Academic literature on the topic 'Australian Religious Thought'

Abstract This paper argues that Chinese Australian Christians have unaddressed wounds of internalized racism and a colonized and colonizing mentality that adversely impacts their evangelistic witness and mission work by elevating Anglo-centric Christianity and subordinating their own ethno-racial status. Drawing on theoretical analyses, the sources of internalized racism and colonial mentality in Chinese Australians are first outlined within their ancestral countries of Hong Kong and Malaysia, and then their host country of Australia. Second, the essay explains how Anglo-centric Christianity impacts Chinese Australian Christians in the academy and then in missions, perpetuating prejudice towards one’s own ethnic group, complicity in racialized systems, as well as elevating Anglo-centric Christian thought as biblically normative. Third, the paper shows how the rise of Asian Christianity could further privilege Anglo-centric theologies at the expense of indigenous and/or Asian theologies. Consequently, internalized racism and a colonial mentality negatively affect the mission endeavours of Chinese Australians, particularly to new Chinese migrants and other people of colour. Finally, proposed ways to combat internalized oppression will be offered so that Chinese Australian Christians and other diasporic Christians living in the West do not perpetuate systems of racial injustice in the name of Christ locally or overseas through mission.

Christianity and circus entered the Australian landscape within a few decades of each other. Christianity arrived with the First Fleet in 1788. Five years later, Australia’s first church was opened. In 1832, the first display of the circus arts was given by a ropewalker on the stage of Sydney’s Theatre Royal. Fifteen years later, Australia’s first circus was opened in Launceston. Nevertheless, Australia’s historians have tended to overlook both the nation’s religious history and its annals of popular entertainment. In their new antipodean setting, what did Christianity and circus offer each other? To what extent did each accommodate the other in terms of thought and behaviour? In raising these questions, this article suggests the need to remove the margins between the mainstreams of Australian religious and social histories. For the argument of this article: 1) the term “religion” will refer to Christianity, specifically its Roman Catholic and principal Protestant manifestations introduced in Australia, Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist; and 2) the term “circus” will refer to the form of popular entertainment, a major branch of the performing arts and a sub-branch of theatre, as devised by Astley in London from 1768, and first displayed in the Australia in 1847.

This book is an important - though controversial - addition to the discourse surrounding Islamic political thought. It traces its lineage to the debate advocating a separation of religion and politics. By putting this politico-religious discourse into a new oxymoronic term, ‘religious secularity’, the author attempts to construct another theological challenge to the concept of an Islamic state. Hailing from Iran, Dr. Naser Ghobadzadeh (currently a Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Justice, the Australian Catholic University), examines Islamic politico-religious discourse in the context of his homeland. Briefly reviewing the political struggles Muslims have faced during the second half of the twentieth century while trying to fulfil their aspirations of establishing an Islamic state, he attempts to describe the parallel Iranian quest for a democratic secular state. Being aware of the varied definitions and understandings of the term ‘secularism’, he intentionally uses the term ‘secularity’ to clarify the distinction between the emerging discourse in Iran and the conventional understanding of secularism as a global paradigm. This discourse, according to the author, was first developed following a series of articles written by Abdulkarim Soroush in 1989, in which the latter emphasized a separation of religion from religious knowledge (p.25). The author ignores, however, the Sunni scholar, Shaykh Ali Abdul Raziq, who, in his book entitled al-Islam wa usul al-Hukm (1925), held the same view. This might be because of the author’s focus on Shi'ite political thought.

Within the Anglican Communion a Ministering Community is where all the people of God, the baptised in a community of faith that gathers for worship each week, are the ministers. The people are the ministers by virtue of their baptism; each one being gifted by the Holy Spirit for the mission and ministry of the church in that place at that time. God will provide sufficient giftedness for that community at that time. There is no need to look outside of that community for ministry as the entire ministry that is required is present within that community. Some people within the community will be gifted to lead people in worship and prayer, some in pastoral care, some in outreach and mission, some in education and teaching, and others to lead people in whatever other ministry that is required for that community at that time. There are various out-workings of what is a Ministering Community around the Anglican Communion; however, one of the common difficulties is the vexed question of the Theology of Priesthood in a Ministering Community. All the other roles of ministry leadership within a Ministering Community are often supported and encouraged amongst a wide range of theological viewpoints; however, the theology of Priesthood in a Ministering Community opens up a wide range of views and theological beliefs. I believe that the differences in theology stems from a misunderstanding of what priesthood is and how the theology of priesthood has developed over time since the New Testament. It is my contention that the Theology of Priesthood in a Ministering Community is ontologically the same as priesthood in a Christendom model of ministry, gathering, consecrating, breaking, blessing and absolving. There is, however, a difference of function between Ministering Community Priesthood and Christendom Priesthood. Functionally a priest in a Ministering Community is not in charge, unlike a Rector or Vicar of a parish that is in charge of a cure. This thesis will endeavour to show that the difference between Christendom Priesthood and Ministering Community Priesthood is one of function and being in charge, the question of authority plays a large part in the theology of priesthood. Authority within the structures of the Anglican Communion has been under review and question for a number of years, therefore there are still outstanding questions with regard to exactly what are the authorities within an Anglican Church. Authority is not however, merely limited to outside influences; people are also subject to their own internal authorities. Fowler's Stages of Faith (1981) helps crystallise the issues of internal authority for a person in leadership in a Ministering Community. If people have not progressed beyond Stage Three on Fowler's Stages of faith then the best that they can be is a helper as she will always need to defer to a higher external authority, whereas a person who is in stage Four or beyond on Fowler's Stages of Faith will have sufficient internal authority to be involved in leadership. Priesthood in a Ministering Community should never be seen in isolation, but always in the context of their community of faith. Communities of faith who become Ministering Communities do so as a whole, with the community commissioned for their work together which includes all the positions of leadership. The leadership is then not hierarchical in nature but rather dispersed and collegial in style. This thesis will show that the Theology of Priesthood in a Ministering Community is very different from Priesthood in a Christendom model of ministry. It will show that Priesthood in a Ministering Community is closer to the presbyters that we find in the pages of the New Testament than the inherited theology of Christendom Priesthood.

Jeremy Bentham and Australia is a collection of scholarship inspired by Bentham’s writings on Australia. These writings are available for the first time in authoritative form in Panopticon versus New South Wales and other writings on Australia, a volume in The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham published by UCL Press. In the present collection, a distinguished group of authors reflect on Bentham’s Australian writings, making original contributions to existing debates and setting agendas for future ones. In the first part of the collection, the works are placed in their historical contexts, while the second part provides a critical assessment of the historical accuracy and plausibility of Bentham’s arguments against transportation from the British Isles. In the third part, attention turns to Bentham’s claim that New South Wales had been illegally founded and to the imperial and colonial constitutional ramifications of that claim. Here, authors also discuss Bentham’s work of 1831 in which he supports the establishment of a free colony on the southern coast of Australia. In the final part, authors shed light on the history of Bentham’s panopticon penitentiary scheme, his views on the punishment and reform of criminals and what role, if any, religion had to play in that regard, and discuss apparently panopticon-inspired institutions built in the Australian colonies. This collection will appeal to readers interested in Bentham’s life and thought, the history of transportation from the British Isles, and of British penal policy more generally, colonial and imperial history, Indigenous history, legal and constitutional history, and religious history.

Jeremy Bentham and Australia is a collection of scholarship inspired by Bentham’s writings on Australia. These writings are available for the first time in authoritative form in Panopticon versus New South Wales and other writings on Australia, a volume in The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham published by UCL Press. In the present collection, a distinguished group of authors reflect on Bentham’s Australian writings, making original contributions to existing debates and setting agendas for future ones. In the first part of the collection, the works are placed in their historical contexts, while the second part provides a critical assessment of the historical accuracy and plausibility of Bentham’s arguments against transportation from the British Isles. In the third part, attention turns to Bentham’s claim that New South Wales had been illegally founded and to the imperial and colonial constitutional ramifications of that claim. Here, authors also discuss Bentham’s work of 1831 in which he supports the establishment of a free colony on the southern coast of Australia. In the final part, authors shed light on the history of Bentham’s panopticon penitentiary scheme, his views on the punishment and reform of criminals and what role, if any, religion had to play in that regard, and discuss apparently panopticon-inspired institutions built in the Australian colonies. This collection will appeal to readers interested in Bentham’s life and thought, the history of transportation from the British Isles, and of British penal policy more generally, colonial and imperial history, Indigenous history, legal and constitutional history, and religious history.

This chapter presents an anthropological account of the key ideas of Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami. It first de-reifies the hegemonic portrayals of Maududi as a “fundamentalist” to see him instead as a political thinker. Central to his exposition on Islam were the use of reason, critique, and ijtihād as opposed to taqlīd. It dwells on Maududi’s educational thoughts and evaluation of past scholars—‘Omar bin Abdul Aziz, Imam Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyyah, Shayḳh Ahmad Sirhindi, and Shah Valiullah and his successors. The final section outlines Maududi’s thoughts about cosmology, human nature, and civilization to locate the objective behind the formation of Jamaat. It addresses issues such as the meanings of Allah, the message of the Qurʾān, monotheism, prophecy, jāhiliyat (ignorance), and so on. It also discusses Maududi’s citations from the New Testament and references to Christ’s life to argue how Muhammad’s message and his life resembled earlier prophets, including Jesus. Maududi held that his call for a polity resting on divine sovereignty echoed the teachings of prophets preceding Muhammad. Maududi’s invoking of God’s sovereignty was similar to that of the Protestant politician-thinker Abraham Kuyper in Holland, Catholics in Australia, as well as Bellah’s notion of civil religion.

One of the key elements of success in any festival is its authenticity. This is often more easily achieved in generically specific celebrations of dance, theatre, opera, food, film – anything where the context allows for a deep exploration of the genre, rather than the cherry-picking approach which a large multi-arts festival demands. But authenticity can also be achieved through a serious engagement of the host city, town or region. There are festivals whose programs, at first sight, live and breathe a sense of place: you want to be there, to experience a program which will allow you to understand the cultural depth of a place. Many religious festivals demand pilgrimage, and those arts festivals that necessitate getting you off the beaten track already have a head start in generating excitement and devotion. This isn’t a travel pitch, but the business of getting there, arriving and grabbing as much as you can while you’re there, including serious engagement with the local culture and creating the possibility of collaboration or exchange, is central to the experience. You don’t go to these places to slow down, but to be informed and re-invigorated by a socio-geographic and cultural environment which you may never have expected to discover. East Arnhem Land sits at the top of Australia’s Northern Territory. It is the traditional land of the Yolgnu people who have been there for tens of thousands of years. Each year, the GARMA festival takes place on this land. Attendance is by invitation only, though that can be extended to you by application. Its defining agenda is Indigenous cultural exchange.