– Bishop Paul Barnett looks at the world in which Paul preached the gospel.

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This Australia Day, pause to give thanks for the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the First Fleet and first Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales.

In 1792, Johnson wrote a tract designed to be distributed widely in the Colony. He gives his reasons for doing so:

“My Beloved,

I do not think it necessary to make an apology for putting this Address into your hands; or to enter into a long detail of the reasons which induced me to write it.

One reason may suffice. I find I cannot express my regard for you, so often, or so fully, as I wish, in any other way.

On our first arrival in this distant part of the world, and for some time afterwards, our numbers were comparatively small; and while they resided nearly upon one spot, I could not only preach to them on the Lord’s day, but also converse with them, and admonish them, more privately.

But since that period, we have gradually increased in number every year (notwithstanding the great mortality we have sometimes known) by the multitudes that have been sent hither after us. The colony already begins to spread, and will probably spread more and more every year, both by new settlements formed in different places under the crown, and by a number of individuals continually becoming settlers. Thus the extent of what I call my parish, and consequently of my parochial duty, is enlarging daily. On the other hand, my health is not so good, nor my constitution so strong, as formerly. And therefore I feel it impracticable, and impossible for me, either to preach, or to converse with you so freely, as my inclination and affection would prompt me to do.

I have therefore thought it might be proper for me, and I hope it may prove useful to you, to write such an address as I now present you with…”

Johnson’s warm pastoral tone, and his urgent call to trust Christ and to turn from sin, are clearly evident in this Address. Download  An Address to The Inhabitants of The Colonies Established in New South Wales and Norfolk Island as a PDF file here. It would be a good way to spend part of Australia Day.

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Observers of Anglicanism in Sydney have often remarked on a confident and distinctive approach to the nature and purpose of church, led by such men as Howard Mowll, TC Hammond, Marcus Loane, Donald Robinson and Broughton Knox. The source of this approach is undoubtedly the teaching of Donald Robinson and Broughton Knox at Moore College from the early 1950s until the early 1980s, though both men denied they were teaching anything unusual and could point to others who were saying similar things.

For us, nearly thirty years after the last published piece by either of them, how should we respond to the theological legacy of Donald Robinson and Broughton Knox? …”

– Read Mark Thompson’s paper at The Briefing.

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35 minute interview here. (h/t Ligonier Ministries.)

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His topic: New Evidences the Gospels were Based on Eyewitness Accounts. The 62 minute video is well worth watching.

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“So don’t let the sceptics and atheists take away your hope.”

“You cannot but be impressed with the zeal of the modern sceptic and reciprocally unimpressed with the lethargy of the contemporary Christian. Right on track the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Weekend (3rd December, 2011) has a lengthy and well-researched article, ‘Divine Intervention’ (Fenella Souter) in which she debunks the historical basis for the first Christmas.

Her two main arguments are that there are only two gospel accounts and that they are contradictory, with the addition of many fictional details…”

– Read the full article on Paul Barnett’s website.

Update: If it comes in handy, here’s a PDF version formatted to suit a double-sided A4 sheet.

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The audio of the first two sessions is now available, with the third to come. Below are the descriptions of each session: 

The 16th Century Reformers

It’s almost 500 years since Martin Luther started the Reformation and changed the course of history. But what did this beer-drinking, outspoken ex-monk really stand for? How did he have such an impact?

Many will also know the name of the French Reformer, John Calvin, but associate him with “chauvinism” or predestination or a little boy with a toy tiger called Hobbes. But what really was the pious heartbeat of Calvin’s life and ministry? And what was it that has made him one of the greatest names in church history?

The 17th Century Puritans

The Puritans saw themselves as pilgrims, warriors, and servants of Christ in an age of great conflict. From them we get our word “puritanical” but were they as bad as that makes them sound? They also gave us several Cambridge colleges, mountains of great books, spread the gospel to far away lands, and chopped off the head of a bad king. So they were anything but dull!  What was it that made people either love them or hate them? And what can we learn from them to reinvigorate our lives as Christians today?

The 18th Century Evangelicals (coming soon)

The church was cold and lifeless, infected with worldliness and a lack of vigor. Love for Christ and the Bible was at a low ebb. That is until John Wesley and George Whitefield set the world on fire and revived the nation’s spiritual life with passionate and powerful gospel preaching! Or did they? What can we learn from these heroes of the faith who sought to win the world for Christ? Was all as rosy as it seemed within the Evangelical movement? Or did revival rivalries almost tear it apart from within?  Discover the glory, and the dark side, of the great awakenings.

Hear the talks at this link.

Related: The Manifesto of the Reformation — Luther vs. Erasmus on Free Will (pdf file at Church Society), and more at Meet the Puritans.

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His election as Archbishop in April 1933 was a critical moment in the diocese’s history, a decision for its evangelical heritage rather than the more eclectic theology others were advocating at the time. His tenure of the office during World War II and the equally critical post-war years set directions, embedded principles and fostered a new generation of leaders who enabled Sydney Anglicanism to remain unambiguously Protestant and evangelical while engaging seriously with the challenges of a new era…”

– Mark Thompson continues his series on those who shaped Sydney Diocese.

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– Lee Gatiss reviews seven recent books on church history to see how solid and how useful they might be for the church, in Churchman.

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Tacitus expected the movement to die with its founder but instead it spread to Rome where, by the time of the great fire in AD 64, it had become ‘immense’.

Tacitus’s history tell us (a) Jesus was known as ‘Christ’, (b) that he was therefore a genuine figure of history, (c) when and where he was executed, and (d) that in spite of his death as a disgraced felon within thirty years his movement spread from Palestine on the edge of the empire to its heart, Rome…”

– Read it all – at Dr Paul Barnett’s blog.

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