Opinion

John Shelby Spong, the controversial Episcopal bishop, has always regarded himself as an iconoclast. Throughout his long career, he has vigorously attacked Christian doctrine, and has called for “a new reformation.” The main themes of his prolific writings have now been brought together in his new manifesto, Jesus for the Non-Religious – a book which Spong himself describes as the ...

After a veritable deluge of letters about ads for a conference and public lecture featuring Bishop John Shelby Spong appearing in Journey, we asked the Principal of Trinity Theological College Rev Dr David Rankin to tell us where people like Dr Spong have featured in church history. IN MY VIEW, a significant number of the theological positions espoused by Dr ...

Journey asked Trinity College Director of Studies in Systematic Theology Rev Dr Geoff Thompson whether there is a place in the Uniting Church in Australia for the theology articulated by John Shelby Spong and championed by self-styled progressive Christians. FOR MANY people, the Uniting Church is a natural home for this kind of theology. Why is this so? After all, ...

A peaceful stretch of the Bruce Highway just to the north of Yandina was shattered on the evening of 7 December 1978 when eight people lost their lives in a tragic multi-vehicle accident. June Ehrenberg is a mother who’s life was changed forever as a result of the accident. Our daughter Annette was going to see the film Jesus of ...

In a split second, my life changed. I went from being an able bodied person to one who from that point would be labelled “disabled”, my appearance was changed and my ability to work ever again, to care for my kids and even my ability to care for myself was in question. For the next four years I was in ...

On Sunday 28 November 1993 while driving to Giru to conduct the 9.30am worship servce I was involved in a vehicle accident. I was told that the engine came through the firewall – whatever that means – and the driver’s door had to be cut open to release me. I was initially attended to in Ayr but within 24 hours ...

Uniting Church Queensland Synod Vision for Mission Advocate Rev Duncan Macleod has a personal investment in road safety. His 18 month old daughter was hit by a car and killed in 1992. The driver was traveling at ten kilometers over the speed limit. It’s difficult to watch some of the commercials that show similar scenarios. The agony is all too ...

Synod can be a pretty emotional time. When things are going well it’s a bit like being on a natural high. All is well with the world, faith is encouraged, and hope runs amok. When things are going badly, or even just badly from my point of view, it is hard to stay optimistic, easy to be discouraged and tempting ...

On the Sunday morning of Synod I preached on the theme, “Running Free”.  It was a sermon about the sinful burdens we choose to carry and how, as a result, our lives and relationships are inevitably damaged. It was also a clear declaration of the good news that in Jesus Christ we can know the reality of forgiveness and new ...

IN LATE 1847, Karl Marx and his fellow communitarians were accused by some of the bourgeois elite of undermining the most fundamental of social institutions – private property and the family. His response was characteristically scathing, and ingenious: “You are horrified at our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done ...