Continuing Education
The Theological School runs many educational events and hosts short courses for lay and ordained members of the community.
The Continuing Education Program is an opportunity for you to engage critically with issues from a contemporary Anglican perspective. One of the program’s aims is to enhance and invigorate the ministry of clergy and lay people in their various roles in the Church. We hope to see you at some or all of our events during the year!
View the program
We are pleased to announce our Continuing Education program for 2023. Bookings are essential. All events will be held in person, at Trinity College Theological School.
Venue: Trinity College Theological School, 100 Royal Parade, Parkville VIC 3052
Cost: $50 | $35 concession (pensioners and theological students)
Enquiries: Trinity College Theological School | theologyevents@trinity.edu.au | 03 9348 7127
Gardens, Groceries & Grace
22 April 9:30AM - 4PM
This event explores the relevance of Christian faith for our multifaceted relationships with food. We will study the Bible’s depiction of gardens and shared meals, discuss how food shapes and expresses particular cultures, and contrast the concept of food as God’s good gift with our often-distorted relationships with eating.
The day’s leaders: Dr Jeffrey P. Greenman is a Visiting Scholar at Trinity College Theological School through April; he currently serves as President and Professor of Theology and Ethics at Regent College in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Dr Janet E. Greenman is a pediatrician at BC Children’s Hospital and medical educator.
Talking about Jesus: Evangelism for the Anglican Church
19 August 9:30AM - 4PM
For all our advocacy of mission action plans and outreach, we in the Church still seem to struggle to actually talk about Jesus. We can talk for hours about the Church, its structures, its liturgy, and even its buildings – but seem far less inclined, sometimes to the point of embarrassment, to talk about the one on whom the Church is founded, or invite others into his community. In this day-long colloquium we will explore what it means and what it can look like for Anglicans – in all their difference and commonality – to proclaim Jesus in ways that are authentic both to our various forms of Anglicanism, and to the diverse communities in which we live, work, and worship.
The day’s leaders: The Reverend Professor Mark Lindsay, the Reverend Canon Professor Dorothy Lee FAHA, and the Reverend Dr Fergus King, all teaching faculty at Trinity College Theological School, as well as the Right Reverend Lindsay Urwin (Vicar at Christ Church Brunswick) and a multi-cultural panel sharing their own thoughts and experience of evangelism.
Book here
The Kingdom of God is near: Studies on the readings for Year B
4 November 9:30AM - 3PM
This event is an opportunity for clergy and lay people to be enriched by the readings from Mark and the Old Testament for the forthcoming Church Year B. This study day will provide resources for preaching, worship and ministry, commencing on Advent Sunday. It will also be a wonderful opportunity to explore the Bible, discover its riches and deepen your spirituality. There will be plenty of opportunity for reflection, input and discussion.
The day’s leaders: The Revd Canon Dr Robert (Bob) Derrenbacker is the Dean of the Trinity College Theological School, where he is also the Frank Woods Associate Professor in New Testament. He writes on a wide range of research interests including the Synoptic gospels. Bob is a member of Chapter at St Paul’s Cathedral where he is also an Associate Priest. Dr Rachelle Gilmour is Bromby Associate Professor in Old Testament at the Trinity College Theological School. She has published three books, including most recently, Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel, and is currently working on a commentary on 1 Samuel 1-15. Rachelle is also a member of St James' Old Cathedral in West Melbourne.
Book here
Past Events
To view recordings of some of our previous events, click here.
Australian-Canadian Holy Land Pilgrimage and Study Tour
16–26 June 2022
Join Trinity College Theological School Dean, the Revd Dr Robert Derrenbacker, and Principal of Wycliffe College (Toronto), the Rt Revd Dr Stephen Andrews, for a Holy Land Pilgrimage and Study Tour. They are looking forward to acting as hosts on the third trip they've taken together with local expert guide, Raouf.
The Presbyterian author, Frederick Buechner, has written that ‘religion as a word points to that area of human experience where in one way or another we come upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage’. This pilgrimage will allow us to experience a land that stands at the heart of the mystery of the world’s great Western religions. We will find ourselves summoned to a pilgrimage of the mind, as we live imaginatively in the world of the patriarchs, prophets and proselytes. But even more, we will be summoned to a pilgrimage of the heart, as we remember how the purposes of God were manifested in a Galilean lay preacher who is the mystery of the Word Incarnate. We are certain that the trip will leave a lasting impression on any whose journey through life is a seeking after truth.
Participants will investigate the cultural, political, religious and geographical environment of intertestamental Judaism and early Christianity, in order to better understand the Old and New Testaments in their contexts. In addition, the modern political and religious tensions in Israel and the Palestinian Territories will be explored from a biblical and theological point of view, places that will be visited during the study tour. University of Divinity students may also enrol in a unit for credit (undergraduate or post-graduate).
For more information please contact TCTS Administrator, Karen Graham:
03 9348 7127 | tcts@trinity.edu.au
As Spoken by the Prophets: Studies on Readings from Year A
Saturday 5 November 2022
9.30am – 3.30pm | Old Warden's Lodge, Trinity College
A day for clergy and lay people to be enriched by the readings from Matthew and Old Testament prophetic texts for the forthcoming Church Year A.
Led by the Revd Canon Dr Robert (Bob) Derrenbacker, Dean of the Trinity College Theological School and Dr Rachelle Gilmour, Bromby Senior Lecturer in Old Testament, Trinity College Theological School
$50 | $35 concession
Bookings not yet open
Anglican Identity in a Global Context
Saturday 26 February 2022
Historically the Anglican Church has avoided a tight definition of its orthodoxy and orthopraxis. The idea of a church in which a number of acceptable positions could be held together within a broad church is central to all of the Book of Common Prayer 1559, the Act of Uniformity and the writings of Richard Hooker.
Turmoil over human sexuality has raised issues about how flexible those boundaries might be, as have women’s ordination and other issues now, for the most part, resolved. This seminar looks at what might be entailed in being and living as a genuinely broad church, both in regard to which doctrines and practices are negotiable (or not), and how a variety of interpretive approaches to Scripture, tradition and reason might be held in tension.
Led by the Revd Dr Fergus King, Farnham Maynard Lecturer in Ministry Education, Trinity College Theological School; Professor Charlotte Methuen, Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Glasgow (joining remotely); and the Most Revd Maimbo Mndolwa, Primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania (joining remotely).
Breaking New Ground: Growing the Church in Melbourne
The Revd Dr Peter Carolane, Minister of Merri Creek Anglican Church
The Rt Revd Lindsay Urwin, OGS, Vicar of Christ Church Brunswick
Moderator: The Rt Revd Kate Prowd
Over the past 15 years or so, fresh expressions of church and pioneer ministry have been commended to the church as crucial for handing on Christian faith in contemporary culture,
and for securing an intergenerational future for Anglicanism. A local example of such pioneering is Merri Creek Anglican, and this continuing education session welcomed its pastor, Peter Carolane, to share the story of its growth, introduce the convictions that have formed it, and identify the challenges of pioneer ministry in Melbourne. Joining him in discussion is Bishop Lindsay Urwin, the Vicar of Christ Church, Brunswick.
A replay is available on our YouTube channel.
Being and doing church in a pandemic: Lessons we are learning during COVID-19
Moderator: Dr Chris Porter
Panelists: The Revd Melissa Clark, the Rt Revd Lindsay Urwin OGS, and the Revd Canon Matt Williams
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we are the Church – the Body of Christ – and how we ‘do’ church on a weekly basis, including our worship, the sacraments, Bible study and how we provide and experience pastoral care.
This seminar explored the lessons learned about doing and being church during the pandemic. It also pondered how things will be different when we return to face-to-face gatherings in church and as the Church.
A replay is available on our YouTube channel.
Christianity, care and COVID-19
An online seminar - 'Christianity, care and COVID-19' - took place on Friday 8 May 2020 via Zoom. The seminar reflected on the notion of theological ethics during a pandemic. Dr Dan Fleming and Dr David Carter – two leading public health and theological ethics researchers - provided expert insight into the COVID-19 pandemic. Click on the link above to watch the seminar.
A replay is available on our YouTube channel.
Theological Responses to the Pandemic
Saturday 21 May 2022
9.30am – 3.30pm | Old Warden's Lodge, Trinity College
The pandemic has disclosed the fissures in Australia’s social life, as well as our place in an increasingly unstable globe. While the immediate health consequences of the pandemic are severe, questions remain over the use of technologies, surveillance apparatuses, and states of emergency in order to manage a future in which we may see a cascade of crises.
The church must think carefully about how various crises feed one another, and relate to each other, so as to be able to offer genuine alternate forms of life in this time of crisis. Through engagement with a series of live questions in the life of the diocese, we will consider ways in which the church might act in response to this moment.
Led by Dr Scott Kirkland, Stockdale Lecturer in Practical Theology and Ethics, Trinity College Theological School; Dr Dan Fleming, Group Manager, Ethics and Formation, St Vincent’s Health Australia; the Revd Canon Professor Dorothy Lee FAHA, Trinity College Theological School.
Events contact
For further information on Theology Events, please contact the Administrator by email at theologyevents@trinity.edu.au or phone (03) 9348 7127