26th July 2025
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How can we make sense of the interaction between religion, theology, culture, and violence? How can theology be engaged to help combat gendered violence?
Religion and theology can contribute to cultures of sexism, exclusion and violence. Faith communities can also offer an important counterpoint, providing resources, practices, and communities dedicated to inclusion, justice, and healing. Recent research suggests that Christian theologies that advocate men’s headship and women’s submission can contribute to cultures of violence. Yet, National Church Life Survey data demonstrates that Australian church leadership remains predominantly male, and religion is often left unexamined in social research on gender, gendered norms, and gendered violence.
To better understand the dynamic relationship between theology, culture and gendered violence, this interdisciplinary conference, hosted by The Wesley Centre, will consider a range of questions, such as:
WHERE: Centre for Theology and Ministry,
29 College Crescent, Parkville, Naarm.
WHEN: 11-13th February
Note this conference is in person only.
COST:
REGISTER: Registration link coming soon!
Conference Website
This conference brings together theologians, biblical scholars, sociologists, and practitioners to explore the intersection of theology, culture, gender and violence. The organisers invite submissions for traditional research papers or workshop proposals designed to be interactive or offer practical training in any area of ministry or pastoral/ spiritual or therapeutic care.
Proposals close 25 August 2025.
Call for papers
Maree CrabbeMaree is the co-founder and Director of the Australian violence prevention project, It’s time we talked (formerly Reality & Risk: Pornography, young people and sexuality). She has worked with young people for over 25 years. During this time she has developed and delivered programs focusing on sexual violence prevention, sexual diversity, pornography, sexting, and the prevention of sexually transmissible infections. As apart of her work exploring the impacts of pornography on young people, she also co-Produced and co-Directed the documentary films Love and Sex in an Age of Pornography, broadcast on SBS in Australia and in fourteen other countries, and The Porn Factor, broadcast on SBS. As well as various films and resources, she has spent years developing and authoring In The Picture – a resource to support secondary schools to address the influence of explicit sexual imagery.
Emily ColganEmily Colgan is a Pākehā/palagi researcher in biblical studies from Aotearoa New Zealand. She lives in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) and works at Trinity Theological College as the Academic Director and Associate Professor of Biblical Studies (Hebrew Bible). Her research focuses on the relationship between the Bible and contemporary social imaginaries, exploring the ways in which ideologies within biblical texts continue to inform communities in the present. Emily is particularly interested in ecological representations in the Bible, as well as depictions of gender and violence. She is the author of Jeremiah: An Earth Bible Commentary (forthcoming) and co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Eve (2024) and the multi-volume work, Rape Culture, Gender Violence, and Religion (2018). Emily is co-host of The Bloody Bible Podcast and co-director of The Shiloh Project.
You can learn more about each speaker and the conference on The Wesley Centre website.