This was the final assignment for this subject and I had a ball dragging in elements from my old Medieval English studies. I got a high distinction for this course, and rarely dropped below that for the rest of my higher education.

I enjoyed doing this immensely and was happy with the essay. It was suggested I submit it to the Australian e-Journal of Theology where it was accepted and published. Years later I discovered all the student contributions had been removed, which was extremely unprofessional. Now I can’t find any of it anywhere, which is just hopeless. I suspect when those who championed it retired, it was conveniently deleted. It may have been too radical and an embarrassment to the ACU as it became more conservative.

(7/10/23 It is indeed absent from ACU, but I found the issue with student contributions intact at Trove.

https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20051019041044/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/37047/20051019-0000/dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aejt_5/Madden.htm

After the debacle of first semester 2004, I ploughed on the with the MA degree at ACU, doing Dr Margaret Hannan’s course. “A Synoptic Gospel” in second semester. This time Luke was chosen as the Gospel and I had a much better time just doing New Testament studies – it was harder to piss people off.

Dr Margaret Hannan was, I think, in charge of the theology department at one point. I also think she was Sister Margaret Hannan sgs as well, although I wouldn’t have known that at the time. I do remember she was very encouraging about my work, which was a bit of a change. As far as I can figure out she would have retired not too long after taking this course and it looks like she died in 2013, from the small amount information available on the internet.

The content of the unit was:

1&2 Introducing the Gospel of Luke

3 The Infancy Narratives : Annunciations

4 The Birth of Jesus

5 Preparation for Public Ministry

6 The Galilean Ministry of Jesus

7 The Journey to Jerusalem

8 The Parables in Luke

9 Jesus in the Temple

10 The Passion Begins

11 The Crucifixion

12 The Easter Narratives

The set text was Luke Timothy Johnson’s “The Gospel of Luke”, which I still have. Brendan Byrne’s “The Hospitality of God” was a recommendation that I also purchased and used.

We given the lecture notes and a lot of additional readings to assist us. The course was assessed by two 40% assignments, 10% for contributions to the discussion board and two more short discussions pieces worth another 10%.

I found some samples of what I was submitting to the discussion board. This was a contribution about the Prologue:

Luke and Women:

John the Baptist:

I think this was my first formal discussion submission, I actually referred to Mark Coleridge of all people:

The second contribution was this one:

I appeared to be having fun.

This was due week 13:

“Ethical behaviour is more about human inter-relationships than the observance of religious precepts or laws. It is possible to be a moral person without recourse to religion, faith or theology. However, a religious person will be influenced by their faith commitment in their moral observance.”
Discuss the above statement in relation to the religions studied within this course unit. What moral teaching can be attributed to each religion, and what can be attributed to universally binding precepts that define non-religious human morality? Can you give examples of similarities and differences or unique characteristics in moral observance demanded by each of the religions studied?

I do have a few notes from the marker saying that the essay lacked clarity and relied on unsubstantiated comments. Some parts he thought satisfactory but rudimentary. I think that is a conceded pass.

This was due in week seven, but I’m pretty sure we got no feedback about anything until the end of the semester as I don’t think anyone was actually running the course.

Rereading my assignment now it is somewhat disorganised but essentially right. It was also, I suspect, a nasty poke in the eye to many Catholics, and while I can find no sign of actual feedback I suspect it was poorly received.

Assignment 1:
In overviewing the articles and web links suggested for this course, can you highlight the positive and negative dimensions of both the inclusivist and exclusivist approach to the study of religious pluralism. Focusing on the development of religious thought and practice in contemporary Australia, how would you identify and address some the problem issues (both ethical and religious) that emerge within a multi-faith Australia and how could we use the insight gained from our understanding of other faith and belief systems?

I took this course first semester 2004. My recollection is that I was working part time as a GP and part time as the Senior Medical Adviser to the treatment section of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in Queensland. I was playing music for my local Catholic Church and busy with four children, although my wife, who was working part time as a GP was lifting a heavier load there.

I only got a pass for this course, which was likely due to the lousy essays I presented. The other problem with the course is that at some point the lecturer was taken off supervising the course and did not mark the assignments. The lecturer was Yuri Josef Koszarycz PhD who taught at ACU from 1975 to 2010 and I have no idea why he didn’t continue to look after the course. I suspect he may have been more sympathetic to what I produced than the the staff member who actually did the marking. He went on to have a major interest in bioethics:

 … specifically in the interface between bioethics, theology and christian philosophy as they relate to ethical decision making in relation to biomedical technology.

https://www.eubios.info/GBNads.htm

The course materials were extensive notes with reading lists and links with 12 modules:

1 A Brief Overview of Ethics

2 Religious Pluralism

3 Challenges to Faith Traditions

4 Christianity

5 Judaism

6 Islam

7 Hinduism

8 Buddhism

9 Confucianism / Taoism

10 Australian Aboriginal Religion

11 The Sunburnt Soul – Christianity in Search of an Australian Identity

12 Spirituality: A Never Ending Quest for Meaning.

Good stuff and it was most broadening.

I found a response to an article that we had to submit – not assessment. It has my usual overconfident tone.