The latest issue of Crucible, published by the Australian Evangelical Alliance and largely produced by the faculty of the Australian College of Ministries, is now available online here, with the below articles (abstracts included, where available), many of which are focused on chaplaincy.
The Cauldron: peer reviewed articles
Andre van Oudtshoorn
Mything the Point: The Use of Mythology in Genesis 1-11
This article proposes that Genesis 1-11 recasts the myths of Israel’s neighbours within a new theological historical framework to undermine the underlying world-view which makes myth-making possible. In order for the text to operate as intended the stories in Genesis 1-11 should first be treated as myths. Genesis 1-11, in contrast to the mythological world-view, draws a sharp distinction between God, the world and humanity. This results in the radical secularisation of the world. It exposes humanity as sinful but also creates the possibility for humanity to flourish by fully embracing what it means to be human and not divine. God is shown to be the creator of the universe and the one who is moved by compassion despite his anger at the evil which humans continue doing.
Dennis Nutt
Military Chaplains: For Service of Our Soldiers
The year 1915 was the centenary of the establishment of the Military Chaplaincy Service. It was also the first time that clergymen from the Baptists, Churches of Christ, Congregationalists and Salvation Army were banded together under the title of Other Protestant Denominations (OPD). So it is a record of the early days of that illustrious group. The article looks at the contribution that four Churches of Christ Chaplains in World War I made beyond the expected role of a chaplain, viz., conducting church services, spiritual guidance and burying the dead. It also examines the character of these men and the conditions under which they worked.
Peter Laughlin
A Trinitarian Ministry of Presence: An Encounter of Meaning in Christian Chaplaincy
Chaplaincy is very quickly becoming defined as a ‘ministry of presence,’ as more and more chaplains find that effective pastoral care takes place from the ‘being’ and not just the ‘doing’. From the perspective of Christian chaplaincy this conclusion is not drawn from anecdotal evidence alone but is well grounded in the explanatory power of a theology of relational presence. Indeed, it is the presence of the Triune God who by God’s Spirit is present in, and with, the chaplain that gives such a relational presence its power. Why this is so can be profitably explored through a reflection on God’s Trinitarian nature. For if God really is a being-in-relation who has forever taken up in Godself created humanity, then God is not only present to Godself but is also very much present to creation. Indeed, it is this divine embrace to which the created order has been invited, an invitation which is often at its most tangible in the moments of crisis that chaplains find themselves located. But how is such an embrace to be expressed? How can the chaplain reveal the presence of God to the other? Drawing on the work of Bernard Lonergan, it is argued that such an offer of divine embrace could become present to the other when it is embodied – or incarnated – in the chaplain’s own identity and expression of meaning. It is, in fact, in the encounter with the world of meaning constituted by the chaplain that the other finds the offer of divine embrace and the healing, empowering and comfort of the living God therein.
The Test-tube: ministry resources
Chris Thornhill
The Promise and Perils of Chaplaincy
Warren Crank
Sports Chaplaincy: Reflections on Being a Sports Chaplain
Jim Reiher
So, You're Thinking about Becoming a School Chaplain?
The Filter: book reviews
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