From the Editor
Papua New Guinea is our closest neighbour, but culturally it is another planet for most Australians. Catholic priest Philip Gibbs has been work- ing in this enigmatic country for nearly forty years and gives us some illuminating insights into the spirituality of Melanesia – insights which could help western theology respond better to the whole created order.
As one of our readers remarks on page 8, addressing the churches, “if we don’t get our metaphor for God matched to the thought-world of the 21st Century we will go down the cultural gurgler”. Our western theology is to date inadequate for coping with the cosmological and ontological issues we are facing in the 21st Century.
One hidden treasure we do have is a mystical theology which has been buried in monasteries in western Christendom, normally unavailable to ordinary folk, since the Middle Ages. This tradition has been exhumed during the past few decades, and is being painstakingly translated into 21st Century conceptual language, using modern sociological and psychological insights. Two books I have read lately about the revival of the Christian mystical tradition and contemplative prayer are reviewed in these pages.
Euthanasia has been a lively subject of debate in Australian politics. Fr Frank Brennan SJ visited the USA in June and investigated what is happening in Oregon, a state which has had a physician assisted suicide law in place since 1997. His find- ings in our Forum provide a nuanced approach to a very complex subject, which affects every citizen in countries where suicide is legislated for.
Lyn Bender is a psychologist who worked at Woomera and had to do serious business with her conscience as a professional whilst there. In Home Truths she reinforces the message that concentration camps such as those set up in remote areas for detaining immigrants are creating a mental health catastrophe. She also makes the point that any community which condones such inhumane practices becomes complicit in them – a lesson many of us had to learn painfully during the blood, sweat and tears of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa.
I have been asked why we continue to produce this journal amidst the bliz- zard of information available these days – is it worthwhile?
Although many of us suffer data overload, information floods daily life, and opinions are ubiquitous, it seems that wisdom is harder to come by in the media cyclone. We look for material to publish that is worth spending time with and thinking about – in print because that is what most of our readers want, although Common Theology is also on-line and available by e-mail.
My task as editor is to find material that encourages and inspires us to seek out a theological perspective on contemporary society – one that should by definition bring hope to daily life.
As long as our readers and sponsors continue to support this journal we will continue to publish it as a small contribution to theological debate in the market place.
Maggie Helass
