John Newton: Mastermind and mentor of early Australian Anglicanism

“On 8 July 1777, Reverend John Newton confessed in his diary to binge-reading the latest bestseller: Captain James Cook’s A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World, published that same year. It caught Newton’s imagination, but it also caught his evangelical heart: he prayed that the gospel would ‘arise and shine upon’ people of ‘unknown regions’.

Newton didn’t know it then, but his Lord had a time and a plan for those souls. Within seven years, Newton himself would play a crucial role in launching and nurturing the first Christian mission in Australia. …”

– Again, give thanks to the Lord for John Newton. At the Moore College website.

The College for the Colony

Ever wondered why Moore College is called “Moore College”?

– This infographic for the 170th anniversary of the founding of the College introduces Thomas Moore.

Richard Johnson: Laying the foundation stone of the Australian evangelical church

“When we think of the great evangelical movements of the late eighteenth century, our minds often turn to the Clapham Sect, those remarkable men and women whose faith reshaped British public life and whose influence extended around the world.

Figures such as William Wilberforce, Henry Thornton and Hannah More loom large in this story. Richard Johnson, the first evangelical chaplain to Australia, does not.

Johnson was never formally part of the Clapham Sect, nor was he a central figure in the closely related Eclectic Society, a small, but influential gathering of evangelical clergy and laypeople committed to deep theological reflection and gospel advance. And yet, without these two groups—and the prayerful vision that animated them—Richard Johnson would almost certainly never have set foot on Australian soil. …”

– Moore College Principal Mark Thompson reminds us of the legacy of Richard Johnson.

JUST WAR & the US, Israel, Iran and Ukraine – with John McClean, Rob Smith & Grant Dibden

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“How should Christians think about war? How does the Biblical Framework of Just War help us understand how we should react to what is happening in the Ukraine, Iran, Israel and south Lebanon.

We go back to first principles drawing on the work of Augustine of Hippo Thomas Aquinas – asking when is it right to go to war — and how must war be conducted? And how do those principles evaluate what’s happening in today’s conflicts?

Joining us are:

• John McClean, Vice Principal of Christ College Sydney,

• Rob Smith, theologian and ethicist and

• Grant Dibden, Anglican Bishop to the Australian Defence Force.

Together we explore how Just War thinking has shaped Western military ethics and whether it is quietly being sidelined.

Plus we examine what the Just War doctrine says about individuals conduct in war, in light of the controversy surrounding Australian Soldier Ben Roberts-Smith.

And how should Christians respond when the emotional weight of real-world conflict hits close.”

– Watch or listen here.

Did Josephus really write about Jesus?

Published last year, two fascinating interviews from Tyndale House –

“Peter Williams interviews Dr Tom C. Schmidt about his new book, ‘Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One they Call Christ’.

In this episode they tackle the question of whether Josephus’s writing about Jesus was edited by Christians to sound more like the biblical account, or whether it could in fact have been written by Josephus.

In next week’s episode they will discuss whether Josephus could have known people who were present at Jesus’s trial.”

– Part 1 – and Part 2. Just fascinating – especially Part 2.

Related:

Tom Schmidt: How well connected were Josephus and Jesus? – audio interview with Tony Watkins.

An Archaeological discovery may shed light on the Gospel of Luke.

Evidence for the resurrection of Jesus — papers

Associate Professor Neil Foster writes –

“Following my previous post [about a breakfast seminar run by the Newcastle Christian Lawyers Fellowship this morning], here is the paper I am presenting on evaluation of the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus applying principles of the law of evidence applied in the courts …

In that paper I mention a brilliant paper on the same broad area by former Justice of Appeal Ken Handley; for those who haven’t seen it, here it is for download …”

– Download both papers from Law and Religion Australia.

Paul Ehrlich — Author of “The Population Bomb” and Prophet of the Culture of Death

You may have heard that Paul Ehrlich, author of the influential 1968 book, “The Population Bomb” has died at the age of 93.

In his The Briefing broadcast for today, Tuesday 17 March 2026, Albert Mohler remembers Paul Ehrlich and the dark influence of his ideology.

An Enduring Legacy: William Tyndale’s Life Translation and Legacy

The latest video from Tyndale House, Cambridge –

“In this series we are exploring William Tyndale’s life, Bible translation and legacy, including interviews experts in the sixteenth century. In this episode, we discuss Tyndale’s legacy and ask how William Tyndale impacted theology, Bible translation and our understanding of the Reformation over the last 500 years.”

– See the latest instalment here.

Public Lecture on Padre Hugh Gough

Mark Earngey, Head of Church History at Moore College, is giving a free online public lecture for the Evangelical History Association –

“In the 1950s, Hugh Gough emerged as a rising star among British evangelicals. His involvement with the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU) and his courage in publicly supporting Billy Graham at a time of ecclesiastical controversy won him admiration across the evangelical world. Nowhere was this more evident than in Sydney, where he was elected Archbishop and served from 1959 to 1965. Yet Gough’s relatively brief episcopate, combined with the scarcity of accessible primary sources, has meant that he remains less well known than his predecessor Howard Mowll and his successor Marcus Loane.

Recent archival discoveries, however, have begun to illuminate neglected dimensions of Gough’s life and ministry. Among the most significant is a substantial body of material from his service as an army chaplain during the Second World War, including battlefield photographs from North Africa and personal correspondence written from the front. These sources open a crucial window onto Gough’s formative years as a padre.

This paper traces his wartime ministry from Jerusalem to El Alamein and into Italy, revealing how these experiences shaped the convictions and character of one of twentieth-century evangelicalism’s most significant yet understudied leaders.”

– On Wednesday, 18 March 2026 at 8:00pm AEDT. Free registration to watch online.

Photo: Padre Hugh Gough in North Africa – thanks to Mark Earngey.

Castle Hill’s historic Lober House celebrates a century

An interesting bit of history –

“An historic house in Sydney’s north-west, which went on to become Australia’s first retirement home, is celebrating 100 years.

Lober House, now the social heart of Anglicare’s Castle Hill villages, was built in the 1920s as a private residence by Robert and Eva Dixson and originally known as Elwatan.

Purchased by the Anglican Church in 1958 and opened the following year, it was the launchpad for a new model of retirement living shaped by two influential women — Dorothy Mowll and Dame Pattie Menzies — who pushed for aged care that supported retirees to live independently. …”

– This article at Australian Seniors News has some background on the key building at Anglicare’s retirement villages – otherwise known as Mowll Village – at Castle Hill.

Image: Paintings of Dorothy Mowll (artist unknown), Archbishop Howard Mowll (by Alfred G Reynolds, 1958) – both at one time on display in Lober House – and the plaque commemorating their vision – also at Lober House.

The plaque reads –

“THIS VILLAGE IS ESTABLISHED AS A
DIOCESAN TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE AND WORK
OF
HOWARD WEST KILVINTON MOWLL
C.M.G., DD.

BORN 2nd FEBRUARY, 1890       DIED 24th OCTOBER, 1958

ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
METROPOLITAN OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW SOUTH WALES
1933-1958

PRIMATE OF AUSTRALIA
1947-1958

AND OF HIS WIFE
DOROTHY ANNE MOWLL
O.B.E., F.R.G.S.

BORN 18th JUNE, 1890       DIED 23rd DECEMBER, 1957

“Workers together with Him”
2 Cor. 6:1

THE MAIN HOUSE WAS OPENED AND DEDICATED
BY

THE MOST REV. HUGH ROWLANDS GOUGH
O.B.E., D.D
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
ON
24th OCTOBER, 1959.”

Anglican Heroes: Hugh Latimer — Church Society podcast

From Church Society –

“James Cary talks about the life and faith of Anglican reformer Hugh Latimer, to Ros Clarke.”

Listen here.

Also at the Church Society link –

Hugh Latimer’s sermons.

James Cary’s documentary on Latimer.
(Image from the documentary, which is worth watching and sharing. 48 minutes..)

Lord, Open the King of England’s Eyes – William Tyndale’s Life and Legacy, part 3

Just released – Part 3 of the Tyndale House podcast on William Tyndale –

“In this series we are exploring William Tyndale’s life, Bible translation and legacy, including interviews experts in the sixteenth century. In this third episode, we explore William Tyndale’s life after his publication of his translation of the New Testament into English in 1526.

We’re very grateful for contributions from:

Bruce Gordon, the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School …

Alec Ryrie, Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Durham …

Simon Burton, John Laing Senior Lecturer in Reformation History at the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh …

Karl Gunther, historian of the Reformation from the Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education in the University of Florida.”

– Watch here.

William Tyndale: The Necessity of the Word

How did God God work in William Tyndale’s life to lead him to translate the Scriptures into English and place His Word into the hands of the people of England?

For the 500th anniversary of the publication of Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament, this documentary has been released on YouTube by missionary.com.

Includes input from John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, Mark Dever, Rosaria Butterfield, Conrad Mbewe, Ian Hamilton and Michael Reeves.

An Archaeological discovery may shed light on the Gospel of Luke

In a video published last week, Shane Rosenthal (long involved with The White Horse Inn podcast, and now hosting The Humble Skeptic) extends earlier discussion on the Joanna Ossuary –

“In this video, Shane Rosenthal, host of The Humble Skeptic podcast, takes a trip to a museum on the campus of the University of Haifa in Israel, in order to take a closer look at what he believes is one of the most significant, yet overlooked, archaeological discoveries related to the Bible.

In 1983, an ossuary belonging to Joanna, the granddaughter of Theophilus, the high priest, was discovered near Jerusalem. Could this be a reference to the Joanna and Theophilus mentioned in Luke’s Gospel (Lk 1:3, 8:3, 24:10)?”

Watch here.

In his forthcoming book, Luke’s Key Witness, he also looks at the suggestion that Andronicus and Junia, mentioned in Romans 16:7, may be the same people as Joanna and her husband Chuza mentioned in Luke 8:3.

On his podcast, he interviews many scholars, including Peter Bolt (Who is Theophilus?), who also proposes the link between Joanna of the ossuary and the Joanna of Luke’s Gospel, as well as many other fascinating ideas about Luke.

And in a similar vein, he interviews T.C. Schmidt, who makes the case for the authenticity of Josephus’ mention of Jesus. (T.C. Schmidt’s book Josephus and Jesus: New Evidence for the One Called Christ was reviewed recently by John Dickson at The Gospel Coalition.)

“The most important Englishman who has ever lived”? — William Tyndale’s Life and Legacy, part 2

From Tyndale House, Cambridge:

“This is the second episode in our series exploring William Tyndale’s life, Bible translation, and legacy.

In this episode, Tony Watkins interviews experts in the sixteenth century and the history of the Bible to explore William Tyndale’s life leading up to the publication of his New Testament in 1526.

This was the first to be translated directly from Greek into English, and the first New Testament to be printed in English.”

– Watch here – or direct on YouTube.

(Part 1 is here.)

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