Research Interests

Geoff’s research has focused on Karl Barth, the functions of doctrine in the church, the relationship between practical and systematic theology, and the theology of the Uniting Church (especially the Basis of Union). Current and future research is focused on the role of imagination in the development of doctrine, the theological significance of secular or non-Christian appropriations of, or responses to, the Christian narrative, and the relationship between the doctrine of creation and contemporary discussions of sexuality and gender. Geoff blogs about systematic theology and the theology of the Uniting Church at www.xenizonta.blogspot.com.au

Research Supervision

Geoff invites research proposals on the study of doctrine or particular doctrines, especially their articulation in a post-Christendom pluralist milieu. Studies on Karl Barth, the Basis of Union, and contemporary ecclesiologies will also be welcomed.

He has successfully supervised the following postgraduate degrees:

• “Augustine, Inspiration, Perfection: A Stumbling block to the Dialogue Between Theology and Science”, PhD Griffith University (2008).
• “Joint and Mutual Covenantal Priesthood: A Narrative of Community for Australian Baptist Churches”, PhD University of Queensland (2013).
• “Barth and Mozart: Why the Affinity?”, MPhil, University of Queensland (2013).

He has acted as Associate Supervisor for the following:

• “Faaloalo: A Theological Reinterpretation of the Doctrine of the Trinity from a Samoan Perspective”, PhD Griffith University (2006)
• “A New Way to Live: The challenge of St.Paul’s ‘New Way of the Spirit’ to the ethics of Australian Presbyterians”, PhD University of Queensland. (2013)
• “A study of the trinitarian theology of Catherine Mowry LaCugna with particular reference to her understanding of God as transcendent”, PhD, University of Divinity (2017)

Recent Publications (2014-2017)

Disturbing Much, Disturbing Many: Theology Provoked by the Basis of Union (Northcote: Uniting Academic Press, 2017)

A Genuinely Theological Church: Reflections on the Functions of Theology in the UCA (forthcoming)

Christian Doctrine: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming)

Articles/Chapters

“The Church’s Ministry of Scholarship: Its Basis and Functions” in William Emilsen (ed), An Informed Faith: The Uniting Church at the Beginning of the 21st Century (Melbourne: Mosaic Press, 2014), 69-86.

“The Functions of Theology: Loosening the Nexus Between Theological Education and Ministerial Formation”, Colloquium 47 (2015): 208-220

“Reformed Theology in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand” in Paul T. Nimmo and David Fergusson (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Reformed Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 312-316.

“Creation” in Martin Davie et al, New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic (London: IVP, 2016), 229-31

“Doctrine” in Martin Davie et al, New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic (London: IVP, 2016), 260-61

“Religious Experience” in Martin Davie et al, New Dictionary of Theology: Historical and Systematic (London: IVP, 2016), 759-62.

“Baptism and the Kingdom: Lessons from Luke-Acts for a post-Christendom Church”, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 16 (2016): 273-287

“The Theological Failure of the Politics of Culture: Terry Eagleton on Culture, Politics and God – Review Article” Colloquium 48 (2016): 87-96

“Doctrinal Change and Constancy in a Global Church” Mar Thoma Seminary Journal of Theology VI (forthcoming 2017)

“Christian Ethical Distinctiveness, the Common Good and Moral Formation” in Clive Pearson (ed), Imagining a Way: Reformed Essays in Practical Theology and Ethics (WJKP, forthcoming)

Subject Taught

Research Profile

For more information see Geoff’s profile here and more details at the University of Divinity Research Repository.