Articles
Sport and the sacred victim
05 Dec 2014 | Author: Fr Scott Cowdell | Theme: The Arts, Sciences and Culture; Civil society and politics
The fatal on-field head injury and subsequent death in Sydney of 25 year-old professional cricketer Phillip Hughes has led to an exceptional outpouring of shock and grief throughout Australia, the cricketing world, and beyond. It was not just one more death. Not even the particular poignancy of a promising young life cut brutally short can account for the reaction.
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Is it possible to recover human dignity for asylum seekers and refugees?
31 Oct 2014 | Author: Rt Rev'd Prof Stephen Pickard | Theme: Public theology and ethics; Civil society and politics
The fate of those seeking asylum in Australia on the high seas is reminiscent of an earlier period of arrivals on the fatal shore of Terra Australis. Banished from their mother country; sent on a dangerous boat journey half way around the globe; deposited in an alien prison covering over 7 million square kilometres; mistreated and denied fundamental human dignities. The story of convict transportation to Australia, so brilliantly told by the late Robert Hughes’ in The Fatal Shore, is a salutary reminder that the story of new arrivals down-under has a long and sordid history.
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The role of interfaith dialogue in promoting and sustaining social cohesion
22 May 2014 | Author: Rt Rev'd Prof Stephen Pickard | Theme: Civil society and politics; Religions and dialogue;
Amidst the many
puzzles and challenges of contemporary life, one of the more
significant and illusive concerns the question of human society. It is not simply
a question about whether human society is possible in a deeply fragmented and
violent world, though that matter
haunts us...
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National Energy Efficiency Network Launch
30 Apr 2014 | Author: Rt Rev'd Prof Stephen Pickard | Theme: Civil society and politics; Leadership and institutions
Some theologians have observed that ‘there are developments in modern science such as the recognition of randomness, chance and chaos that suggest that ‘the fundamental state of the universe is non-equilibrial’. It raises a question: ‘What if all the randomness and the constraints point to an inexhaustible capacity for richness, complexity, and order continually transcending itself?’ They conclude that ‘it seems more in accord with the overall picture of reality to see the universe as an abundant allowance of space, time and energy through which new abundance can happen’. The supposition of an energy abundant universe that does not operate in a closed system resonates with a theological vision of a universe.
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Dominion and Genesis: A theological reflection for the Australian religious response to climate change
01 Mar 2014 | Author: Rt Rev'd Prof Stephen Pickard | Theme: The Arts, Sciences and Culture;
The early chapters of Genesis emphasize God’s goodness and creative
power
–
‘the Spirit (or wind) of God swept over the face of
the waters’. From
‘let there be light’ through to ‘God saw everything that God had made... and it
was very good,’ the creation is the work of God...
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