In-Depth Articles

In our busy, noisy, self-sufficient society, the Desert Fathers challenge us to seek healing from the Scriptures, and to allow the Psalms in particular to mould our internal emotional world and personal narrative - providing powerful and profound engagement with God in the midst of barrenness.

While increasing wealth, global economic development and ease of living form the pillars of human wellbeing in modern developed society, the juxtaposition of increasing mental health issues and suicide, ecological desecration and systemic oppression of the vulnerable threaten to cause these haughty foundations to come crumbling down. What does the Bible say to such a shallow, deluded and esoteric understanding of human flourishing? This paper explores how the understanding of human wellbeing in the Global North – particularly in affluent middle-class Australia – is far removed from a biblical view. It would be helpful to begin by exploring what the Bible has to say about human flourishing.

We have been invited to respond to a Statement spoken from the heart by changing the Constitution. We cannot assume an invitation of such grace and hopefulness will be extended again. To vote ‘yes’ is to say that, though the proposed change may not be perfect, it is good enough; and this is the opportunity we have been given to make a change to the Constitution of Australia in response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

It is time for human voices to fall a little silent and to appreciate anew our kinship with plants. In this, we have much to learn from sci-fi fiction, scientific thinking and the early church.

A.W. Tozer and François Fénelon lived centuries apart. Yet both writers came to similar conclusions about challenges facing believers and showed a way through. What can we learn from them today?

The Trump presidency illustrates what happens when ideology abolishes reality, when there is an absence of any fixed rules and when there is no such thing as success or failure. President Trump can do no wrong by his followers because whatever he does or says is never subject to any test of real performance - thus any kind of criticism, positive or negative, is effectively forestalled.

The Black Lives Matter protestors have mobilised around a sense of moral outrage over the death of George Floyd at the hands of police. However an understanding of the distinction between politics and justice, law and ethics, while seemingly a subtle one, is crucial if anything beneficial is to come out of these events.

As the world grapples with the impact of CoVid-19, the Church too has wrestled with its current practices and underlying theological framework. The pandemic is an opportunity for us to re-embrace our dual identity as alien residents, following the radical way of Christ himself and his call to agape love.

What does the latest lockdown in Victoria say about our conception of human life and society? Apart from being a medical response to the virus, the lockdown reflects a regulatory philosophy of government and presupposes a biological conception of the human being as a self-preserving living animal - a far cry from the Monotheist vision of humanity.

In 2019, the Centre for Religion and Social Policy at the University of Divinity (now the Religion and Social Policy Network) hosted a Religious Perspectives on Human Rights roundtable. Here we are publishing the papers from that conversation. These papers will also appear in the Spring 2020 issue of Zadok.