A theology of the land - Terra Australis from Christian-Aboriginal perpectives

The research problem with which this thesis deals emerges clearly from its title. The first issue relates to how the Australian experience of the inability of the present social system to deliver a sustainable, just and economically viable society is mirrored at the international level. The harmony between systems of production, economy and ecology has arguably broken down as people desire greater gains of profit with lessening respect for the physical basis of that profit. The contention is that, in a little more than 200 years, Australia’s European settlers and their descendants have seriously damaged the life-sustaining capacity of the Land. The second major issue relates to the role of the Australian Christian churches in resolving that problem. The work explores the backdrop of cultural, socio-political and economic factors that have led to this eco-crisis, from a multi-disciplinary, but primarily theological perspective. A practical theology of the Land should encourage a habitus of sharing and hospitality by all within the human community. At the same time, it needs to encourage an eco-spirituality within the demands of a holistic understanding of healing. Further, it should develop a disposition of humility which implies the exchange of position – to empathise with the plight of the Aboriginal Australians. This exchange further implies the sacrifice of shifting one’s position from the perspective of the privileged to the perspective of the oppressed.