Rees, Frank D. 1950-

views updated

REES, Frank D. 1950-

PERSONAL:

Born March 1, 1950, in Yallourn, Victoria, Australia; son of Charles (a plant attendant) and Muriel (a homemaker; maiden name, Maguire) Rees; married August 17, 1974; wife's name, Merilyn (an anesthetist); children: Lachlan, Nick, Felicity. Education: University of Melbourne, B.A. (with honors), 1971, M.A., 1973; Melbourne College of Divinity, B.D. (with honors), 1975, M.Theol., 1980; University of Manchester, Ph.D., 1983.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Whitley College, University of Melbourne, 50 the Avenue, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Baptist minister in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1973-80, and Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 1983-90; University of Melbourne, Whitley College, Parkville, Victoria, Australia, professor of theology, 1991—.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Fair Dinkum Ministry: Stories of Authentic Australian Spirituality and Struggle, Spectrum Publications (Richmond, Victoria, Australia), 1999.

Wrestling with Doubt: Theological Reflections on the Journey of Faith, Liturgical Press (Collegeville, MN), 2002.

Contributor to books, including Gentle Darkness, edited by Rowland Croucher, Albatross (Sutherland, New South Wales, Australia), 1994; and Prophecy andPassion: Essays in Honour of Athol Gill, edited by David Neville, Australian Theological Forum (Adelaide, Australia), 2002. Contributor to periodicals, including Pacifica, Evangelical Quarterly, and Colloquium.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A Conversational Church (tentative title).

SIDELIGHTS:

Frank D. Rees told CA: "I am presently engaged in teaching theology with several hundred people who find the institutional forms of religion and church a turn-off. My theological writing draws upon the people-based insights of the 'free church' traditions—which those groups have almost completely lost! I also draw upon my own experiences as a pastor and as a frustrated person of little faith but much hope. Like most academics, writing is something that is squeezed into the very little time available, but it is a passion that keeps working on me, even when I am unable to work on it!

"I am motivated by a passion for people-based and 'conversational' community. This is the topic of my next book, based on the radical theology of the book Wrestling with Doubt: Theological Reflections on the Journey of Faith. I am also strongly committed to what is called 'contextual theology.' As an academic I have supervised many students from third-world and liberationist perspectives in their quests for local or contextual theologies to relate to their peoples. My own work is part of the quest for an Australia contextual theology.

"I write within and for a community setting: the quest of many people to find a more meaningful expression of faith. My theological work is part of that quest, in my own life and my pastoral involvement with such dissident or searching people. I am especially convinced that story theology and the metaphor of conversation are the most valuable images and models for the contemporary context. I am also quite passionate about the contribution of Australian writers to the wider world community, if only we could get a voice (so hard to get published!) and if only we believed in that voice, without needing to mimic other cultures—especially the juggernaut of American culture, everywhere."