Arts Faculty News

Beach

Applications are now open for the 2009 Vice Chancellors Ancora Imparo Student Leadership Program. All first year students studying at Victorian Campuses of Monash University are encouraged to apply for a postion in the this program. Visit the website for more information.

1. More Info.

Dr Kate Murphy and Professor Rae Frances

Dr Kate Murphy was awarded the Mollie Hollman Doctoral Medal for the best thesis submitted in the Faculty of Arts in 2007. The medal was presented by the Dean at a reception organised by the School of Historical Studies. Entitled ‘Gender and the rural-urban divide: fears and fantasies of the Australian elite, 1900-1930′, the thesis explores the different ways in which rural ideals functioned within early 20th century elite culture. The Dean commented both on the importance of the topic and on the very high praise that the thesis received from its examiners.

More News about Gary Bouma

Press Release

The Australasian Theological Forum (ATF) Ltd awards an annual prize for outstanding theological books published in the area of Christian theology in the past year. Recently it announced the recipients of the 2007 prize for books published in 2006.

Rev Dr Paul Babie, Associate Dean of Law (Research) at the University of Adelaide Law School, Priest of the Eparchy for Ukrainian Catholics of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, and Chair of the Board of Directors of ATF Ltd, announced the winners at the ATF Office in Adelaide on 2 May 2008.

Rev Dr Babie said that ‘the criteria used by the panel of judges require that a book be well-written, of international standard, and that it be challenging and constitute an original contribution to its field of theology.’

‘In awarding its prize the ATF aims to recognise and encourage theological work of real quality in Australia and New Zealand’, Rev Dr Babie said.

Professor Emeritus Gary D Bouma has been awarded the first prize for 2008 for his book Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the 21st Century, published by Cambridge University Press. Professor Bouma is an Anglican Priest and Emeritus Professor of Sociology in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University and the UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations, Asia Pacific.

In awarding the prize, Rev Dr Babie said that ‘Professor Bouma’s research has primarily focussed on the interaction between religion and society in Western societies including Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. His current work includes a major study of religious plurality in multicultural Australia making strategic comparisons with other societies and an attempt to delineate Australia’s religious institutions and continuing work on Post-Modernity as a context for interfaith dialogue and theological reflection. In Australian Soul, Professor Bouma challenges the idea that religious and spiritual life in Australia is in decline, arguing instead that far from petering out, religion and spirituality are thriving. This makes a very important contribution to contemporary political and social dialogue.’

Rev Dr Babie also announced the second prize, highly commending Aloysius Rego, OCD, of the Discalced Carmelite Friars in Victoria, for Suffering and Salvation: The salvific meaning of suffering in the later theology of Edward Schillebeeckx, published by Peeters Press and WB Eerdmans. Rev Dr Babie said that ‘Fr Rego’s book is a challenging and significant work exploring the deeper questions of God’s role in suffering and salvation through the lens of Edward Schillebeeckx’s later theology. The project ultimately builds a contemporary soteriology.’

Further information:

Mr Hilary Regan
ATF Press
0411 876 099