Our People

Director

Dr Jonathan Cole

Scholars

Professor Wayne Hudson

Wayne Hudson studied history and law at the University of Sydney, and German philosophy at Oxford University where he worked with the renowned Polish philosopher Leszek Kołakowski. Subsequently he was elected a Junior Research Fellow in Philosophy at Oxford and taught Philosophical Anthropology in the Philosophy Department at the University of Utrecht whilst a National Research Scholar and member of the Utrecht Postmodernism Circle. Working across the fields of philosophy, history, politics and religion, he has published 24 books and 86 refereed articles and book chapters, and has won 25 research grants. He has lectured at Oxford University, the Collège international de philosophie in Paris, McGill University in Canada, Georgetown University and the University of California at both Berkeley and Irvine, and at Beijing Foreign Studies University and the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. He was recently elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Professor Hudson’s research addresses connections between utopianism, heterodoxy and social reform. His recent publications include: Wayne Hudson, Beyond Religion and the Secular: Creative Spiritual Movements and their Relevance to Political, Social and Cultural Reform (London: Bloomsbury, 2022); Wayne Hudson and Geoff Lindsay, eds., Australian Jurists and Christianity (Alexandria, NSW: Federation Press, 2022); Wayne Hudson, “Charles Strong in Australian Intellectual History,” in Charles Strong’s Australian Church: Christian Social Activism 1885–1917, ed. Marion Maddox (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2021);Azyumardi Azra and Wayne Hudson, eds., Islam Beyond Conflict: Indonesian Islam and Western Political Theory 2nd ed. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017); Wayne Hudson, Australian Religious Thought (Melbourne: Monash University Press, 2016).

Professor Neil Ormerod

Neil Ormerod has doctorates in mathematics and theology. He has worked as a theologian for over 35 years, including 14 years as Professor of Theology at Australian Catholic University. In 2013 he was made a Fellow of the Australian Catholic Theological Association, in recognition of his major contribution to Catholic theology in Australia. His articles regularly appear in leading international theological journals. His current research interests include ecological theology, Trinity and soteriology. His main influences are the work of Jesuit theologians Bernard Lonergan and Robert Doran. He has also been actively involved in the sexual abuse issue and appeared as an expert witness in the Royal Commission into Institutional Sexual Abuse.

Forthcoming:
“A hidden ecological dialectic: an oversight in Insight”, in Theological Studies.
“Mission, Reform and Suffering: The Challenge of the Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Church” in Journal of Moral Theology

Recent publications:
“The Parable of the Good Samaritan, Clericalism, and the Sexual Abuse Crisis in the Australian Context” Revista Iberoamericana de Teología no 34 (June 2022), 105-122.
“’And we shall see him face to face: a trinitarian account of the beatific vision” Theological Studies, 82(4) (2021) 646–662.
“Evolution and Decline: Making Wholeness in a Time of Ecological Decline”, Religions 12/8 (2021): 1–11.
“The law of the cross and Climate Change” Theological Studies 82(2) (2021), 238–258.

Professor Martyn Percy

Professor Martyn Percy is Provost-Theologian for Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, and Senior Research Associate at the James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen. He also holds Honorary Fellowships at the Universities of Edinburgh, London and Oxford. He writes and teaches on culture, faith, values and public life and contributes to Prospect, Guardian and The Times.

He is a cultural and political commentator, and a contextual, practical and pastoral theologian. Like other theologians operating within this tradition, he is adept with sociology, anthropology, business, leadership and cultural studies. He writes on theology and public life, cultural change and social values. Besides his scholarly output, Martyn Percy also writes, preaches and teaches on Christian spirituality. His sermons and meditations are published globally (several volumes with Canterbury Press), and his homilies and reflections have appeared in the secular press for over three decades.

Martyn has held number of roles in public life, including as Director of the Advertising Standards Authority, and an Adjudicator for the Portman Group (the self-regulating body for the alcoholic drinks industry). He has served as a Commissioner of the Direct Marketing Authority, and was an Advisor to the British Board of Film Classification. He has also been a Home Office approved advisor for ethical screening in research science, Chaired the University of Oxford’s Committee for Reviewing Donors (2017-2021), Welfare Committee (2016-2018) and acted as a Panel Assessor for Social Services in adoption and fostering.

Martyn has the curious distinction of being the only living theologian to feature in Dan Brown’s 2003 The Da Vinci Code, and was described in the journal Theology as the British Theologian closest to being a ‘missionary anthropologist’. His writings were the subject of an academic study, Reasonable Radical: Reading the Writings of Martyn Percy (Pickwick Publishing: Edited by Ian Markham & Joshua Daniels).

Professor Scott Cowdell

Scott Cowdell is Adjunct Research Professor in Theology with the Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society (CRES) at Charles Sturt University. His PhD is from the University of Queensland. He is the author of twelve books, most recently René Girard and the Nonviolent God (University of Notre Dame Press, 2018) and Mimetic Theory and its Shadow: Girard, Milbank, and Ontological Violence (Michigan State University Press, 2023). These further develop his internationally recognized theological engagement with the mimetic theory of religion, culture and violence developed by the French American theorist René Girard (1923-2015). With Joel Hodge (Australian Catholic University) and Chris Fleming (Western Sydney University) he founded the Australian Girard Seminar in 2011, serving as its President and co-editing its ‘Violence, Desire, and the Sacred’ series with Bloomsbury Academic, which currently stands at twelve volumes, along with its projected new Bloomsbury Handbook of Mimetic Theory.

He also writes about ecclesiology, with Church Matters: Essays and Addresses on Ecclesial Belonging published in 2022 with Coventry Press, Melbourne, showcasing his contributions over 25 years. Two completed books appearing in 2024 are Rejoice and Be Glad: Gospel Preaching for Christian Festivals—a volume of sermons due by midyear, also with Coventry Press—and Why Church? Christianity As It Was Meant to Be, coming out with Church Publishing, New York, in September. After 35 years as an Anglican priest, Scott Cowdell’s reception (with his wife, Lisa) into the Roman Catholic Church in the 2024 Easter season initiates a formal process of discernment with a view to his ordination as a Catholic priest, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn.

Dr Xiaoli Yang

Xiaoli Yang is an Australian Chinese theologian/missiologist, ordained pastor, trained spiritual director and bilingual poet, with specialties in World Christianity, intercultural theology, ethno-hermeneutics, mission studies and spirituality.  She has travelled, taught and given public lectures extensively in Asia, Oceania, Africa and North America.  She writes and publishes at the cutting-edge profiling less heard voices from the Global South to encourage dialogue and mutual enrichment across the globe. She holds research, supervisory and adjunct roles at a few Australian universities, and has had visiting appointments at Fuller Seminary, Princeton Theological Seminary and Boston University, USA.  She also serves at the Australian Association of Mission Studies and convenes the World Christianity and Missiology at the Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Studies.

Her recent publications include her PhD monograph A Dialogue between Haizi’s Poetry and the Gospel of Luke—Chinese Homecoming and the Relationship with Jesus Christ (Brill, 2018; CYCU, 2022 in Chinese), co-edited “Chinese Christian Identities in a Wounded World”, Mission Studies (Brill, 2022).  She is a regular contributor to ChinaSource and has published 50 articles in journals such as International Bulletin of Mission Research, Missiology—An International Review, Mission Studies, Journal of Pentecostal Theology, Review of Religion and Chinese Society, Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies, Australian Journal of Mission Studies and book chapters by Brill, T & T Clark, De Gruyter, Fortress Press, St Pauls Publications, SDI Press and Langham, as well as numerous poems for spiritual renewal (YouTube channel: @xyangbridgingthegap).

She currently works on World Christianity from a spiritual and aesthetic lens including forthcoming volumes Chinese Christian Witness (Brill) and Songs from the Ground (Baylor).  She is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and several other dialects.

Dr Amy Erickson

Amy J. Erickson is Lecturer in Theology at St Mark’s National Theological Centre, Charles Sturt University. She is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen, where her PhD explored the ecclesiology and hermeneutics of the contemporary scholar Ephraim Radner through a theological reading of Hosea. Her research interests include figural reading, ecclesiology, church discipline, Sabbath, and the biblical understanding of wilderness as it relates to contemporary ethical concerns.

Her publications include: "Surveillance and Sabbath: Alternative Powers, Alternative Hopes," in Environmental Hope: Socio-Anthropological Approaches of Religion, eds. David Kim and Duncan Wright (forthcoming, Brill); "Figuring One's Calling: A Lukan Passion Theology of Vocation in Dialogue with Karl Barth" (forthcoming, Journal of Theological Interpretation); and Ephraim Radner, Hosean Wilderness, and the Church in the Post-Christendom West: A Dialogue on the Shape of Waiting (Brill, 2020).

Dr Virginia Miller

Virginia Miller has published widely in the areas of biblical studies, church policy and ecumenism. She is the author of A King and a Fool? The Succession Narrative as a Satire (Brill) and Child Sexual Abuse Inquiries and the Catholic Church: Reassessing the Evidence (Florence University Press). She has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on topics such as: religious freedom, institutional autonomy, elder abuse, euthanasia, and more. At present she divides her time between Rome and Canberra. In Rome she is undertaking a second doctorate in biblical studies at the Gregorian University and collaborates with the Catholic Biblical Federation.

Professor Alan Cadwallader

Alan Cadwallader's research interests are ancient religion and material culture, Colossae and the letters to the Colossians and Philemon, Gospel of Mark, nineteenth century biblical scholars and scholarship and, in general, the interface between culture and faith. Forthcoming publications include: Colossae, Colossians, Philemon: The Interface (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) and edited collection, The Ancient Village and Early Christianity (T&T Clark).

His recent publications include “A Return to Peace and Security: the parts and the whole,” in First Urban Churches vol. 7, eds. J. Harrison and L. Welborn (SBL, 2022); “Complicating class in the Letter to Philemon: a prolegomenon,” in The Struggle over Class: Socioeconomic Analysis of Ancient Jewish and Christian Texts,eds. G. A. Keddie, M. Flexsenhar and S. J. Friesen  (SBL, 2021); “The Devil as an Agent of Diplomacy: variations in the transmission of the story of St Michael of Chonai,” in Dealing with Difference: Patterns of Response to Religious Rivalry in Late Antiquity, eds. G. Dunn and T. Shepardson (Mohr Siebeck, 2021).

Professor Paul Oslington

Paul Oslington holds a PhD in economics from the University of Sydney and a Doctor of Theology from the University of Divinity, Melbourne. From 2008 to 2013 he held a unique joint appointment as Professor in the Schools of Business and Theology at Australian Catholic University. Prior to that, he was Associate Professor of Economics at the University of New South Wales from 2000 to 2008. He held visiting positions at the University of Oxford in 1999, University of British Columbia and Regent College Vancouver in 2003, Princeton Theological Seminary and University in 2006/7 and the Center of Theological Inquiry Princeton in 2020.

His research interests are international trade and labour markets, the history of economic thought, and relationships between economics and religion. He is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Economics and Christianity (2014) and Economics and Religion (Edward Elgar: 2003), as well as the author of Political Economy as Natural Theology: Smith, Malthus and their Followers (Routledge: 2018) and Adam Smith as Theologian (Taylor and Francis: 2011). He has published articles in Economic Record, Australian Economic Papers, Australian Economic Review, Australian Journal of Labour Economics, Labour, Economics Letters, World Economy, Review of International Economics, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, History of Economics Review, History of Political Economy, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Journal of Business Ethics, Studies in Christian Ethics, Faith and Economics, Journal of Markets and Morality and Theological Studies.

He is currently working on a monograph commissioned by Harvard University Press called God and Economic Order.

Dr Suleyman Sertkaya

Suleyman Sertkaya is a Course Director and Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation, Charles Sturt University. Suleyman completed his PhD thesis on modern approaches to sīrah (biography of Prophet Muhammad) genre at the Australian Catholic University. His major interests are sīrah of the Prophet and sīrah philosophy, exegesis of the Qur’an, hadīth (Prophetic tradition), interpretation of Islamic sacred texts, Kalam (Islamic systematic theology), radicalisation and Islam, Islam and morality, history of prophets, oral history, history of Islam and Muslims in Australia.

Recent and forthcoming publications include: Modern Approaches to Sīrah Genre: The Contribution and Evaluation of Fethullah Gülen’s Perspective (Springer: Forthcoming); “A Prophetic Stance Against Violence: Analysis of the Meccan Period of Prophet Muhammad’s Life and the Centrality of Peace as a Preferred Method,” in Things that Make for Peace: Traversing Text and Tradition, ed. Anthony Rees (Lexington Books, 2020); (with Zuleyha Keskin) “A Prophetic Stance against Violence: An Analysis of the Peaceful Attitude of Prophet Muhammad during the Medinan Period,” Religions 11, no. 11 (2020); “A Critical and Historical Overview of the Sīrah Genre from the Classical to the Modern Period,” Religions 13 (2022); and “What Changed in Medina: The Place of Peace and War in the Life of Prophet Muhammad,” Religions 14, no.2 (2023).

Dr Jione Havea

Jione Havea is a native pastor (Methodist Church in Tonga) whose work circles around the intersections of religious studies, sacred texts, and Moana criticism. He has (co-)authored five books, over 130 articles and book chapters, and (co-)edited 26 books.

His forthcoming publications include “Homing Woman-Eve in Native World(view)s: A Moana Reading,” in Handbook of Eve, eds. Caroline Blyth and Emily Colgan (Routledge); “Theologizing Moana and Pasifika World(view)s,” in Transpacific Political Theology, ed. Kwok Pui-lan (Baylor University Press); “Native religions and hidden Moana ecologies,” in World Christianity and Ecological Theologies, eds. Graham McGeoch et al. (Fortress); and "unsettling economies: a Moana account(ing)," in Unsettling Theologies, eds. Michael Mawson and Brian Kolia (Palgrave).

His recent publications include the edited collection, Troubling (Public) Theologies: Spaces, Bodies, Technologies (Lexington/Fortress Academic, 2023); Theology as Threshold: Invitations from Aotearoa New Zealand, co-edited with Emily Colgan and Nāsili Vaka'uta, (Lexington/Fortress Academic, 2022); Losing Ground: Reading Ruth in the Pacific (SCM, 2021); and An Earth Bible Commentary (Bloomsbury, 2020).

Dr Hakan Ҫoruh

Hakan Ҫoruh is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Charles Sturt University. He completed his PhD at the Australian Catholic University in 2015, which looked at early modern exegesis of the Qur’an (Said Nursi, Muhammad ‘Abduh, and Sir Ahmad Khan).

His main interests are classical and modern Qur'an exegesis, Islamic Ethics (akhlaq), contemporary Islamic thought, Islamic legal theories (usul al-fiqh) and jurisprudence (fiqh), Islamic theology (kalām), Islam in South East Asia and comparative theology.

His publications include:

Modern Interpretation of the Qur’an: The Contribution of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019); “Qur’ānic Hermeneutics in the 19th and 20th Century: Said Nursī (d. 1960),” in Handbook of Qur’ānic Hermeneutics, ed. Georges Tamer (Walter de Gruyter, 2020); “The Prophets as Archetypes of Peace in the Qur’an: The Use and Non-use of Isrā’īliyyāt Sources in the Story of Mūsa,” in Things that Make for Peace: Traversing Text and Tradition, ed. Anthony Rees (Lexington Books, 2020); “Refuting the Extremist Interpretations of the Text and the Prophetic Traditions: The Case of Qur’an 2:256,” in Contesting the theological foundations of Islamism and violent extremism, eds. Fethi Mansouri and Zuleyha Keskin (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019).

Professor Brian Douglas

Brian Douglas is an Anglican priest in the Anglican Church of Australia with a research interest in Anglican liturgy and sacramental theology, particularly eucharistic theology.  His doctorate (University of Newcastle, Australia, 2006) focussed on the multiformity of philosophical assumptions underlying Anglican eucharistic theology and the implications for theological education. He is the author of several books: A Companion to Anglican Eucharistic Theology 2 volumes (Brill, 2012), The Eucharistic Theology of Edward Bouverie Pusey: Sources, Context and Doctrine within the Oxford Movement and Beyond (Brill, 2015), The Anglican Eucharist in Australia: The History, Theology and Liturgy of the Eucharist in the Anglican Church of Australia (Brill, 2021) and Sacramental Poetics in Richard Hooker and George Herbert: Exploring the Abundance of God (Fortress/Lexington, 2022).

He is also the author of numerous articles in The Journal of Anglican Studies, The Journal of Theological Studies, The International Journal of Systematic Theology, Studia Liturgica, The Heythrop Journal and New Blackfriars. Brian is the Editor of The Journal of Anglican Studies and lectures in theology at St Mark’s National Theological Centre, Charles Sturt University.

Brian is presently researching the seventeenth century Anglican divine Herbert Thorndike.

Professor Ben Myers 

Ben Myers is a specialist in theology and literature, with particular interests in seventeenth-century literature and modern theology.

He has worked as a lecturer at Charles Sturt University, a research fellow at the University of Queensland, and as director of research at Alphacrucis University College. He has held visiting appointments at Fuller Seminary and the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton. His publications include Milton’s Theology of Freedom (de Gruyter), Christ the Stranger: The Theology of Rowan Williams (T&T Clark), and The Apostles’ Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism (Lexham), as well as over 40 articles in journals such as Scottish Journal of Theology, International Journal of Systematic Theology, New Blackfriars, Anglican Theological Review, International Journal of Public Theology, Neue Zeitschrift für systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, and Journal of the History of Ideas.

His current research focuses on representations of God in seventeenth-century poetry.

Associate Professor Derya Iner

Derya Iner is an Associate Professor and research coordinator at the Centre for Islamic Studies (CISAC), where she teaches and conducts research on contemporary issues related to Islam, Islamic cultures and Muslims. She received her PhD in Cultural Studies (major) and Gender and Women's Studies (minor) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011.

Derya is known for her work as the chief investigator and editor of the Islamophobia in Australia Reports I, II, III, and IV (2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023), which have gained nationwide and worldwide attention by reaching millions. Derya is also the deputy chair and research head of the Islamophobia Register Australia and co-founder of the International Islamophobia and Children Network.

Forthcoming and recent publications include:

"A ‘Reasonable’ and ‘Excusable’ Violence: The Spread of Anti-Muslim Violence Through the Machinery of Media, Social Media, and Trigger Events,” in Racism, Violence and Media, eds. Waqas Tufail and Scott Poynting (Palgrave, forthcoming); with Sean McManus, “Islamophobia in Australia,” in The Rise of Global Islamophobia in the War on Terror, eds. Naved Bakali and Farid Hafiz (Manchester University Press, 2022); “Faith-Inspired Muslim Parents’ School Choices and Attitudes in the Cultural West and Australia,” Religions 12 (2021); with Souha Korbatieh, “Women’s Agency and Islamophobia,” in Muslim Women and Agency: An Australian Context, eds. Ghena Krayem and Susan Carland (Brill, 2021); with Amina Baghdadi, “Multilayered Discrimination of Muslim Women in Workplace," in Muslim Women in the Economy: Development, Faith and Globalisation (Research in Religion and Development series), eds. Dora Marinova and Shamim Samani (Routledge, 2021); “Pro-Active Religious Rehabilitation to Prevent Radicalism and Violent Extremism,” in Refuting Radicalisation Religiously, eds. Fethi Mansouri and Zuleyha Keskin (Palgrave, 2019); and with Katy Nebhan, “Islamophobia within Muslim Communities: An Australian Muslim Case Study," in Internal Islamophobia in Muslim Societies, eds. Enes Bayrakli and Farid Hafez (Routledge, 2019).

Associate Professor Zuleyha Keskin

Zuleyha is the Associate Head of School at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation  and a lecturer in Islamic spirituality and contemporary Islamic studies. Zuleyha is also the Editor in Chief of the Australian Journal of Islamic Studies and President of the Australian Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies. Zuleyha is interested in the intersection between Islamic spirituality and Islamic psychology.

Her publications include: Attaining Inner Peace in Islam: Said Nursi's Perspective (Springer, 2021); with Mehmet Ozalp, "An Islamic Approach to Environmental Protection and Ecologically Sustainable Peace in the Age of the Anthropocene," in Towards a Just and Ecologically Sustainable Peace: Navigating the Great Transition, eds. Joseph Camilleri and Deborah Guess (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020); with Mehmet Ozalp, "Islamic Studies in Australia's Universities," Religions 12, no.2 (2021); with Suleyman Sertkaya, "A Prophetic Stance again Violence: An Analysis of the Peaceful Attitude of Prophet Muhammad during the Medinan Period," Religions 11, no. 11 (2020); and with Fethi Mansouri, eds., Contesting the Theological Foundations of Islamism and Violent Extremism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).

Dr Ruth Powell

Ruth Powell is Director of NCLS Research, Associate Professor and Research Fellow, Charles Sturt University, and Honorary Professor at Alphacrucis College.  Ruth has quantitative and qualitative research skills and her research interests lie in mapping spiritual life and wellbeing in communities, including schools.  She also focuses on congregational studies, including church health, age differences and cultural diversity, effective leadership. Major large-scale quantitative survey projects include the National Church Life Survey, which forms one of the largest, most comprehensive databases on church life in the world, the annual Australian Community Survey and the Student Spiritual Life Survey. Ruth’s role involves managing research projects on church, school and community life, as well as developing resources for schools, local churches, denominational leaders and other community agencies.

She is a member of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (ISSR); Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) and Book Editor for the JSSR; Religious Research Association (RRA); Australian Association of Mission Studies (AAMS; and Australian Association for the Study of Religion (AASR). She has served on the Distinguished Book Awards Committee (SSSR) and the RRA Awards Committee. Ruth is on the AC Research Committee and the Australian College of Theology Ethics Committee.

Dr Miriam Pepper

Miriam has been a researcher at NCLS Research since 2011 and is an Adjunct Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Charles Sturt University. She has both quantitative and qualitative research skills with particular expertise in large-scale quantitative survey work, cross-disciplinary training, and a background of community environmental activism. She researches a range of areas in the social scientific study of religion, including domestic and family violence, congregational studies, Christianity and multiculturalism, contemporary Australian spirituality, views and activities related to issues of social service and justice, and environmentalism. Major research projects are the National Church Life Survey, the National Anglican Family Violence Project and the International Survey of Catholic Women. She has lectured in research methods for students in the Master of Ministry and Doctor of Ministry programs at Charles Sturt University.

Dr Mahsheed Ansari

Dr Mahsheed Ansari is the Higher Degrees Research Coordinator and a Senior Lecturer in Islam and Contemporary Islamic Studies at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation at Charles Sturt University.

She holds a PhD in Historical Studies and Islamic Studies from Monash University. Her research interests and publications explore various facets of Islamic intellectual history, theology, philosophy, and ethics. Additionally, she is interested in the historical and cultural presence of Islam and Muslims in Australia. She has authored the book  "Modern Debates in Prophecy and Prophethood in Islam: Muhammad Iqbal and Said Nursi," released by Routledge in 2023, which presents a contemporary assessment of prophethood and the role of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in the modern era.

These are selected the titles of her work: Ansari, Mahsheed, and Mirela Cufurovic. ‘New Spaces and New Domains: Tracing the Cultural Contributions of Australian Muslims’ in Muslims in Contemporary Australia, Brill, 2024 (forthcoming); Ansari, Mahsheed. "The ‘Muslim Problem’ in Australia: The role of political leadership." In Lessons from history: Leading historians tackle Australia's greatest challenges, pp. 215-226. NewSouth Publishing, 2022; Ansari, Mahsheed, and Mirela Cufurovic. "Collective trauma and the Muslim women of the Christchurch attack: An observational and media study." Female Pioneers from Ancient Egypt and the Middle East: On the Influence of History on Gender Psychology (2021): 145-164; Ansari, Mahsheed. "Al-Mu’minah Down Under: The Untold Stories and Legacies of Muslim Women Pioneers in Australia." In Muslim Women and Agency: an Australian Context, pp. 9-34. Brill, 2021 and Ansari, Mahsheed. "Australian Christian-Muslim relations: A historical survey and a reflective evaluation." Australian Journal of Mission Studies 14, no. 1 (2020): 28-35.

She has been a community activist working in the areas of interfaith dialogue, social harmony, and leadership-mentoring programs with Muslim women and youth, serving the community since the early 2000s. She is a mother to an almost 3-year-old and enjoys the challenge and opportunity arising from the school of motherhood. Mahsheed frequently addresses audiences on issues related to Islam, Muslims, and ethics to public audiences and the media. She has appeared on the ABC radio program alongside other interfaith leaders and scholars of religion, as well as the God Forbid show.

Dr Peter Hooton

Peter Hooton is a former Australian diplomat with a PhD in theology. His research interests are public theology, the common good, global ethic(s), global catastrophic risk, nuclear disarmament and climate change (small island state impacts).

Recent publications include: A Theology of Divine Vulnerability: The Silence that Gives Light (Lanham: Lexington, 2024); "Embodying the Transcendent: On the Way to a Global Ethic," International Journal of Public Theology 17, No.3 (2023); "The Common Good and the Orientation toward Christ," International Journal of Public Theology 15, no.1 (2021); Bonhoeffer's Religionless Christianity in its Christological Context (Lanham: Lexington, 2020).

Dr Michael Gladwin

Dr Michael Gladwin is Lecturer in History at St Mark’s National Theological Centre in the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University, Canberra. A graduate of the Australian National University and the University of Cambridge, his research interests include the religious and cultural history of Australia and the British Empire, with a particular interest in the relationship between religion and war in Australian history.

His recent publications include: “Preaching in Oceania During the Long Twentieth Century,” in Keith Francis and Robert Ellison (ed.), A Companion to Preaching and the Sermon: The Twentieth Century. Leiden: Brill (forthcoming 2025); The Bible Empire: A History of the Bible Society of Australia (forthcoming);"Reading Anzac Religion and the Sacred: The Bible as a Central Text and Artefact of Australian Soldiers’ Experience of the First World War," Journal of Religious History 47, no. 2 (2023); "Making a Necessity of Virtue: the Virtues of Religious History," in Peter G. Bolt and Peter Laughlin (eds), God’s Exemplary Graduates: Character-Oriented Graduate Attributes in Theological Education. Sydney: SCD Press (2021).