Editorial

Abstract:
PACIFICA began its life in the bicentennial year of the European presence in Australia.  Our first Editorial, written to mark the appearance of a new Australian journal, dwelt on that coincidence.  Along with all the razzmatazz of 1988, Australians have in the past year been prompted both to look back to their roots and to look forward into their future.  This new journal hoped "to be one meeting point where all these different voices might be heard, and where theology might be shaped to serve the faith in this region and beyond". John Molony, in his very readable Penguin Bicentennial History of Australia, concludes that the historian looking back into the past must not play the role of the prophet, but rather echo the psalmist in singing praise to God for God's blessings in the midst of suffering and conflict.  Such sung praise may also be prophetic, despite Molony's disclaimer, for to commit oneself to the recognition of the presence of God in this sometimes confusing world at the end of the second millenium is indeed a prophetic gesture.  To proclaim a contemporary understanding of that presence is, we humbly believe, the abiding prophetic task of Pacifica. Once upon a time God's presence in the world seemed more evident.  Western culture could not be understood, for example, without some link to the Christian tradition.  Not so today!  Australians look no longer solely to the West for their cultural models; and, despite the enduring faith of individuals in God, connections between the God of our forbears and the culture of our society become increasingly more tenuous.  Thus Pacifica is designed to offer a platform for the voices of those who are attempting to search the intersections between God and the complex secular human story experienced in this part of the world. Our first volume presented studies of the biblical traditions about God and creation, of the use of imagination in reading the Scripture which tells us about God, and of the mystery of God's presence in the face of nuclear holocaust.  Consideration was given to the figure of a prophetically anointed Jesus Christ, who challenges the cultural absolutes of our time (and of all times), as understood by Luke, Athanasius of Alexandria, and Hans Urs von Balthasar.  The problems of ecumenical debate, the interface between contemporary physics and theological worldviews, and the urgent contemporary discussion of the beginnings of human life have also been studied within our pages. We are, however, hopefully only beginning our task.  In order to be loyal to our own project and the demands of our readers, certain critical issues need to be addressed.  Are we, for example, fulfilling our expressed hope that "will consistently reflect both its Catholic  provenance and its ecumenical associations"?  Is there sufficient discussion of current biblical and theological issues of direct significance to our region, or are we merely echoing European debates?  Have we addresses issues relating to the call for a spiritualiity for our time and place? It is certainly a joy that we look back on the achievements of Volume One of Pacifica.  As we offer this first number for 1989, and as we consider the many articles now being submitted for publication, we have high expectations that the depth of focus we demand will be matched by a broader range of interests.  It is particularly pleasing that this and future numbers will offer studies from New Zealand, the Philippines, and China.  While we intend to maintain the demanding standard of scholarship that we have set ourselves, we also hope that each number will include studies accessible to a more general readership. In its first year Pacifica attracted over 600 subscribers and citation in the major periodical indexes.  Your support in increasing the numbers of our subscribers is requested.  The journal has been highly commended; we ask that you assist us in bringing in to the attention of likely readers. Your responses to our recent questionnaire have both endorsed our work and, as well, set us further challenges.  To ignore your replies would be to risk disservice to our subscribers and to the region we claim to address.  We to not intend to run such a risk.