If you want to: Deep dive into history and explore new patterns of being community

Co-operative café: community, history and the new economics
Katharine Massam
Intensive: 19 and 20 July, 29 and 30 October

Before there was social enterprise there was the cooperative movement. This innovative unit features a collaboration with Co-operative Bonds and the Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals (BCCM) to workshop business models that might establish a café (or similar enterprise) as a cooperative. Ground this in learning about the radical tradition that supports a growing global movement for a new economy. Examine the models of religious community (from monastic to Quaker and Methodist) that have informed the core cooperative principle of democratic governance by member-owners.

If you want to: Explore, engage, and critique some of Paul’s most important ideas

Working out salvation: theology and ethics in Paul
Sean Winter
Weekly: Thursday, 9.30am to 12.30pm

What is the relationship between what we believe and the way that we live? This unit explores the way that Paul answers this question in his letters. You will explore the important ideas that Paul develops in his theology – in particular you will consider debates about identity, race, gender, and political engagement, looking at the ways that Paul’s thought can continue to help us think through these issues today.

If you want to: Theologically engage the critical cultural, social and political issues of our time

Conversations: interdisciplinary theological perspectives on contemporary issues
John Flett
Intensive: 24-29 June

This unit theologically engages a hot-button cultural, social, or political issue from a number of perspectives. The theme for 2021 is Refugee status and religious conversion. Is ‘conversion’ a theological concept or a policy category? Join experts in the theology of immigration, policy advocates and field workers to explore questions that are active in determinations of asylum seeker cases around the globe, and impacting ministry contexts in Melbourne.

If you want to: Explore the expression of spirituality and belief in the images, objects, and texts of our culture

Culture and Expressions of Belief
Amanda Burritt
Weekly: Wednesday, 2pm to 5pm

We live in a diverse society where visual images, texts and objects are powerful communicators of cultures and beliefs. This unit invites you to explore the expression of spirituality and belief in the images, objects, and texts of our culture. Engage material objects, visual art and written text to explore ways in which they both reflect, and shape, beliefs and theological positions.

If you want to: Deep dive into the rich themes and theology of Luke’s Gospel

The Gospel According to Luke
Kylie Crabbe
Weekly: Wednesday, 9:30am to 12:30pm

From the outset, Luke’s Gospel is framed as a response to many other accounts (Lk 1.1-4), but what’s important for the writer of the third gospel when it comes to putting together a new narrative about Jesus? Taking an in-depth look at Luke in its historical context and in light of literary and cultural traditions of its time, we will explore themes such as inclusion and exclusion, hospitality, wealth, identity, ethnicity, disability, and gender (attending to both ancient and modern norms), noting how these intersect with Luke’s theology and purpose. As we engage with all this and more in Luke’s narrative, attention will be given to how Luke’s theology relates to his use of prophecy, account of justice, salvation, and end-time hope, and how this theology speaks to the contemporary church and world.

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