The
Consecration of the Rt Revd Arthur Malcom,
first bishop of the Aboriginal Peoples of Australia.
Allen Brent in 1992 at presentation of his book to Bishop Malcom, with Senator Margaret Reynolds and Professor Kett Kennedy at James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia.
Allen Brent of the was responsible for laying the theological foundations for the creation of bishops in Australia whose superintending ministry was focused on cultures rather than territories. Thus . His argument is set out in his book on Cultural Episcopacy.
Following the historic resolution
of the Synod of the Diocese of North Queensland (1985), the
Rt Revd. Arthur Malcom was consecrated as first bishop of the
Aboriginal People of Australia. His successor today is Rt Revd James Leftwich. |
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Brent developed a theme that linked the sacramental character of the threefold Order (Bishop, Priests, and Deacon) to the concept of ministerial figures as iconic representatives of the saving acts in a community in process of redemption.The Church as the extension of the incarnation implies that a redeemed community will exhibit that fact in terms of incarnation in culture. The events leading to the decision to consecrate a bishop in terms of such a theology were attended by some phenomena remiscent of medieval miracles.
Some
children were playing in school at Yarraba painting leaves that they
pressed together and pulled apart. When they did so, they saw the face
of Christ in the leaf. Thus was proclaimed 'the day that king Jesus
came to Yarraba.' There was of course in our European, Elightenment
perspective considerable criticism of this development, reminiscent
of medieval cults and 'superstition.' In Brent's opinion, expressed
in a speech to the Syndon of the Anglican Church of North Queensland,
such criticism missed the point. The figure of Christ bears identifiable
Aboriginal features, and portrays a Christ that comes wearing the flesh
and blood of Aboriginal humanity. "The Word was made flesh"
in human cultures and therefore ministerial order that represents an
iconography of the divine will inevitably be partially expressed in
a cultural form.
Allen Brent interview with the Townsville Bullleltin, North Queensland, Australia, 1986. Interview
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