Research Day 2022

The University’s annual Research Day will be held on Wednesday 1 June from 9:30am-4:00pm AEST. The conference will be hosted at the University’s St Paschal Campus in Box Hill, Victoria, with sessions also streamed online via zoom. Attendees can choose to attend in person, or watch online.

• Call for papers close: Monday 9 May
• Registrations close: Monday 23 May

Keynotes

Reverend Associate Professor Glen O’Brien

John Wesley and the ‘Execrable Villainy’ of the Slave Trade

Abstract: This paper will explore the institution of the Atlantic slave trade as a support to Britain’s economic and commercial success in the long eighteenth century. It considers theories in defence of and in opposition to slavery, discourse around race, and the development of abolitionism. John Wesley’s Thoughts upon Slavery (1774) is examined as well as Wesley’s other comments on slavery. It will be shown that Wesley did not rely on the Bible in his anti-slavery arguments, but, instead, applied a natural law argument. He described African Muslims as a devout and moral people in contrast to the typically godless European. A contrast between John Wesley’s unqualified opposition and George Whitefield’s qualified defence of slavery is made. It is shown that, though Wesley had no in-principle opposition to the commercial prosperity of Britain, he considered that it would be better for the nation to collapse than to see it prosper from slavery. Attitudes toward slavery among other Methodists in both Britain and America are also described. In the nineteenth century, the African Methodist preaching tradition and the Abolitionist activism of some Methodists, were the fullest expression of John Wesley’s earlier staunch opposition to ‘the execrable villainy’ of slavery. 

About Glen: Glen O’Brien is the Research Coordinator at Eva Burrows College where he lectures in Christian History and Theology. He is the Chair of Examiners and an Associate Professor of the University of Divinity. A Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church, he has been employed by The Salvation Army since 2009. Glen has published widely in Wesleyan and Methodist studies, including Methodism in Australia: A History, edited with Hilary Carey (Ashgate, 2015), and Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia (Routledge, 2018). John Wesley’s Political World will be published by Routledge in 2022. 

Dr Rachelle Gilmour

Sex Scandal and the Politics of David’s Throne

Abstract: This paper examines the story of David and Bathsheba in 2 Sam 11–12, in the stretch of narrative concerning David’s court in 2 Samuel commonly called the “Succession Narrative.” It is argued that the sex and murder scandal of 2 Sam 11-12 functions within a Judahite ideology of kingship to legitimize and strengthen the power of the Davidic dynasty and was inserted in rejection of northern notions of a monarchy legitimized through popular support and agency. Drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt and recent studies on sex scandals in politics, I highlight three ways in which the insertion of the scandal in 2 Sam 11-12  was an effective way of casting the narrative favourably for the Davidic kings: the location of the transgression in an incontestable space, analogous to Arendt’s notion of the private realm; the salaciousness of the narrative effecting enjoyment in the audience; and the distinction between scandal and corruption, where David’s transgression is a single aberration, compared to the northern kingdom portrayed as systemically corrupt.

About Rachelle: Rachelle Gilmour is Bromby Senior Lecturer in Old Testament at Trinity College Theological School. She completed her studies in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible at the University of Sydney (PhD), before undertaking postdoctoral research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Edinburgh. 

Getting to St Paschal Campus, Box Hill

Program Schedule

Celebrating recent publications

Participants who have had a physical work published in 2021 and 2022 are invited to bring 1-2 copies of the book to display at the conference. Books must be for display only (not for sale), but bringing copies of order forms or flyers with purchase details that people can take away with them are most welcome.

Inter-disciplinary discussions

Research Day brings together people from across the University who do not often have the chance to gather in person. A small upstairs meeting room (capacity of 5-6 people) with Zoom functionality will be available throughout the day for small groups who wish to seize the opportunity to gather.

Bookings are essential. Please contact Meg Nelson on mnelson@divinity.edu.au to make a private booking for time on the day.