Fall 08 Graving Another Testament: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Sydney Anglicans Under Peter Jensen 2001-2013 By Jonathan Foye A thesis presented to the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 2016 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................................... 4 ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................................. 5 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER ONE: THE JENSEN ASCENSION ..................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER TWO: THE POWERHOUSE—MOORE COLLEGE AND SYDNEY ANGLICAN DISCOURSE ... 65 CHAPTER THREE: PRISCILLA AND AQUILA—COMPLEMENTARIANISM AND GENDER ISSUES ...... 83 CHAPTER FOUR: SYDNEY DIOCESE AND THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SPHERE .................................. 112 CHAPTER FIVE: SYDNEY DIOCESE'S MEDIA RELATIONS ....................................................................... 139 CHAPTER SIX: CRITICIAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PETER JENSEN'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS .... 156 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE JENSEN LEGACY ..................................................................................................... 207 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................... 216 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................... 219 NOTES ................................................................................................................................................................. 237 2 Statement of Authentication The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. ................................................... 3 AcKnowledgements First and foremost, I am indebted to the efforts of my wife, Sarah Willett-Foye. Throughout the time that I was working on this thesis, Sarah supported me in every way possible. Her close eye over the draft chapters, assistance with research, feedback, offering of ideas and encouragement were essential to the PhD’s completion. I am truly blessed with an inspiring and insightful partner. My academic supervisors, Dr. Rachel Morley, Dr. Milissa Deitz, and Associate Professor Hart Cohen, along with my former supervisor, Dr. Paul Ryder, helped ferry this doctorate along through all stages. Their guidance and help were essential. A number of people were interviewed for the project, and were generous in responding to follow-up emails. In no particular order those that I can name here include: the Hon. Michael Kirby, Dr. Simon Longstaff, Bronslavia Lea, Dr. Muriel Porter, and the Reverend Dr. Keith Mascord. To be able to draw upon the contributions of these figures has vastly enhanced my project’s credibility. I must acknowledge the encouragement of my family, particularly my mother, Noella Rawsthorne. Throughout my entire life everything I have wanted to pursue has had her blessing and full support, this PhD included. Shaping the thesis was a process aided by conversations with a great many people. In particular, it was the Reverend Dr. Christine Gapes who first told me about Samuel Marsden’s ministry. Others who helped by providing a sounding board for ideas and offering suggestions of their own include: Dr. Dan Binns, Dr. Laura Beth Bugg, James Ellis, Reverend Martin Goodwin, Dr. Katherine Growcott, Chris Hargraves, David Hay, Reverend Dr. John Hirt, Reverend Bec Lindsay, and Ben Weir. Finally, I must thank my Confirmation of Candidature panel for their feedback regarding the project. This included Dr. Peter Dallow and Dr. Anne Dunne. Sadly, Anne passed away only a few months after this panel meeting. I very much appreciated her encouragement at such an early yet vital stage. 4 Abstract Graving Another Testament examines the influential Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church in Australia, particularly under the leadership of former Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen (2001- 2013). This thesis argues that, despite his appeals to the need for church unity, the ‘Jensen ascension’ oversaw a decrease in the Sydney Diocese’s diversity of opinion, promulgating a conservative evangelicalism less open to other perspectives and more aggressive in its evangelistic focus. Through a consideration of Jensen’s speeches, media events and writings, Graving Another Testament examines Jensen’s dominant conservative evangelical discourse, particularly as it relates to opposition to same sex marriage and the ordination of women. It also considers the role the diocese has played in contemporary Australian politics, and explores how Australia’s secular media outlets covered issues related to Sydney Anglicanism. The thesis reveals Archbishop Jensen to be a powerful, charismatic church leader who led an ambitious but costly public ‘mission’ to gain ten per cent of Sydney’s population, which was funded with a highly risky investment strategy. It concludes by exploring the legacy Jensen has left for Sydney Diocese, and the possible future direction it may take following his July 2013 retirement. 5 Introduction Lord, I have sung with ceaseless lips A tinker’s litany of whips, Have graved another Testament On backs bowed down and bodies bent. Kenneth Slessor, ‘The Vesper Song of the Reverend Samuel Marsden’, 1939 Historical opinion on the Church of England’s second chaplain to the colony of New South Wales, the Reverend Samuel Marsden, varies. In Australia he is renowned as a brutal ‘flogging parson’ who, while serving as a Parramatta Magistrate up until his unceremonious removal in 1822, inflicted unusually harsh punishments for even the most minor of infractions. A popular Australian saying concerning Marsden was that, “he sentences the prisoner on the Saturday, admonishes him on Sunday and flogs him on Monday” (Porter, 2006: 35). On the other hand, Marsden has a far gentler reputation in New Zealand. There he is remembered for his ministry to the Māori and widely regarded as having introduced sheep to the nation (Yarwood, 1996: xi). When in Australia, Marsden’s ministry focused on the geographical area presently known as the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church. Founded in 1847 out of the original Diocese of Australia (Judd and Cable, 2014: 86), it is an entity that, like Marsden, holds an ambiguous reputation. As one historian has put it: In many ways, Sydney is not a typical Anglican diocese, and over the years it has acquired a reputation as a stronghold of conservative evangelicalism —often maddening to its opponents but inspiring to its admirers, a light on the hill, a rock-like guardian of evangelical orthodoxy (Hilliard, 1997: 102). With some fifty per cent of Australia’s Anglicans worshiping in the diocese (Hilliard, 1997: 102), Sydney’s modern day Anglican Church is powerful, influential and, as was the case with Marsden himself, controversial. As the above Hilliard quote suggests, the relationship between the diocese and Sydney’s broader society has arguably been characterised by an ‘us and them’ mentality. As former Sydney Morning Herald reporter Chris McGillion opined, “No other 6 subject in Australia’s religious life today generates quite the same kind of intensely polarised public opinion as the complexion of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney” (2005: xi). Although never associated with any political party, Sydney Diocese’s role in public affairs has had a long and engaged history. The church was active in opposing the decriminalisation of homosexuality and the first broadcast of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (Hilliard, 1997: 102), stances that have been echoed in diocesan leaders’ more recent comments on same-sex marriage. Sydney’s continuing refusal to join the majority of Australian dioceses in extending full ordination to women—limiting them to ministries that serve other women and children (Porter, 2006: 2)—is an equally contentious matter and these topics are the subject of much media coverage (Cummins, 2013; McKenny, 2011; Marr, 2008; Marr, 2009; Murphy, 2012; Rowbotham, 2007). 1 2 As Muriel Porter wrote, “dioceses have cultures, like cities or political parties, parishes or schools. The cultures predate the current leaders and generally survive them” (2006: 7). Sydney’s strand of Anglicanism locates itself within the Reformed tradition. With a theology rooted in the concept of propositional revelation, the dominant Sydney Anglican theology emphasises the intellectual aspects of Christianity over the emotional, liturgical or the pastoral (Hilliard, 1997: 103).3 This theology includes an elevation of scripture as the inerrant Word of God, emphasis on the Penal Substitutionary model of the Atonement and—following a push to remove certain elements—a near-universally held ‘low church’ ecclesiology. 4 Sydney Anglican theology is developed, furthered and spread in significant measure by the influential Moore Theological College, which “produces more