The things we find hard to balance during COVID-19 – individual freedoms versus the group, accountability versus blame, science versus personal beliefs – are centuries old and deeply human.
University of Divinity
Links
Articles
Had Trump read the text he held, he would have found a story of liberation for slaves, a divine preference for the poor, and a damning critique of any empire that oppressed its people.
For people of faith, for whom communal prayer and service are central to their beliefs, the need to stay away from each other is particularly challenging.
The idealisation of Mary as a virgin has created a misguided and deeply damaging relationship between sex and sin within the Christian church.
Belief in the eternal virginity of Mary has inflicted damage to women, who can never attain her sexless motherhood or unsullied ‘purity’. Yet in the Gospels, Mary is strong-minded and courageous.
In the societies the Bible was written in, masculinity was the ideal. So it’s astonishing there are moments of gender subversion and gender diversity found in the Bible’s pages.
While some conservative Christians view Halloween as “devil worship”, finding a way to honour the dead is an important tradition in our generally death-denying society.
For many people of faith, the very identity of Christianity is at stake in the battle over religious freedom. But not all Christians see it that way.
A recent Vatican commission report on women’s ordination as deacons was inconclusive. But allowing women priests would help the Catholic Church achieve much-needed reform.
In the Bible, heaven is where God resides, rather than a place of eternal life. But over time it has become conflated with ideas of paradise and eternal salvation.
“Hell” in the Bible is a highly symbolic idea designed to persuade people to stay faithful to their God, not to set out a precise agenda for the afterlife.
¿Qué ocurriría si la sociedad occidental y los cristianos se enfrentaran a la realidad de que el cuerpo clavado de la cruz era negro?
The Catholic Church has previously expelled perpetrators of child sexual abuse from the priesthood following internal investigations – known as canonical trials.
The biblical story of Jesus’s birth is an inherently political story – something that makes many Christians uncomfortable.
The prime minister’s pentecostal faith champions a simplistic reading of the Bible - but that can lead its followers to a narrow view of the world.
The Uniting Church has been grappling with questions of faith and sexuality for decades - and its openness has led to relatively smooth changes to doctrine and practice.
In response to the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia, conservative clergy have hardened their stance against it, causing even more pain for same-sex Christian couples.
Some Australian Christians claim to be persecuted – this is not only wrong, it is an insult to thousands around the world who are at risk because of their religion.
As the Ruddock review of religious freedom is about to report, we need a more sophisticated understanding of what religion is and the ways its expression can be curtailed - or can curtail others.
A new book explores the complex and nuanced place the Bible has held in Australian culture since hundreds of copies arrived with the First Fleet in 1787.
Authors
-
Director of the Yarra Institute for Religion and Social Policy, University of Divinity
-
Stewart Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity College, University of Divinity, University of Divinity
-
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, University of Divinity, University of Divinity
-
Professor, Lecturer, Department of Moral Theology and Canon Law, University of Divinity
-
Associate Professor of Theology, University of Divinity
-
Consultant and Associate Professor of Theology, Australian College of Ministries, Sydney College of Divinity, University of Divinity
-
Associate professor, University of Divinity
-
Joan F W Munro Professor of Historical Theology, University of Divinity
-
Professor of History and Dean of Research Strategy, University of Divinity
-
Honorary Research Fellow, Trinity College Theological School, University of Divinity
-
Senior Research Fellow (retired 1998), doctoral candidate, University of Divinity
-
Associate Professor, New Testament, & Inaugural Director of The Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy, University of Divinity
-
McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Divinity
-
John and Jeanne Stockdale Lecturer in Practical Theology and Ethics, University of Divinity
-
Associate Professor (New Testament Studies), University of Divinity