AT THE VERY DEPTHS AND CENTRE of Australia's new Parliament House in Canberra, at the bottom of a light-well and atrium around which visitors, elected representatives, staffers and journalists all pass each day, there is a massive black quare of stone covered by a shimmering patina of water. An icon of the via negativa of apophatic mysticism, it both invites a sense of transcendence and declares nothing. It is precisely the sort of monument a perceptive architect might offer to a secular society with an untamed soul.
If theologians are commissioned to give an account of our faith, then part of their task in Australia is to examine the reflections thrown up by the shining yet featureless surface of this parliamentary monolith. Is it merely an elaborate grave-stone promising death? Or is it a window to the world beyond material boundaries, a stone that can be taken away?
Parliament has been the scene of rare theological rehetoric lately, with the Prime Minister (son of a different kind of minister) defending himself against church critics of government welfare policies. The Prime Minister found qualified support among his more theologically versed colleagues, Senator Michael Tate (Minister for Justice) and Mr Brian Howe (Minister for Health).
Yet it is the case that students and teachers of theology receive minimal government support. "Divinity" has been excluded by charter from most universities in Australia and theoloogy students are ineligible for government assistance. The initiative of newer universities and the pressure of federal policies is bringing about changes in such situations. While some measure of financial support will assist students and teachers of theologoy, and be a service to our community , one fears that the introduction of career paths and tenure tracks may mute the prophetic voices among us. For if theology is about accounting for our faith theologians are all the more obliged to stand close to that constitutive element of proclaiming the faith, the struggle for justice.
On the other hand, if 23% of Australians attend church at least once a year and 75% describe themselves as Christian, perhaps it is time that leaders of both church and parliament sought greater interplay and co-operation, rather than the entrenched church-state division, and consequent mutual suspician, which has characterised our culture for the past ninety years. Perhaps, then, the black stone may have some life etched into it.