Research Profile: Deborah Guess

Dr Deborah Guess,

Research Associate, Pilgrim Theological College,
University of Divinity, Melbourne

Deborah Guess’s main research area is the issues raised for Church and theology by contemporary questions of ecology/environment. Deborah has specifically focused on thinkers Sallie McFague, Charles Birch, and Thomas Berry, on Christology (especially the Incarnation), and on Anglican thinkers Arthur Peacocke, Norman Pittenger and William Temple. She has also been involved with a project exploring the topic of a just and ecologically sustainable peace. Current and future research is focussed on the theology of place in relation to environment, and the treatment of the natural world in the Christian mystical tradition. Deborah is a member of the Network for Research in Religion and Social Policy, University of Divinity.

Current work

• Honorary Research Associate and Adjunct Lecturer, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity, Melbourne.
• Writing a monograph on the theology of place.

Educational Qualifications

• PhD, 2014, University of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia. Thesis title: God So Loved the Cosmos: an Ecotheological Discussion of the Incarnation, with Reference to the Thought of Norman Pittenger and Arthur Peacocke. Supervisor: Professor Andrew McGowan.
• MTheol., 2006, Melbourne College of Divinity, Melbourne, Australia. Thesis title: Anthropocentrism in Ecological Theology with Reference to the Works of Charles Birch, Sallie McFague and Thomas Berry. Supervisor: Dr Ross Langmead.
• BTheol., 1997, Melbourne College of Divinity.
• BA(Hons), 1982, University of London.

Specialist Research Area

• Ecological Theology especially in relation to Christology.

Additional Research Interests

• The Christian Contemplative Tradition; Anglican Thought.

Edited Books

• Camilleri, Joseph and Guess, Deborah (Edited Book) (2020) Towards a Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace: Navigating the Great Transition. (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.) XIV, 363pp. ISBN 978-981-15-5020-1.
• Dyer, Keith, and Elvey, Anne, with Guess, Deborah (2017) Ecological Aspects of War: Engagements with Biblical Texts (Edited Book). (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark). 208pp. ISBN 0567686876.
• Elvey, Anne, Guess, Deborah and Dyer, Keith (2017). Ecological Aspects of War: Religious and Theological Perspectives from Australia (Edited Book). A Forum for Theology in the World Series. ATF Press, Adelaide. 172pp. ISBN 1925643212.

Book Chapters

• Guess, Deborah (2020) ‘Introduction.’ Towards a Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace: Navigating the Great Transition. Joseph Camilleri and Deborah Guess (eds) (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan).
• Guess, Deborah. ‘Earth as Home-Place: Eco-Theology and the Incarnation.’ Reimagining Home: Understanding, Reconciling and Engaging with God’s Stories Together. Darrell Jackson, Darren Cronshaw, Rosemary Dewerse (eds). Macquarie Park: Morling Press, 2019.
• Guess, Deborah. ‘Oil Beyond War and Peace: Rethinking the meaning of matter’. Ecological Aspects of War: Religious and Theological Perspectives from Australia. Anne Elvey, Deborah Guess and Keith Dyer (eds). Adelaide: ATF Press, A Forum for Theology in the World, 2017.
• Elvey, Anne; Guess, Deborah and Dyer, Keith (2016) Ecological Aspects of War: Religious and Theological Perspectives from Australia: ‘Introduction’. In: Ecological Aspects of War: Religious and Theological Perspectives. A Forum for Theology in the World(3.2), eds. Elvey, Anne; Guess, Deborah and Dyer, Keith. ATF Theology, Adelaide, pp. 1-8. ISBN 9781925643206
• Guess, Deborah. ‘Deep Incarnation: A Resource for Ecological Christology’. Climate Change, Cultural Change: Religious Responses and Responsibilities. Anne Elvey and David Gormley-O’Brien (eds). Preston, Vic: Mosaic Press, 2013.

Journal Articles

• Guess, Deborah. ‘Eco-theology and the Non-competitive Relationship Between God and World’. Phronema. 35:2 November 2020. Pp. 43-60.
• Guess, Deborah. ‘Reverencing matter: An Ecotheological Reading of John Damascene’s Three Treatises on the Divine Images’. Colloquium 52:1 July 2020. Pp. 34-50.
• Guess, Deborah. ‘The Eco-theological Significance of William Temple’s “Sacramental Universe”’. Journal of Anglican Studies, 18: 1, May 2020. Pp. 29-41.
• Guess, Deborah. ‘Reclaiming Place: An Eco-theological Response to the “Miasma of Temporocentrism”’. Pacifica: Australasian Theological Studies. Vol. 30: 2, June 2017.
• Guess, Deborah. ‘An Ecotheological Exploration of the Thought of Arthur Peacocke’. Journal of Anglican Studies, Vol. 15.2, November 2017, 188–206.
• Guess, Deborah. ‘The Theistic Naturalism of Arthur Peacocke as a Framework for Ecological Theology,’ Phronema: Journal of St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College, Sydney, 31:2, 2016.
• Elvey, Anne, Guess, Deborah and Dyer, Keith. ‘Ecological Aspects of War—Imagining Creaturely Mission’, Australian Journal of Mission Studies 10, no. 2 (December 2016): 40–48.

Download current CV and complete list of publications.