Community Ministry: Theology, History, Contemporary Praxis (CT3747Z)

Content

This unit will explore theological underpinnings for Community Ministry by drawing upon key texts from the New Testament and accounts from the early Church, as well as paying special attention to the place of the diaconate throughout the history of the church and to diaconal renewal movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including within the Uniting Church in Australia. Key theological motifs for responding to issues facing our contemporary social contexts will also be explored.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

A unit available for undergraduate elective study

Pedagogy

UCLT uses primary and secondary sources considered through different lenses to identify and explore the challenges of the unit material for the contemporary world. Students are engaged in a range of comparative, analytical and reflective practices to identify the original meanings of the text in their contexts and to interpret them hermeneutically.

Indicative Bibliography

• Baker, Alan T. Foundations of Chaplaincy: A Practical Guide. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021.
• Barnett, James Monroe. The Diaconate: A Full and Equal Order: A Comprehensives and Critical Study of the Origin, Development, and Decline of the Diaconate in the Context of the Church's Total MInistry and A Proposal for Renewal. New York: Seabury, 1981.
• Caperon, John, Andrew Todd, and James Walters, eds. A Christian Theology of Chaplaincy. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley, 2018.
• Collins, John N. Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
• Cummings, Owen F. Saintly Deacons. Illuminationbook. New York: Paulist Press, 2005.
• Dietrich, Stephanie, Knud Jørgensen, Kari Karsrud Korslien, and Kjell Nordstokke, eds. Diakonia As Christian Social Practice : An Introduction. Regnum Studies in Mission. Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2014.
• Koet, Bart J, Edwina Murphy, and Ryökäs Esko, eds. Deacons and Diakonia in Early Christianity : The First Two Centuries. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe, 479. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018.
• McKnight, W. Shawn. Understanding the Diaconate : Historical, Theological, and Sociological Foundations. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
• McRae, Alison, and Melbourne College of Divinity. “De-Centred Ministry : A Diaconal View of Mission and Church,” Thesis Dissertation, 2009.
• Morisy, Ann. Beyond the Good Samaritan: Community MInistry and MIssion. London: Continuum, 1997.
• Wright, Christopher J. H. The Mission of God's People : A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission. Biblical Theology for Life. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2010.

Assessment