous theology and aboriginal claims in Australia. However, the recent work of Australian theologian, Chris Budden, raises important questions about the extent to which such theologies should properly be interpreted as ‘second people’ theologies; theologies that are expressed and explored after the fact of invasion and displacement. This paper attempts to state clearly the problem for evangelicals in Australia trying to express and practice ‘love for God’s world’, before self-critically suggesting some ways in which it might be possible to develop a chastened ‘second people’s’ theological approach to issues of justice and reconciliation as these relate to the contested understanding, use, and stewardship of land in Australia.
Putting Christian Leadership in Its Place: Towards a Critical Topography of Religious Leading
(2026-07) Shakespeare, Lyndon; St Barnabas College
This presentation proposes a framework oriented around a central question: Where does Christian leadership come from? The proposal developed here weaves together three threads of inquiry and practice: a topological imagination, a pneumatology of place‑making, and reflexive practices. In brief, these threads correspond to place (topos), dwelling (oikos), and reflexivity (phronesis). Together, they offer a way of thinking about Christian leading that is spatial, communal, and critically self‑aware. Conventional leadership models such as adaptive leadership, transformational leadership, and servant leadership each offer important insights. Yet all three tend to assume that leadership can be abstracted from place and transferred across contexts. As a result, place becomes a backdrop rather than constitutive reality, and the leader’s own embeddedness in place disappears from view. My purpose is to build on and deepen the long-standing concern with contextualization and local approaches to Christian life and practice, and to better align an account of Christian leading with the necessary and growing shift towards questions of place as part of the larger decolonial efforts within the Western theological imagination.
Enhancing Discoverability of Digital Library Collections through Targeted Wikimedia Projects: The Australian Women in Religion WikiProject and the University of Divinity Library Experience
(2026-10-29) Burn, Kerrie; University of Divinity
The Australian Women in Religion (AWR) WikiProject addresses gender bias on Wikipedia by creating and improving articles about Australian women influenced by religious or spiritual traditions. A 2023 Wikimedia Australia grant enabled the University of Divinity to expand this work through two key initiatives: developing a project that used multiple Wikimedia platforms (notably Wikipedia and Wikidata) to enhance the discoverability of digitised library collections, and appointing a Wikimedian-in-Residence (WiR) to facilitate it. Over four months, the AWR project leader and WiR collaborated on a model inspired by international GLAM–Wikimedia partnerships, focusing on digitised materials about Australian women in religion, including the Movement for the Ordination of Women and early Christian feminist groups. By leveraging the reach of Wikipedia and related platforms, the project enhances access to unique collections and demonstrates pathways for future Wikimedia collaborations within the global GLAM sector.
Two Trees: An Overly-generous Metaphor?
(2026) Couchman, Adam; St Francis College
A contribution to a book forum on Garry Deverell's "Gondwana Theology"