Essentials
Another Reason to Keep on Preaching the Scriptures
- Details
- Written by: Steven Daly
Book Review by Steven Daly
Vishal Mangalwadi, The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization . Thomas Nelson 2011. ISBN 9781595555458
The Book That Made Your World is a thoroughly enjoyable, thoroughly un-put-downable, thoroughly encouraging look at what makes Western civilization so very different to all the others.
Vishal’s purpose is not to uphold Western civilization as faultless or the model to be emulated. He is nevertheless crystal clear that our Western European intellectual-social-political heritage carries with it some astonishing advantages when compared to any other historical civilization or human culture; and that these advantages are all plainly the inheritance of generations of people who have taken the Bible seriously.
Read more: Another Reason to Keep on Preaching the Scriptures
Some other books on Indigenous life and ministry
- Details
- Written by: Dale Appleby
Four books that connect with Peer Sutton’s Politics of Suffering.
Diane Austin-Broos, A Different Inequality. The Politics of Debate About Remote Aboriginal Australia. Allen Unwin 2011 ISBN 9781742370491
Professor Emeritus in the Dept of Anthropology at the University of Sydney, Diane Austin-Broos brings perspectives from central Australia that reinforce the kind of concerns expressed by Peter Sutton.
Marcia Langton, Boyer Lectures 2012: The Quiet Revolution: Indigenous People and the
Resources Boom. Harper Collins 2012. ISBN 9780733331633. Also available as podcasts from the ABC. Terrific set of lectures.
Noel Pearson, Radical Hope: Education and Equality in Australia. The Quarterly Essay 2009. ISBN 9781863954440.
Here is a radical rethink about education, especially as it applies to indigenous communities, from one of Australia’s leading intellectuals.
Noel Pearson, Up from the Mission. Black Inc 2011. ISBN: 9781863955201
Biography and essays including essays on the apology, welfare dependency, politics, alcoholism and more.
Three books that connect with the story of Gumbuli.
Gumbuli of Ngukurr
- Details
- Written by: Joy Sandefur
Book review: Joy Sandefur
Gumbuli of Ngukurr. Aboriginal elder in Arnhem Land. By Murray Seiffert Australian Christian Book of the year 2012. Published by Acorn press. 414pp. ISBN 9780987132925
I warmly commend this biography of Rev Gumbuli Wurramara, AM, of Ngukurr. I first met Gumbuli in 1976 when I went to live at Ngukurr and work in what was to become the Kriol Bible Translation Project. He has remained a significant figure in my life ever since. I was delighted and surprised when he made the trip to Darwin to present me at my ordination as a priest in 2006.
This warmly written biography gives an insight into his life moving from his childhood on remote islands in the Gulf of Carpentaria to his move to Ngukurr in South East Arnhem Land as a young man, his later significant contribution to the Anglican Church in the Northern Territory and his leadership in the community at Ngukurr.
Have you ever wondered how the gospel came to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory? Why were missions established? Is it true that the missionaries destroyed the local culture and language? What was the reason for the missions to be handed over to the Government? How did the Indigenous churches and clergy emerge? What are the reasons for today’s high unemployment rates, passive welfare, high death rates and other social problems? This carefully researched biography of Gumbuli Wurramara will give you some insight into these issues as the story unfolds.
The politics of suffering
- Details
- Written by: Joy Sandefur
Review Article.
Joy Sandefur reviews a controversial and groundbreaking book on indigenous life and ministry.
The politics of suffering : indigenous Australia and the end of the liberal consensus. Peter Sutton, Melbourne University Publishing, 2011. ISBN 9780522858716
To understand the pressures that Aboriginal clergy and church leaders face every day in their communities and the stress they work under you need to read this book. When you have, you will have a clear idea of how you should pray for Indigenous Christian leaders. In The Politics of Suffering Peter Sutton directly confronts the question of why so many remote communities are such dangerous places to live in.
The book is controversial among some anthropologists and other scholars. However it resonates with my own experiences. I have been associated with Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land since 1973. I recently retired with a heavy heart because life in many of these communities is like living in a disaster zone. It is difficult to wrestle with the fact that life is now much worse than it was 40 years ago. How has this happened with so many programs carried out and billions spent by the government?
Peter Sutton writes passionately out of the deep hurt that he has experienced from the many early deaths and suffering of his Aboriginal friends. From his sadness and pain he addresses the question of why life for the residents of these remote communities is so much worse today than it was in the 1970’s when he and others of us first lived and worked in them.
Partnering with the Indigenous Church in the Kimberley
- Details
- Written by: Ray Arthur
Ray Arthur explains why CMS is starting a new partnership in North West Australia
Australia was in the sights of CMS and at a meeting on November 13 1786 the question was asked “What is the best method of planting and promulgating the Gospel in Botany Bay?”. The answer was seen in the appointment of gospel centered clergy such as the Rev Richard Johnson and a little later the Rev Samuel Marsden.
Marsden became the senior chaplain to the colony and “apostle to the Maoris of New Zealand and the Aboriginals of Australia” (quotes from ‘A History of the Church Missionary Society of Australia’).
In 1908 CMS-A appointed their first missionary to indigenous people in Roper River (NT). CMS-A has expanded Indigenous ministry in the NT which continues throughout the Territory today. From this experience, and its concentration on equipping people for cross-cultural ministry throughout the world, CMS is in a good position to respond to the request of the Anglican Diocese of the North West Australia, and in particular of the parish of Broome, for help in building God’s church throughout the Kimberley Region.
Read more: Partnering with the Indigenous Church in the Kimberley
From Darwin to Melbourne
- Details
- Written by: Chris Appleby
Murray Seiffert brings a personal perspective to bear on life and ministry among Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, and highlights some (at times) unflattering contrasts with life and ministry in the south.
This is a rather personal tale which reflects on living and working with Christian Aboriginal leaders in the Northern Territory, then returning to Melbourne. It is seven years since I returned to Victoria from that life-changing experience. Of course most of the first five years were dominated by researching and writing two books linked to that work: Refuge on the Roper: the Origins of the Roper River Mission, Ngukurr (2008) and Gumbuli of Ngukurr: Aboriginal Elder in Arnhem Land (2011).
What was I doing there?
Having spent much of my life in teacher education, I was appointed to be Academic Dean at Nungalinya College in Darwin. All students at the College are Indigenous adults, the majority coming from the Top End of the Northern Territory, although most States were represented. The College was established in 1973 by the Anglican and Uniting Churches, being joined in the 1990s by the Catholic Church.
My wife Marjorie and I had felt God’s call to work as missionaries with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and did so from 2001 until 2007.
My work involved many challenges, not the least being asked to lead the transformation of an Indigenous college into a Registered Training Organization meeting the increasing demands of national ‘quality control’ standards for the twenty-first century.
The Atonement Debate that is dividing evangelicals
- Details
- Written by: Allan Bate
Allan Bate comes to grips with the ongoing debate about the atonement.
After 15 years in fulltime stipendiary ministry within the Anglican Church in Australia I decided to enrol myself in a MA(Min) with the Australian College of Theology so as to receive some much needed professional development.
This year I enrolled in a theological subject which looked at the Meanings of the Atonement. One of the reasons I enrolled in this subject was to assist me in my discussions with my liberal colleagues who argue against, and even strongly oppose my views, on penal substitutionary atonement (PSA). The other reason I chose to enrol was because of the rise in evangelicals who are choosing to leave this doctrine behind, which probably includes even some members of EFAC Australia.
As an isolated evangelical working in a non-metropolitan diocese issues like this sometimes fail to come up on my radar and so it was for this reason that I thought that I would take the opportunity to share some of my insights with you. (I would love someone to do a similar article on Tom Wright and The New Perspective in another issue of Essentials). (In the meantime here is a link to a paper by Tom Wright on the New Perspective)
Read more: The Atonement Debate that is dividing evangelicals