Monday, January 19, 2026
“Making a Christian witness in Australia today” published in Colloquium
I’m delighted to have an article published in Colloquium: The Australian and New Zealand Theological Review. Colloquium is an international peer-reviewed journal published twice yearly. The journal aims to be a place for theological conversation which includes engagement with local and global context, interdisciplinary interaction and public debate. In a brilliant move, Colloquium has just gone open access, so the article is free to read (here).
Titled “Making a Christian witness in Australia today,” I argue in the article that while Christian witness is generally seen as occurring through words and deeds, we need to consider making as an essential domain of Christian mission. To understand making in mission, I conducted qualitative research into contemporary acts of knitting, particularly of Christmas angels and climate scarves, by Christians in Australia. These interviews unravelled understandings of making as a joyful experience of active praying that provided distinct ways of relating. The research has significance for how mission and theology are conceived in contemporary Australia and practised in local church contexts, particularly given a contemporary culture saturated with words and cynical of deeds.
This article is a first step toward a larger project, a book on Making in mission, which I am working on.
My thanks to the knitters willing to show and tell, to peer reviewers for their attention to the craft of writing and to AngelWings Ltd for the allocation of pro-bono time to undertake this research project.
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