This issue of Pacifica focuses on the future of theological education and contains the background texts of the major addresses to be given at the forthcoming conference Beyond 2000: Theological Education in an Ecumenical, Plural and Global Context being held in Melbourne from 5th to 10th July, 1998.

That theological education is in a state of rapid change is a given. Twenty years ago most students were young, male, single and preparing for ordination. Today 65% of those studying through the Melbourne College of Divinity are female, most are married and over the age of 35, and only one in ten is preparing for ordination. Yet the curriculum is still largely shaped by the requirements of the ordinands and the demands of the churches for their clergy training and formation. The use of the term ìlay educationî to describe what else might happen indicates the prevailing mindset. The new role of theological education in the contemporary or emerging church has yet to be embraced. Its role in Australian higher education, or society in general, has been hardly discussed outside the small circle of heads of ecumenical theological consortia. And the place of theological education in a multicultural society which has traditionally accorded the church a place of privilege on the one hand, while at the same time excluding theology from main stream higher education, is only now edging on to the agenda of some institutions.

We are convinced that the issues of ecumenism, pluralism and globalisation need to be addressed if theological education is to remain healthy beyond 2000 CE.

Ecumenism appears to have lost its power to motivate churches and its appeal for many church leaders seems diminished. When financial resources become scarce the budget for ecumenical activities is often the first to be cut. Yet if the church is not ecumenical, can it claim to be the church? What does it mean to confess that we belong to "one holy, catholic and apostolic church" if our own (often denominational) demands are placed ahead of, and to the exclusion of, the needs of "the one"? Formation for ministry, undertaken in isolation from other traditions, often leads to malformation with suspicion, mistrust, and misunderstanding evident. As Mary McClintock Fulkerson writes,

The theological warrant for respecting difference that emerges from a new definition of difference is the conviction that we need to narrate our stories in such a way that they enable the stories of others to teach us. Identity is not something we have and then share or use as a basis from which to define the other. In fact, we discover from poststructuralism that our identity is rendered by the others it creates. Our story is not simply our internal story, it is constituted by others' stories as well. The implication of this for our work is not that we should become storyless or have no identity but that our positing of story and identity should always be subject to criticism – particularly by the other it creates. Constructively, the test for our rendering is whether our story – our remembering of Jesus, if we are Christian – opens up the worth of the other.

This engages with our second theme, that of pluralism. The influx of new arrivals into Australia in recent decades means that 30% of those living in Australian capital cities were born overseas. The 1996 census reveals that in Sydney alone 1,076,760 people, or 34.5% of its population, were born overseas, a large rise on the 1986 figure of 840,730 or 28.8%. Much of this increase has been from Asia, which accounts for 27.6% of the total. Melbourne, with 31.1% born overseas, is similar, but with a larger proportion coming from Southern Europe and Ireland.

And yet our theological education remains Euro-American centred. Even living with one of, if not the, oldest cultures on earth has not significantly affected our Eurocentric thinking. But change is inevitable. Theology will need to be done differently, and theological education will need to embrace new points of entry to the discipline if it is to engage with society beyond 2000 CE.

Globalisation has been a major emphasis of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada for the past few years and is increasingly a concern of Australian theological institutions. The "tyranny of distance" which affected our thinking for centuries is no longer applicable as information technology puts us in contact with each other regardless of where we live. But has it affected our theologising? Or our educational methodology? In 1991 there were over 70 students from the Peopleís Republic of China studying theology in Melbourne and, after the first few weeks of a course in introductory New Testament studies, the lecturer inquired of one student how he was coping. He was all right, it transpired, but he did have one question, "Who is this Jesus person you talk about all the time?" It is a simple, yet revealing anecdote of our assumption that our worldview is THE worldview. Theology deserves better from us.

So we are grateful to those who have agreed to stimulate our thinking at the conference, and whose addresses make up this issue.

One final and important matter. John Honner resigned as editor-in-chief of Pacifica at the end of 1997. We all owe him, and his fellow founding editors, a great debt of gratitude. The Melbourne College of Divinity passed the following motion of appreciation for John's work.

Since the foundation of Pacifica in 1988, the founding editors, the Rev'd Drs John Honner, Mark Coleridge and Frank Moloney, have developed a journal with an international reputation. John Honner has done a sterling job as Chief Editor. His attention to business detail, typesetting and layout has been in addition to his careful editing of articles, suggestions about amendments and tactful rejections. The College places on record its warm appreciation and thanks for his contribution to this partnership with the College. It wishes him well for the future. The College also expresses its warm appreciation for the editorial work of Dr Mark Coleridge on Pacifica's Board and wishes him well in his new responsibilities in Rome.