Program

Join us for all or part of this exciting event.

Registration

To attend this event, simply click the Zoom link below at 2pm, Monday August 9.

Join here: https://divinity.zoom.us/j/88434793308?pwd=aFhWa2FRdUpkWjAydnVVais1bkRYQT09
Meeting ID: 884 3479 3308
Passcode: 775888

For more information, contact Rev Associate Professor Darrell Jackson (djackson@whitley.edu.au).

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In contrast to the physical (and social) distance that permeates our present time, the exhibition’s centrepiece, ‘Sink Like a Stone’, is a material creation born of collaboration: in 2019, Dr Byrne was invited to paint a large-scale work at the CMLA conference. Over the course of the three days the artwork that would eventually become ‘Sink Like a Stone’ was inspired by, responsive to and reflective of the community who observed and participated in its creation. Conversations were had, opinions offered, and an artistic direction was determined in collaboration with those present and invested in both the process and the artwork that would emerge from it. A poem crafted by Malcolm Gordon became the song that accompanies the piece, adding another layer of collaboration that invites contemplation.

Completed through the experience of worshipping in isolation and assembled alongside this piece at Whitley, eight other large works will serve as the pillars of the exhibition, as Byrne re-members the idea of worshipping in community. This work explores the pillars of experience in her memory of public worship: “The memory of what it was like being in church over the years has returned at various times in my experience of being separate from a faith community – anchoring me in my experience of worship – as I work in the solitude of the studio.” Smaller works are planned to enter the exhibition at different times, moving in and out without warning and prompting reflection on what it is like to be surprised by the presence of the unimagined in worship. As it hangs over time the exhibition invites us to consider the possibility that pillars of our community may be shifting, emerging from the recognition of our shared experience, rather than resting on the acknowledgement of any individual pursuit.

As we gather together again in different ways, the works themselves – and the stories they invite – offer a gentle invitation to re-member the experience of being in worship alongside other people in a time that necessitates the physical separation of our bodies.

This free exhibition will run from August through October at Whitley College (50 The Avenue, Parkville). Members of the public are warmly invited to attend (government restrictions permitting). For more information, contact whitley@whitley.edu.au.

Dr Libby Byrne

Libby’s art making practice is a means to explore questions of meaning and existence that capture her attention. Within the studio she is seeking to discover ideas, images and experiences that will extend the way she thinks, perceives and responds to these questions. Within her practice she explores that which is particular and also shared in the experience of being human, whilst seeking and sometimes finding the presence of God in those places. In this way, her studio practice is theology in the making.

Over the past decade Libby has worked as an art therapist in the public health sector in Melbourne, with a particular focus in Palliative Care.  Libby has specialized in assisting people to use art as a means of honouring and reflecting on significant life experiences as well as creating opportunities to develop meaningful and personal ritual in and around the experience of death. Libby now works as a Lecturer, teaching and researching in the Art Therapy Programs at La Trobe University.

Learn more about Dr Byrne and her work at libbybyrne.com.au.

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The award, the goal of which is to promote excellence and creativity in Hebrew Bible scholarship, is given to a member who has received a Ph.D. or Th.D, in biblical studies or related field within the last ten years, and includes a cash prize of $1000.

The news comes as Julia Rhyder prepares to take up the position of Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. Her research on the Hebrew Bible embraces a broad approach to the study of biblical texts that focuses not only on the context of their composition but also on their transmission and reception in ancient Judaism. Rhyder’s first book, Centralizing the Cult: The Holiness Legislation in Leviticus 17–26 (Mohr Siebeck, 2019) was the joint winner of the 2021 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise. Rhyder has published articles in the Journal of Biblical Literature, Dead Sea Discoveries, Zeitschrift für die alttestamentlich Wissenschaft, Semitica, and Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel. Her current book project, begun as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Basel, explores the commemoration of warfare in festivals of the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple traditions.

We warmly congratulate Dr Rhyder on her award and wish her all the best as she joins the faculty at Harvard University.

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The project: An evidence based (re)design of resources that equip friends and families to offer spiritual care to persons living with dementia

Australia and the UK are contexts where the spiritual care of persons living with dementia reflects individualist assumptions. With the increasing numbers of persons living with dementia from non-European backgrounds, age-care providers are having to reconceive patterns of spiritual care by locating spiritual care within a nexus of relationships that existed prior to the person developing dementia. Our meta-analysis of the existing research literature suggests that this aspect of the provision of spiritual care to persons living with dementia is under-researched.

Our project will reduce the anxiety levels and increase the confidence of families and friends offering spiritual care to people living with dementia. Our research will contribute to the evidence-based growing appreciation that spiritual care is better offered through a network of individuals who know the person living with dementia.

Several industry partnerships and academic advisors, both in Australian and the UK, will contribute to the research project, including Meaningful Ageing Australia (MAA), Methodist Homes UK (MHA, UK) and Northern Baptist College (Manchester, UK).

The post Whitley College Research Project Awarded Funding Grant appeared first on Whitley College.

As churches increasingly seek to include people with disabilities, how disability fits into the gospel is a pressing question. Disability and sin often appear together in the Bible, which is awkward.  Jesus’ healing signs, as a foretaste of the saving power of the cross, only seem to make matters worse.  The lecture asks whether the insights of people with disabilities might help here.  Is there a way of understanding God’s saving, healing work at the cross that does not equate disability with sin and that avoids people with disabilities feeling like outsiders?

Though the global pandemic thwarted our plans to host Rev Dr David McLachlan in person, we are grateful technology enables him to join us via Zoom. Dr McLachlan’s presentation will be followed by an Australian response delivered by Dr Shane Clifton, prior to questions and discussion from participants. Join us at the College for an evening of stimulating conversations, connection and (restrictions permitting!) refreshments.

For more information on this Australian-first event, visit our Events page or contact Whitley College’s Director of Research, Darrell Jackson, on djackson@whitley.edu.au.

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An Australian First

In 2021, Whitley College will host an Australian first for the British Whitley Lecture. Whilst COVID restrictions make it impossible to host this year’s Whitley Lecturer, Rev Dr David McLachlan, in-person, technology enables us to proceed with the event: on Monday the 23rd of August from 6pm (AEST), Dr McLachlan will join us via Zoom to present “Does this Cross Have Disabled Access?”  Dr McLachlan’s presentation will be followed by an Australian response from Dr Shane Clifton, with questions and discussion from participants to follow.

For further information, please email Whitley College’s Director of Research, Darrell Jackson, on djackson@whitley.edu.au

Rev Dr David McLachlan BA, BD, MTh, PhD

David McLachlan trained and worked as a Baptist minister from 2003, following a career in London.  He was pastor of Dormansland Baptist Church in Surrey, where he was involved for many years as a governor of Young Epilepsy, an organisation providing education, accommodation and care for young people with complex neurological conditions.  More recently, David has been an associate lecturer at Spurgeons College in London, teaching ministry students.  There, he has also been researching the theology of disability since 2013, completing his PhD in 2018.  The lecture draws on some of that work.  David is married to Mary (also a Baptist minister) and they have four grown-up children.  His more active hobbies include climbing, surfing and music.

Dr Shane Clifton

Dr Shane Clifton is honorary Professor at the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at the University of Sydney and Assistant Director of Research at the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. He was formerly Professor of theology and ethics at Alphacrucis College. He is a quadriplegic and passionate advocate for disability inclusion and flourishing.

The Whitley Lecture

The Whitley Lecture highlights emerging scholarship that draws upon over 400 years of Baptist scholarship in the British Isles. The Whitley lecture has also been delivered by theologians and scholars from other Christian traditions. This will be the first time that the Whitley Lecture is delivered in Australia, as part of an annual cycle that until now has been restricted to venues in the British Isles.

Register Now

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A native of Britain, her theological and missiological inspiration comes from living in South Korea and India, and other significant intercultural experience. She was the research coordinator for the Edinburgh 2010 project and vice moderator of the World Council of Churches’ Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.

Among her many publications, Joining in with the Spirit (SCM, 2012) is an introduction to mission studies. A monograph on theology of mission and a handbook on mission studies are currently with the respective publishers.

Event Details & Registration

This event will be held in-person at Whitley College, and online via Zoom, from 11am to 12.30pm on Friday, 2 July, 2021.

To register for this FREE event, please email xyang@whitley.edu.au. A Zoom Link will be provided for each person registering before 28th June 2021

The post Uncovering Issues of Race in Mission Studies appeared first on Whitley College.

Whether it was Indigenous peoples of North America, Central and South America, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand or elsewhere in the globe, who received early Dutch, English, French, Spanish or other European explorers, there were well-established treaty making or similar traditions that guided their responses to the newcomers to their lands. These treaty traditions were encoded in wampum belts and the oral traditions of the various peoples and served as a template for new sacred agreements with these European nations.

European explorers, in turn, came from a Christian heritage that articulated the ideas of covenant and testament, ideas akin to Indigenous treaty making traditions. Each nation, whether Indigenous or European, had a unique understanding of sacred ‘relationship-making’ institutions and ceremonies, reflecting its special genius. A recognition that treaties, covenants, and testaments are the most sacred and binding of community and individual agreements witnessed by the Creator or God, as each nation conceived of her/him/they/it, was a commonality that should have portended peaceful possibilities of new relationship.

The failure to connect in this way, as a meeting of fundamentally differing national philosophies, spiritualties, or frames of reference underlies the failure to achieve the Haudenosaunee Kayanerekowa (Great Peace), the Māori notions of Te Tatau Pounamu (The Greenstone Door) and Hohou-rongo, the Cherokee Nvwatohiyadv (Harmony Way), the Australian Indigenous understanding of Makarrata (The Coming Together) or the Lakota Cangleska Wakan (Sacred Hoop). These treaty/covenant/testament making traditions still stand as therapeutic, healing processes in today’s polarized and fractious societies. Together, they testify to the intention of the Creator of all things – that is to say the renewal of all of creation through the Christ.

Explorations, rediscoveries, and experiences of the implementation of these ancient relationship-making processes are the theme of the NAIITS 2021 Symposium.

Register here.

About NAIITS

NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community is dedicated to working together with Indigenous communities in the development and articulation of Indigenous perspectives in theology and practice. NAIITS is one of two divisions of Indigenous Pathways, a non-sectarian organization dedicated to working together with the Indigenous community to develop and articulate Indigenous perspectives in theology and practice. We encourage Indigenous learning styles and world views in our instruction as we facilitate the development of a body of written work addressing biblical, theological, and ethical issues from within Native North American and other Indigenous perspectives. We do so in concert with partners of other ethnicities whom we have invited to speak into this context. NAIITS currently has five degree program partnerships offering undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate programs.

For information about studying with NAIITS, visit https://www.whitley.edu.au/study/specialist-programs/naiits.

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This day will provide invaluable tools, strategies and current approaches for spiritual and pastoral care workers who are supporting those with dementia.

Tickets on sale now through Eventbrite.

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Completing an award is a huge achievement and we are proud of the dedication and resilience shown by each and every Whitley graduate.

The 72 awards achieved include:

• 1 Undergraduate Certificate in Divinity
• 25 Diploma in Theology
• 8 Bachelor of Theology
• 5 Graduate Certificate in Divinity
• 3 Graduate Certificate in Theology
• 5 Graduate Diploma in Divinity
• 1 Graduate Diploma in Pastoral Care
• 5 Graduate Diploma in Spiritual Direction
• 1 Graduate Diploma in Theology
• 5 Master of Divinity
• 1 Master of Pastoral Care
• 4 Master of Spiritual Direction
• 2 Master of Theological Studies
• 5 Master of Theology (Coursework)
• 1 Doctor of Philosophy

We warmly congratulate the holders of each of these awards and thank you for the valuable contribution you have made to life at Whitley College.

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