Welcome to e-Theo

Welcome to the second edition of e-Theo. In this edition, we branch out a little with some in-depth articles focussing on topics relating to faith and action from a theological and ministry persepective. Clive Pearson and Michael Earl return, while two guest writers have made gracious contributions.

We have an overview of the work completed by David Reichardt in his groundbreaking research thesis “Release the river! An ecotheological reading of how the Murray-Darling Basin’s human inhabitants have affected its waterways.” David guides us through a small sample of the resources that have guided his research.

Graham Maddox explores the sometimes problematic relationships between the Church and politics and the role that Christians and the Church have, do and should play in the political sphere.

Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear: Scott Bader-Saye

Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear:

Bader-Saye, Scott.
Grand Rapids, Brazos Press,  2007.
ISBN 978-1-58743-192-0

Here we have an accessible theological text that every minister in placement should read. No, revise that! In these days of the oft-repeated refrains to do with lay leadership and ministry ‘agents’ [an extremely unusual and problematic term] Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear should be required reading. Our Synod is soon to meet and rather than debate report after report, I reckon we could better use the time by reading this book together and engage with the questions Bader-Saye sets at the end of every chapter. Of course, we will not do this – but, if we did, we would be a livelier, more vibrant, generous and courageous church! Maybe key boards and councils could use it as a study book for the year, acquire some necessary direction, and learn to deal with the much-diagnosed lack of trust so often found in the church.

The Churches and Politics

There is strong biblical warrant for the engagement of religion with politics.  The prophets of the Old Testament were in ceaseless conflict with state authorities, the paradigm case being the legend of Elijah’s conflict with King Ahab and his pagan court-priests.  Yet the classical, historical prophets, like Amos, Micah, the Isaiahs, the authors of Jeremiah and others were the persistent champions of the oppressed, as Yahweh’s chief concern, against the ruling classes.  Jesus’ clash with the temple authorities and with the representatives of the Roman Empire see him fully engaged with the politics of his day.  Though some authors, such as in E. Bammel and C. F. D. Moule (eds), Jesus and the Politics of His Day, Cambridge, 1984, are ambivalent about the nature of that engagement, the certainty of it as an unflinching pacifism has long been recognized by J. H. Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, Grand Rapids, 1972 and Geza Vermes, Jesus the Jew, London, 1983.  More recently, Alan Storkey, Jesus and Politics, Grand Rapids, 2005,  has dramatized the Kingdom of God as announced by Jesus as a challenge to all earthly powers, and rejects the interpretation that rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s removes Christ’s message from the political realm — a point made also earlier by Oliver O’Donovan, The Desire of the Nations. Rediscovering the roots of political theology, Cambridge, 1996.

Michael Sadgrove’s Wisdom and Ministry: The Call to Leadership

Michael Sadgrove’s Wisdom & Ministry: The Call to Leadership, (2008), SPCK, London.

 “I don’t think we need ordination at all. Anyone can do what ministers do.”, was a reflection once made to me at a Synod meeting by, perhaps unsurprisingly, a lay leader. If the meaning of ordination is somewhat misunderstood (and often dismissed as irrelevant) within the church in Australia, its place and role within public life is even more conflicted. The embedded anti-authoritarianism of the Australian psyche tends to make the general public wary of any institutional leadership, religious or secular. The overlaid piety and claims of divine mandate that come with the identity of the clergy only exacerbate this suspicion. Ordination, or at least people’s impressions of it, gets a hard time both within and without the church in Australia.

Some Significant Texts in an Ecotheological, Cross-Disciplinary Thesis

Some Significant Texts in an Ecotheological, Cross-Disciplinary Thesis
Rev Dr David Reichardt

(Download the full, referenced review here)

Introduction
My recently completed PhD thesis in ecotheology  reinforces a trend to cross-disciplinary research. As the very term “eco-theology”, ecological theology, indicates, this discipline forms part of a renewed discussion between theology and science. In my thesis, an ecotheological reading of how humans have affected the Murray-Darling Basin’s waterways, a number of the “natural” sciences, “human” sciences and history, inform several sub-disciplines within theology and biblical studies.