Nostra Aetate, Catholic-Jewish relations and Catholic Religious Education: Where are we after 60 years

Established Supervisor: Dr Emmanuel Nathan <Emmanuel.Nathan@acu.edu.au>

Project Description

This project will bring together a supervisor in interreligious learning (Jewish- Christian encounters specifically) and one in Catholic Religious Education. It will be an opportunity to study the changes made since the Second Vatican Council to address the Church’s renewed relationship with Judaism and the Jewish people. It will also probe remaining areas where further improvement can be made and intends to develop a list of recommendations Catholic education offices and RE curricula.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Two possible internships:
 
1) with the Australian Council of Christians and Jews in developing an online resource in the area studied; and

2) in the Nostra Aetate Working Group, which is a collaboration between Sydney Catholic Schools, Sydney Catholic Archdiocese, the Sydney Jewish Community and ACU

Spirituality and the Arts (theology focus)

Established Supervisor: Ben DeSpain <Benjamin.DeSpain@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Lexi Eikelboom

Project Area

Art and spirituality rely on one another in a myriad of complex ways. Just as individual and collective spiritual expression often takes place through artforms like music, iconography, and dance, religious themes appear in artworks intended for both devotional and nondevotional settings. This project will rely on theological texts to explore the spiritual significance of art (whether particular “arts” or art in general), while also using art to address a theological theme or question, such as the problem of evil, the nature of Christ, or how we relate to eschatology.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Internships will help prepare students for HDR interdisciplinary research in art, theology, and philosophy as well as professional engagements. Students will have opportunities to work on projects related to grants, directed by Lexi Eikelboom, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust on art-making and spiritual understanding. Students will be able to engage with local and international artists and scholars, contribute to project management, assist in the organisation of workshops and events, participate in regular project meetings, and help build a larger network of research into spirituality and the arts. 

Spirituality and the Arts (philosophy focus)

Project Area

Art and spirituality rely on one another in a myriad of complex ways. Just as individual and collective spiritual expression often takes place through artforms like music, iconography, and dance, religious themes appear in artworks intended for both devotional and nondevotional settings.  Art and philosophy can both be used as ways of reflecting on spiritual life. This project brings both modes of reflection together by using visual art to engage philosophical questions that are key to spirituality, such as the relationship between mind and body, the relationship between truth and appearance, or what it means to be at home in the world.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Internships will help prepare students for HDR interdisciplinary research in art, theology, and philosophy as well as professional engagements. Students will have opportunities to work on projects related to grants, directed by Lexi Eikelboom, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust on art-making and spiritual understanding. Students will be able to engage with local and international artists and scholars, contribute to project management, assist in the organization of workshops and events, participate in regular project meetings, and help build a larger network of research into spirituality and the arts. 

Productive Justice

Project Area

The manner in which associative production of goods and services occurs greatly impacts the structure of society and its character. This project areas offers the opportunity to explore social, political, and moral questions regarding the organization of production. Topics could include: workplace democracy; work and the role of universal basic income; the political theory of the firm; the common good and associative production; the nature of production and its relation to social systems; Marxist or liberal-egalitarian approaches to productive justice.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The student will have the opportunity to learn valuable research skills by working as a research assistant for both Dr Braun on his book project The Cooperative Economy and own Dr Perl's book project on Deflating Moral Epistemology

Project Area

Fiction is sometimes used to promote certain moral and political aims. For example, Enlightenment philosophers crafted fictional intercultural exchanges with the aim of promoting tolerance or what Immanuel Kant would come to call 'enlarged thought' capable of looking at issues through others' perspectives (Montesquieu’s Persian Letters and Voltaire’s Micromegas being prime examples). The present project seeks to investigate the hypothesis that fiction can encourage moral values and insights in its readers. To investigate whether and how this might be possible, the project will examine case studies of philosophical fiction, whether from the enlightenment or other periods and cultures, and engage with recent work in the philosophy and cognitive science of imagination and empathy.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Students will have the opportunity to participate in seminars, workshops and reading groups with philosophy staff and HDRs, exact details to be confirmed by the supervisors.

Latin Texts and Textual Production in the Early Medieval World

Project Area

Latin Texts and Textual Production in the Early Medieval World

Description of the research internship opportunity

The modes of transmitting and receiving Latin literature changed dramatically in the early medieval period. With the rise of Christianity, Latin writers began to think in new and important ways about the value of the classical texts that dominated school curricula. The transition from papyrus scrolls to the codex form we recognise today meant that the material form in which classical texts were preserved also underwent a significant shift in this period. We invite applications from Honours students interested in one or both of these areas. Students will have the ability to work on their Latin language skills by reading texts in the original language, and to become familiar with scholarship on book history and/or reception studies. Palaeography is an area of market need in Australasia and ACU is uniquely positioned to provide this training. 

Research Internship Opportunity: The nature of textual production in Late Antiquity and its reproduction through the Carolingian epoch are major concerns of the Vandal Renaissance: Latin Literature in Post-Roman Africa ARC funded discovery project. The honours student will have the opportunity to develop palaeographic skills working closely with the ACU researchers on the project. This will including intensive palaeographic training, involving:

• learning ancient letter forms;
• transcription practice using texts of graded difficulty;
• using AI technology to cross reference multiple transcription efforts into a single, viable text;
• mentoring in these digital techniques; 
• guided reading and translation of Latin texts in their original manuscript form.

Liturgy and Scripture in Early Christianity

Established Supervisor: Jonathan Zecher  <Jonathan.Zecher@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Sarah Gador-Whyte  

Project Area

Liturgy and Scripture in Early Christianity. How did the incorporation of Jewish and Christian Scriptures into early Christian rituals of prayer, song, and sacrament shape and inform those rituals?  Within this broad question, we invite a study that focuses more narrowly on (1) psalmody, (2) hymnody, or (3) occasional prayers within Greek or Latin liturgical materials.  For example, students might explore the patristic material used to preface psalters, biblical allusion and exemplarity in narrative hymns, or exegesis in occasional prayers.  Appropriate historical theory and attention to material culture will be learned in Honours modules and be important to the thesis.  The student would need to have some proficiency in the primary-source languages, and will have opportunity to develop skills there and in German.

Description of the research internship opportunity

This project would offer opportunities for the student to interact with the Biblical and Early Christian Studies (BECS) team in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry and to join team research events related to the ACU-funded research project “Flourishing in Early Christianity.”  The student will participate in BECS Seminars, reading groups, work-in-progress, and other activities within the Flourishing project aimed at developing key skills, widening knowledge of the field, and preparing them for HDR study.  

Illuminate the NT Gospels through comparison with other sources from antiquity

Project Area

We invite students from Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, or Classics to submit applications for Honours projects that illuminate the NT Gospels through comparison with other sources from antiquity, that is, a text(s) from the Greco-Roman world, Jewish literature, early Christian literature beyond the Bible, or examples from material culture or archaeology. Examples of projects include: the representations of children and demon possession in Mark’s Gospel and Roman antiquity; the role of women in the Gospel of Luke and Apocryphal Gospel of Mary; or embodiment and disability in Luke in light of bio-archaeological evidence. Students should be familiar with the study of either the NT Gospels or the proposed area for comparison.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Students will have opportunities to participate in research seminars and specialised research training, in reading groups, language groups (where relevant), and methods training alongside HDR students. Students will also develop new skills in the study of ancient and contemporary sources and be invited to participate through a research internship in activities in either the Flourishing in Early Christianity project or the ARC-funded DECRA project Inside Others: Early Christian Protagonists and their Impairments. 

Medieval Theology and Mordern Challenges

Project Area

The supervision team invites applications from students who would like to address contemporary challenges from the perspective of medieval theological traditions. We are particularly interested in projects that consider questions concerning nature and the environment in conversation with medieval spirituality. This could include work exploring the implications of mystical or negative theology for our relationship with the world and each other.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Mentored by certified forest therapy guides, students will have the opportunity to partner with Forest Therapy Victoria to help design and deliver contemplative nature-based experiences to members of the public.

Biblical gospels within their wider Jewish literary and cultural environment

Project Area

Honours students from Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, or Classics are invited to submit applications for topics on Jewish-Christian relations within the first three centuries CE. Projects may focus on social, political, theological or practical aspects. Examples of such topics include Roman political influence on Jewish-Christian relations and their attempts to participate in the empire; shared exegetical practices between Paul and the Dead Sea Scrolls; or the debt of Christian baptism to Jewish immersion practice. Students should already be familiar with either Second Temple Jewish sources, the New Testament, or other early Christian sources.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Students will be involved in the research community of the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, with opportunities to participate in regular research seminars and specialised research training alongside our cohort of HDR students (e.g. reading groups, language groups, and methods training). To develop skills necessary for further research, during the Honours project, students will be invited to aid in the research publication process of a book either in relation to the Flourishing in Early Christianity project or the ACU/KU Leuven/HU Berlin conference on Jews and Christians in the first Three Centuries, depending on the student’s interest.

Spirituality and the Arts (art-making focus)

Established Supervisor: Catherine Bell  <Catherine.Bell@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Lexi Eikelboom

Project Area

Spirituality and the Arts (art-making focus). Art and spirituality rely on one another in a myriad of complex ways. Just as individual and collective spiritual expression often takes place through artforms like music, iconography, and dance, religious themes appear in artworks intended for both devotional and nondevotional settings. This project offers an opportunity to explore spirituality through artmaking by both supporting a creative project in the visual arts that responds to spirituality or engages a religious theme while simultaneously encouraging reflection on the relationship of artmaking to spirituality.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Internships will help prepare students for HDR interdisciplinary research in art, theology, and philosophy as well as professional engagements. Students will have opportunities to work on projects related to grants, directed by Lexi Eikelboom, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust on art-making and spiritual understanding. Students will be able to engage with local and international artists and scholars, contribute to project management, assist in the organization of workshops and events, participate in regular project meetings, and help build a larger network of research into spirituality and the arts. 

'Abrahamic' Religions at the intersection of Comparative Theologies and Studies of Religions: A Case Study Approach

Project Area

A Case Study Approach: There is a common assumption from the perspective of religious studies that the term ‘Abrahamic religions’ is unhelpful. The critique is that ‘Abrahamic religions’ serves a more theological agenda to preserve interreligious harmony and avoid a clash of ideologies. For religious studies a term like ‘Abrahamic religions’ blurs the very real competition for ideological superiority that existed between Jewish, Christian and Muslim textual traditions in antiquity. The current project will incorporate recent insights from comparative theology and interreligious studies that indicate that religious studies is critiquing an outdated view of ‘Abrahamic religions’ within comparative theologies. Close textual resemblances will be identified and analysed as case studies.  

Description of the research internship opportunity

The co-supervisor has a social sciences background, specifically in the use of oral history as a method to investigate peoples' experience of organised religion. It is proposed the honours candidate receive mentoring in this methodology. Two internships are proposed: 1) With Together for Humanity, an organisation that works with schools to foster intercultural understanding (established relationship between principal supervisor and the founder). 2) With the Affinity Intercultural Foundation, an organisation dedicated to intercultural and interfaith dialogue (established relationship between principal supervisor and executive director). Both organisations have projects with schools close to where the honours candidate resides (Sydney’s Inner West).

Biblical gospels within their wider Jewish literary and cultural environment

Project Area

Honours students from Biblical Studies, Jewish Studies, or Classics are warmly invited to submit applications for topics on the biblical gospels within their wider Jewish literary and cultural environment. Projects might explore themes such as: concepts of community or disability in the Dead Sea Scrolls or Josephus’s Jewish War alongside texts like Matthew 5-7, Luke 14, or John 9; space and place in the representation of Jerusalem in 4 Ezra and Luke; or emotions in Mark’s Jesus and 2 Maccabees’s martyrs. Students should already be familiar with either Second Temple Jewish sources, the gospels, or other first-century Greek narratives. 

Description of the research internship opportunity

Students will be immersed in the research community of the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, with opportunities to participate in regular research seminars and specialised research training, participating alongside our strong cohort of HDR students in reading groups, language groups (where relevant), and methods training. They will also connect to the Ancient Israel Program (School of Arts) through seminars and possible archaeological activities. During the Honours project, students will develop new skills in the study of ancient and contemporary sources and be invited to participate in a research translation activity through engagement in either the Flourishing in Early Christianity project or the ARC-funded DECRA project Inside Others: Early Christian Protagonists and their Impairments, depending on the student’s interest. 

Islam and Muslim-Catholic Relations

Project Area

The supervision team would engage students in the study of Islam and Muslim-Catholic relations, particularly through Faculty of Theology and Philosophy’s focus on interreligious dialogue and research that includes Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen’s ideas. The aim is to develop capacity across Islamic and Christian theologies and relations in four types of dialogue: life, action, knowledge, and religious experience, especially for peace-building, respecting bio-diversity and deeper mutual understanding. It takes as a starting point Pope Francis’ recent emphasis on dialogue, fraternity and encounter between the two largest global religions. This emphasis has resulted in such historic statements as the “Document on Human Fraternity” written with the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb. Practical theological reflection in this area is nascent and needs much development.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The research internship would connect students to ACU’s dialogue partners, such as the Australian Intercultural Society, Affinity Intercultural Foundation and local Catholic Dioceses. It offers the opportunity for students to learn about and engage with local interreligious initiatives for a period of time. Particularly in the light of recent global initiatives mentioned above, students could learn and discern how best to advance these initiatives on the ground. This would contribute to the student’s deeper understanding of the nexus between theological reflection, interfaith relationships, and moments of encounter and dialogue on moral values and responding to contemporary issues.

AI: Fair and Just?

Project Area

Artificial intelligence is being used to make decisions that affect people’s lives. We need to work out when those decisions are fair and just. For instance, AI systems in the courtroom might recommend harsher sentences for Black people by racially profiling them as more likely to reoffend. Even worse, AI systems ordinarily don’t explain their recommendations, leaving us unable to tell when they’re racially biased. Philosophers have spent a great deal of time studying fairness, and so this project will involve the application of existing philosophical work on fairness to the case of artificial intelligence. Students will study theories of fairness within philosophy, and consider whether these existing theories can provide a normative framework that guides the use of artificial systems.  

Description of the research internship opportunity 

Students will be able to undertake independent study with Baron and Perl to develop skills in data analysis, statistics and formal modelling. Students will also have the opportunity to aid in the organisation of three large research events in 2023: the meeting of the International Association for Time, the meeting of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science and the meeting of the Australasian Association of Philosophy. Students will be able to work with Professor Baron to develop skills in broadcasting and writing for the media. Students will also be able to attend regular research seminars within the Dianoia Institute.

AI - Philosophical Models of Explanation

Project Area

Machine learning algorithms are being rolled out as a tool for decision making in many contexts, including loan decisions, parole decisions and medical diagnosis. Many such algorithms are opaque: no-one can explain why they produce the outputs that they do. The study of explanation is a core aspect of philosophy of science, and so computer scientists are turning to philosophers for help in developing models of explainable AI. This project will focus on the application of philosophical models of explanation to AI to see whether philosophical work on explanation can help us to build explainable systems.

Description of the research internship opportunity 

Students will be able to undertake independent study with Baron and Strohminger to develop skills in data analysis, statistics and formal modelling. Students will also have the opportunity to aid in the organisation of three large research events in 2023: the meeting of the International Association for Time, the meeting of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science and the meeting of the Australasian Association of Philosophy. Students will be able to work with Professor Baron to develop skills in broadcasting and writing for the media. Students will also be able to attend regular research seminars within the Dianoia Institute.

Emotions and Religious Education

Project Area

Emotions and Religious Education: Debates about the teaching of religion in Australian schools have been shaped by emotional contours of wider controversies about secularity and religion in the public sphere. In the classroom, religious education engages students’ and teachers’ affectivity, raising questions about identity formation and how emotional attachment to and detachment from religious traditions should be approached in learning design and pedagogy. Students are invited to study intersections between emotion and religious education in contemporary or historical perspective. Projects might involve historical case studies, critiquing theoretical frameworks, investigating the role of emotions in identity formation, or empirical case studies with teachers of religion in Australian schools.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The student will have access to specialised research training alongside a strong cohort of HDR students within the Institute of Religion and Critical Inquiry (e.g. research methods, languages, presentation skills). They will also present research to a seminar of scholars involved in ACU’s internationally networked History of Emotions research concentration or a new Theology of Education Research cluster we are establishing in 2023. Students working on ancient case studies (from antiquity to Byzantium) may also contribute to the activities of the established supervisor’s ARC project on ancient language education.  

Theologies of Catholicity

Project Area

Theologies of Catholicity: Students are invited to engage in honours projects related to contemporary Catholic theology. Such projects could be focused on exploring different understandings of catholicity, or could examine an area of contemporary Catholic theology, such as theologies of salvation, sin, church, mission, the human person, sexuality, ecumenism, eschatology, or peace-building, or an area of political theology or queer theologies.      

Description of the research internship opportunity

Internship opportunity with the Theologies of Catholicity research project in Institute of Religion and Critical Inquiry, including assisting organising an international seminar in Rome.