Love, Money, and Life Regrets (To the end of 2020)

Love, Money, and Life Regrets (To the end of 2020)

by | Dec 31, 2020 | The History Of Ruth

The last day of 2020. At the end of a year which has been extraordinary for most, I ended the year with a day to have (1) my new sedan detailed-cleaned, and (2) bank a cheque for $1,000 in one of my Commonwealth accounts. This is significant. First, it represents income, but to be precise, newly acquired funds to delay the sad, continuous, decline of fluid assets; to financially survive in this uncaring economy. I know my story is much better than for many in a wider world, nevertheless, there is here a moment to pause.

 

It is a significant act in making the deposit. Four years ago, just after Ruth’s death, the Commonwealth took away my Mastercard. The credit card had been completed paid off, all debts had been covered, and the only reason the Commonwealth disallowed my continuation of our Platinum Mastercard was that Ruth had been the regular breadwinner in the first days of our joint credit account; that being two decades previous and our financial and employment circumstances had greatly changed between the two of us.

 

I was upset at the time, but perhaps I survived better without the credit card in these post-Ruth days. Meanwhile, I had the CUA account and a debit Visa card. And with the girls still at home, I had, in recent years, organised two more CUA accounts to cover bills and household expenditure. I kept a low balance in the two Commonwealth accounts, for the day I could put aside small amounts of funds as savings. That day had arrived. It is a marker, after four years, not of any financial resolution, but what is considered as a financial recovery. An important return to the credit column of the ledger. My bookkeeping mother would have understood if she were still alive. The bank has now promised to send me a Commonwealth card with debit Mastercard access. The cycle has closed.

 

And so, to the second reason why this last day of the year is significant. Walking back in the carpark, and looking at my flashy car, clean and glistening, I was sad that Ruth could not see this – the luxury of owning a new model vehicle (a hybrid even) and with savings income in the spare bank account, without any credit card debit.

 

I thought about it. And Ruth might have been angry, “Why could we not had the luxury and the financial security (as small as it is) when I was alive?”. These are the words that my imaginary Ruth would have said. The sadness in my life was the stress that financial insecurity placed upon my beloved. The tragedy is that the stress might have brought on the brain cancer. It is difficult to understand the reasons why our body cells mutate. Perhaps, there is no reason. I will, though, always be ashamed that Ruth often lost a quality of life from our financial insecurity, and that was ultimately down to a choice to be a scholar in a society that does not value its scholars.

 

The last day of 2020 is an exceptionally good day, although it is sad. It was also Ruth’s choice, but I am sad that Ruth would never see the fruit of my labour. Not merely that there is reasonable income (and that is a contentious claim), but that Ruth never saw the turning of the wheel in the last four years, when institutions and organisations are just beginning to see my worth.

 

Image: ID 53784838 © Jose Maria Canovas | Dreamstime.com

 

Melbourne, Brisbane Southside, and Urban Development

Melbourne, Brisbane Southside, and Urban Development

by | Nov 11, 2021 | Blog, Mapping Brisbane History, The Importance Of History In Our Own Lives?, Value of Local History

I lived in Melbourne for a decade. Coming from Brisbane, what struck me is the largeness of the diverse landscape. The foliage and species differed, as well as the contours, but diverse suburban landscapes were paralleled in Brisbane, at a different scale. You had a grander ‘intercity’ region which the streetscape reminded me of South Brisbane and Annerley, from Brunswick to Coburg, along the Sydney Road. It was not actually ‘intercity’. Carlton is intercity. However, its streetscapes are historically present today as dense town shop frontage with tight suburban blocks behind.

Toorak Clayton Suburban Comparsion

Toorak-Clayton Suburban Comparison

Image: Some suburbs have more well-established trees than others. (ABC News: Prianka Srinivasan). From Prianka Srinivasan and Hellena Souisa, “As backyards get smaller and trees are removed, urban heat islands could be making suburbs hotter,” ABC News Online, 11 November 2021.

Suburban analysis of Melbourne usually focuses on the growth corridor of the south-east. Melbourne northside often gets forgotten – the workingman’s paradise from the late nineteenth century. Our family lived on the northside in that decade, and always thought of it as a grander parallel to the Brisbane Southside.  There is an outer northside where suburban estates got going in the bush from the 1970s. The family moved from North Coburg to ‘Regent’: an old leafy area of Reservoir off from High Street; it was a reminder of ‘Auchenflower’. It is certainly not ‘Toorak’ with the overhanging trees on the streetscape (as in the pictorial above). Nevertheless, we had moved not much further northward, more eastward, and we had found well grassed footpaths and well-kept gardens, as you do in that part of Melbourne.

Mill Park

Image: Map of Mill Park. (Taken from my copy of Melways. Neville Buch. Melbourne Images Collection).

It has never been measured to my knowledge, but if you look at the maps and compare Melbourne and Brisbane, it seems that Brisbane, the river city, is much devoid of parklands along its watercourses in comparison to Melbourne. Brisbanites laugh at Melbourians over the size and flow of Yarra River. However, Melbourne has done extraordinary work over decades on the creeks which flow into the Yarra. The cultured Merri Creek landscape is world-class and far exceeds the work done on the Kedron Brook (let alone the larger work done on the less greener Oxley Creek). In the area we had moved to, there was the Coburg Lake Reserve, nearby westward next to Sydney Road, and also the Edwardes Lake Park nearby in the north. There is nothing to compare in Brisbane.

10 Rosehill Court Mill Park (large)

Image: 10 Rosehill Court Mill Park (large). (Neville Buch. Melbourne Images Collection).

Eventually, the family made a second move, out further onto the Melbourne’s north-east. This is one side of the outer ring of Melbourne, the equivalent of Algester and Parkinson on Brisbane Southside. It is marked by the large Bundoora Park, where Mount Cooper peaks. Most of Melbourne’s northside is a gentler rising slope to this peak, and the height as you enter Melbourne from the north (none of sharp rises of Brisbane’s riverhills). The north-east urban sprawl followed Plenty Road which parallels the Plenty Creek valley on one side, and where the Darebin Creek follows on the other side. There is Melbourne’s version of our Griffith University, La Trobe in Bundoora. The family had moved to Mill Park, a suburb just further north of Bundoora, and has the RMIT Bundoora campuses nearby. Mill Park marks the end of Melbourne, and is, in fact, part of the Whittlesea Council area, the town outside of Melbourne boundaries (Mill Park is still classified as a suburb of Melbourne). The part of Mill Park we lived in was a historic racecourse for training horses in the bushland. We lived in a cul-de-sac off Mill Park Drive, off the main road of Childs. The cyclic drive marked the old racecourse. The houses were lovely brickwork from the 1970s. Most of the houses had weathered well in the dry heat, but there were some issues of brickwork cracking. We had a beautiful large home in Mill Park (pictured above).

Bundoora Homestead

Image: Bundoora Homestead. (Neville Buch. Melbourne Images Collection).

Now, I tell this long story for three points on urban development in Melbourne and the Brisbane City Council intended rollout of its neighbourhood plan for the outer Brisbane Southside suburbs. The first is that the Melbourne north-east has had high-density building, mostly student accommodation. Compared to the Nathan-Salisbury area (in Brisbane), Melbourne’s north-east has worked-in such buildings in keeping with greener suburbs (even though it is a drier climate) and the surrounding bushlands. The risks have been that the suburbs are prone to bushfire, however, with the new and modern high-density buildings — although changing the view and feel of the main roads (Plenty Road, being a major tramline) — there is still a spaciousness to the region. It has not stopped the urban sprawl, nor stopped the quickly filling-in of the main road shop-industry frontage. Think Logan Road, and it is only one quarter as bad. Nevertheless, you have the quiet feel of the ‘inside area’ of the Salisbury suburb, but not of the terrifying area of Nathan’s Kessels Road. Although Sydney Road has problems, the development of High Street and Plenty Road on the outer suburbs, with still-existing tramways, provided much safer and less heavy traffic than Kessels Road. The controversial (in its day) Melbourne ring road  had done the same job as Brisbane’s Southeast freeway, but with better results. The Brisbane-Ipswich By-Pass has yet to be as effective.

Horse Ride At Lower Eltham Park

Image: Horse Ride At Lower Eltham Park. (Not a Real Estate Pitch, as it is in an old leafy Melbourne outer suburb. Neville Buch. Melbourne Images Collection).

The second point is that Melbourne suburbs always have had large parklands, and often with lakes or reservoirs. Mill Park has Redleap Reserve. It would be like if Coopers Plains had a lake with wild birdlife, instead of thin strip of swampland. Thirdly, Melbourne northside, inner and outer, has preserved their heritage sites of industry in quieter space. Over the decades there have been issues with active industrial sites in the middle of residential areas, however, the problems have become less since the decline of Australian manufacturing industry. Forwarding thinking economists have argued that upgrading cottage industries to moderate sizes, with lighter footprints on the landscape, would be a far better approach in urban planning.

Yet Another Picnic At Yan Yen

Image: Yet Another Picnic At Yan Yen. (Neville Buch. Melbourne Images Collection).

From Prianka Srinivasan’s and Hellena Souisa’s ABC News piece, it is obvious that there are still major town planning problems, but what if we compare the array of Melbourne councils to that of the single and large Brisbane City Council?

Buch's At South Bank On The Yarra

Image: Buch’s At South Bank On The Yarra. (Note the Foliage on the North Bank. Neville Buch. Melbourne Images Collection).

 

The question is whether the Brisbane City Council will listen or be tied to invested interests of the same old-same old? I have been told by members of the Council that we should not compare Brisbane to Melbourne in the local histories and historiographies. I say, la accuse, such responses are parochial stupidity, and should not be accepted by the neighbourhood!

Neville Buch, MPHA (Qld).

Neo-Orthodoxy Today from Historical Legacy

Neo-Orthodoxy Today from Historical Legacy

by | Oct 26, 2022 | Article, Blog, Concepts in Educationalist Thought Series, Concepts in Public History for Marketplace Dialogue, Concepts in Religious Thought Series, Intellectual History

Introduction

 

Today, we hear stories of Orthodox Judaism, and in this recent article from The Chronicle of Higher Education, we learn that ‘new orthodoxy’ is a ‘thing’.

Image: Online story, Sylvia Goodman. ‘Alternative’ or ‘Sham’? Yeshiva U. Created a New LGBTQ Club — but Won’t Recognize the One That Sued, The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 24, 2022.

 

Dogmatists have been great at denying ‘new orthodoxy’ as a ‘thing’ since the claim brings modification to ‘correct belief’, creating incorrect belief; according to the dogmatists. However, the existence of many ‘new orthodoxies’ proposes an inescapable problem, for the dogmatist. The problem here is not confided to Orthodox Judaism, or even western  religions, but any belief system which attempts to avoid admitting systemic error.

 

The focus here, for the concept of a new orthodoxy or neo-orthodoxy, goes to the worldviews of the Protestant and Catholic schemas, including secular expressions. So, the paper/article/blog (is there a difference today?) puts aside Orthodox Judaism and the Orthodox Christian traditions for obvious reasons, that ‘new orthodoxy’ is intellectually denied. Islam is too complex a story for orthodoxy and lies outside the specialist work of the author. In any case of ‘other religions’ and their schemas, it may well be the case that in ‘other religion’ new orthodoxies exist. The author argues that in the last few centuries the creation of new orthodoxies had come from the evolution in Protestant thought. The key understanding is the three Broad Academic Schools in Studies of Religion and 14 Academic Schools in the Philosophy of Religion

 

Three Broad Academic Schools in Studies of Religion and 14 Academic Schools in the Philosophy of Religion

 

The three main academic schools are:

 

1. That which centred on a general theory of religion developed by Rudolph Otto (1869 – 1937) and then later by Paul Tillich (1886 – 1965). The school had universal thought towards ‘religion’ and it is what began the larger enterprise of the academic studies of (or in) religion. The distinction between ‘academic studies’ and education broadly is made below.

 

2. That which centred on phenomenon, in opposition to a general theory. It was known as phenomenology of religion and developed by Mircea Eliade (1907 – 1986) but the concepts applied were generated from the leading phenomenologists and existentialists, and in particular, Edmund Husserl (1859 – 1938) and Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976). In this regard, Paul Tillich’s ‘ultimate concern’ becomes phenomenological.  This is a movement in the academic studies that predominated in the mid-twentieth century. It, nevertheless, coexisted with the education of the general theory, and arguably would not have existed without it.

 

3. That which centred on cultural pluralism. This is particularly the British school of Ninian Smart (1927 – 2001; Lancaster University) and John Hull (1935 – 2015; Birmingham University) in the academic studies, but a fair number of American and British philosophers of religion have been particularly important in the education: Huston Smith (Why Religion Matters, 2001) and Don Cupitt (After God: The Future of Religion, 1997) are significant.  The school of ‘religious’ thinking came late; in the last few decades of the twentieth century, and is now predominant in the early 21st century. The school conjoins the phenomenological concern as cultural pluralism and the deeper skepticism of the fourth school emerges from the work of Fitzgerald and McCutcheon which focuses on the conceptual challenges of cultural pluralism.

 

All together the scholars across the academic studies are known as ‘religionists’. Before looking closely at the three main schools, religionists need to be distinguished with ‘religious educators’. There is a separate academic field of education which is also concerned with the academic studies of religion, but concerned with marrying these theories and concepts of religion to those of educational studies. In this regard, a few more scholars also have to be examined in relation to the Queensland history. John Dewey (1859 – 1952) was a very well-known broad educator whose views on ‘religion’ were very influential among American educators of religion. Dewey’s general theory was A Common Faith (1934), a humanistic study of religion originally delivered as the Dwight H. Terry Lectureship at Yale University.  Influencing Dewey and other educators on religion was William James (1842 – 1910). James’ ‘The Will to Believe’, a lecture first published in 1896 is seminal.  It brought ideas of Personal Idealism (George Holmes Howison 1834 – 1916) and of Personalism (F. C. S. Schiller 1864 – 1937) into the arrangement of American Pragmatism. Other major influences in the American Religious Education movement were Eric Erikson (1902 – 1994) for his work in the psychology of religion, and Charles Hartshorne (1897 – 2000) for his work in process philosophy. The institutions and persons in the American Religious Education movement will be considered further on.

 

The 14 Theological Directions from Studies of Religion and Wider Consideration of the Philosophy of Religion

 

The philosophic thinking has streamed between 30 to 40 theological directions and taken aboard wider consideration of contemporary philosophy of religion than what has generally been recognised in academic theological discourse in relation to the curriculum, but nevertheless has representation in 20th century education for belief and doubt, including formal programs of religious education or Christian education. Seeing how philosophical thinking streams and overlaps into the diverse theological directions, which are represented in educational programs, better provides the wide range of the educational discourse. Ranging from the earliest shift in Christian thought, following from the conventional to the less popular or less known programs, the schools of thought can range from the German Neo-Orthodox Stream to the Anglo-American Atheist-Deist Stream. At this point of the research, the focus is the scoping of Protestant Thought, bearing in mind that innovations in Catholic thought and the continuing non-innovation from the Orthodox tradition will also need to be considered. Furthermore, there are often officially-unstated influences between the three Christian broad traditions. For this reason, Catholic ‘theologians’ who are influential in Queensland, a state where Catholic thought overlapped into the thinking of broad ‘Protestant’ institutions, have to be noted. The following might not be a comprehensive listing of the theological or atheological streams, but the list is extensive and includes all major players who informed religious/Christian education:

 

  1. German Neo-Orthodox Stream – Liberal Neo-Orthodoxy

Karl Barth

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Jürgen Moltmann

Catholic ‘Theologian’ Tradition
Karl Rahner Nouvelle théologie; Transcendental Thomism
Romano Guardini
Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)

 

  1. European Reformed ‘Neo-Orthodox’ Stream – Liberal Neo-Orthodoxy

Emil Brunner

Catholic ‘Theologian’ Tradition
Edward Schillebeeckx Dominican

 

  1. German ‘Neo-Orthodox-Process’ Stream – Liberal Neo-Orthodoxy

Wolfhart Pannenberg

 

  1. German Existentialist ‘Neo-Orthodox’ Stream – Liberal Neo-Orthodoxy

Rudolf Bultmann

Catholic ‘Theologian’ Tradition
Jacques Maritain Existential Thomism

 

  1. American Neo-Orthodox-Realist Stream – Liberal Neo-Orthodoxy

Reinhold Niebuhr

Richard Niebuhr

Catholic ‘Theologian’ Tradition
Bernard Lonergan Transcendental Thomism
Avery Dulles

 

  1. Anglican ‘Orthodox’ Stream 

Richard Swinburne

John Milbank

 

  1. Anglo-American Existentialist ‘Neo-Orthodox’ Stream

Paul Tillich

John Macquarrie

 

  1. Anglo-America Process ‘Neo-Orthodox’ Stream

Paul Weiss

Charles Hartshorne

Robert Cummings Neville

John B. Cobb

 

  1. American ‘Neo-Liberal’/Universalist Stream (‘Neo-Orthodox’?)- Quietism-New Thought-Unitarian-Universalist (Christian) Stream

Langdon Gilkey

John Shelby Spong

Catholic ‘Theologian’ Tradition
Hans Küng Rejection of Papal Infallibility; Global Ethic
John Courtney Murray Religious Liberty; Dignitatis Humanae

 

  1. East ‘Asian’ Influence of Confucian-Buddhist-Tao-Shinto (‘Neo-Orthodox’?) Stream – Evangelical Sub-Steams 3. and 4. Radical Discipleship and Liberation

Watchman Nee

S. Song

Simon Chan (AOG)

Kwok Pui-lan (Asian feminist theology)

Chung Hyun Kyung (Asian feminist theology)

Catholic ‘Theologian’ Tradition
Thomas Merton Trappist
Bernadette Roberts Carmelite
Aloysius Pieris Sri Lankan Jesuit

 

  1. Anglo-American African Black Revolutionary- Africana Stream (‘Neo-Orthodox’?)

Cornel West

James H. Cone

Albert Cleage

Barney Pityana

Allan Boesak

Zephania Kameeta

 

  1. Anglo-American Quietism-New Thought-Unitarian-Universalist (Christian) Stream (the original modern Christian ‘neo-orthodoxy’?)

Parker Palmer (Quaker)

Elton Trueblood (Quaker)

Rufus Jones (Quaker)

Richard Foster (Quaker)

Emil Fuchs (Quaker)

Ernest Holmes (Christian New Thought)

Johnnie Colemon (Christian New Thought)

James Luther Adams (Unitarian-Universalist)

Webster Kitchell (Unitarian-Universalist)

 

Catholic ‘Theologian’ Tradition
Henri Nouwen Catholic Quietism
Jean-Luc Marion Postmodern Phenomenology

 

  1. Anglo-American ‘Death of God’-Secular Theology Stream (the basis for secular ‘neo-orthodoxy’?)

Harvey Cox

Don Cupitt

Paul van Buren

 

(14) With 30. Anglo-American Atheist-Deist Stream

Antony Flew

Brand Blanshard

 

There might be other ways to slice the Protestant and Catholic pie, but the schema is a very accurate worldview outlook in the widest scoping, and it has secular expression in every case.

 

The collapse of ‘religion’ and the rise of Studies-in-Religion

 

In last 40 years, the studies in religion discipline had been shaken by a broad set of criticisms for the philosophical category of ‘religion’ and ‘secular’; from a large body of literature, led by well-known scholars, Jonathan Z. Smith (1982), Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1990), Talal Asad (1993), Russell T. McCutcheon (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2012 with William Arnal, 2014), Timothy Fitzgerald (2000, 2007), and Tomoko Masuzawa (2005).

 

 

There is urgency in providing education which will defuse the explosive confusion of popular misconceptions in the history of ‘religious’/Christian instruction/‘education’.[1] Education policy makers and the general public have not caught up with the trend in higher education scholarship, and are still thinking in the outdated models of the academic discipline. If we take the last four decades as being the era of the fourth school of philosophical skepticism, there have been three previous academic schools of thought that shaped religious/Christian education: that which focused on a general theory of religion; focused on phenomenology; and focused on cultural pluralism.

 

 

These four-way schemas are being applied in research for a book to provide the Queensland case study. This is an important and urgent analysis since the characterisation of Queensland reinforces the retrograde national narrative for outdated models of church-state relations, and will continue to do so, unless better education for faith and belief is provided. This paper will mark out the Queensland historical players and events on the pathway that shifted back and forth between religious instruction, Christian education, and religious education.

 

The collapse of ‘orthodoxy’ and the rise of nuanced pluralist models in monist frameworks.

 

At a local and regional level, as in my research on Queensland intellectual paradigms, neo-orthodoxy is translated, and can be translated, into nuanced frameworks during particular time periods, based on who lived in that local society at the time and the global waves of reading and dialogues (often overlapping):

 

  1. Colonial Period

 

Anti-Erastian Christianity

British Classical Education

Christian Biblicalist Education

Christian Broad-Curriculum Education

Christian Church Education

Christian Classical Education

Christian Conservative Education

Christian Secular Education

Christian Secular Modernist Education

Literary Austra-European (Colonial-Patriotic) Intellectual Education

Pre-Vatican I Catholic Education

 

  1. Federation Period

 

Recap: Colonial Literary Folk Education

British Classical Education

Christian Biblicalist Education

Christian Classical Education

Christian Conservative Broad-Curriculum Education

Efficient Broad-Curriculum Education

International Laborite Education

Irish Loyalist Catholic Education

Liberal-Left Evangelical Education

Vatican I Catholic Education

 

  1. Nation-Building Period

 

Adult and Community Education

Christian Biblicalist Education

Christian Broad-Curriculum Education

Christian Classical Education

Christian Conservative Modernist Education

Christian Modernist Education

Christian Secular Education

Conservative-Liberal Evangelical Education

Egalitarian Utilitarian Agrarian-valued Education

Irish Loyalist Catholic Education

Liberal-Left Evangelical Education

Literary Folk Education

Megachurch Prosperity Gospel Education

Modernist Social Work Education

Post-Idealist Christian Modernist Education

 

  1. Period of Mid-Century Neo-Orthodoxy and Heresy

 

Broad-Curriculum Education

Charismatic Christianity

Christian Broad-Curriculum Education

Christian Conservative Broad-Curriculum Education

Christian Conservative Modernist Education

Christian Modernist Liberal Education

Christian Modernist Social Work Education

Christian Secular Modernist Education

Confucianism (‘foreign’ integrated/appropriated syncretic)

Conservative Evangelical Education

Conservative-Liberal Evangelical Education

Conservative-Liberal Evangelical Indigenous Education

Diagnosis and Remedial Education

Domestic Technical Education

Educational Psychology

Fundamentalist Christianity (Creationism)

Liberal-Left Evangelical Education

Literary Modern Education

Megachurch Prosperity Gospel Education

Modernist Liberal Indigenous Education

Progress Philosophy

Renegade Laborite Education

Traditional Reformed Theology Education

 

  1. The Late Modern Period

 

Charismatic Christianity

Christian Conservative Broad-Curriculum Education

Christian Evangelical Skeptical Education

Christian Modernist Social Work Education

Christian Modernist-Postmodernist Liberal Education

Christian Multiculturalism and Religionist Historiography

Conservative Evangelical Education

Conservative-Liberal Evangelical Education

Conservative-Liberal Evangelical Indigenous Education

Fundamentalist Christianity (Creationism)

Liberal-Left Evangelical Education

Megachurch Prosperity Gospel Education

 

  1. The New Century

 

Christian Modernist Liberal Education

Christian Modernist-Postmodernist Liberal Education

Conservative-Liberal Evangelical Education

Modernist Social Work Education

Traditional Reformed Theology Education

 

The continual reinvention of orthodox belief was a key part of the frameworks.[2] Together, it works, not as a singular belief system, but as Randall Collins’ The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change model for charting relationships of cultural and social transmissions (e.g., ‘Queensland Intellectual Scatterplot Matrix’). The historiographical model is an explanation of the global-local layering, and in my research specifically to:

 

  1. Theological Education;
  2. Church Education Programs; and
  3. Christian schooling.

 

On a global scale Collins (1998) argues that cultural and social transmissions happen as networks of scholars, in different types of relationships, and often beyond boundaries of the instituted ‘schools’. The traditional ‘schools’ outlook leads into the critique of Ivan Illich (1970) for “Deschooling Society”. Schools lack the capacity of correcting for the inadequacies for established and personal worldviews. With the movements of transnational histories and the dynamics of global-regional-local relations, we can see how the Queensland intellectual and educational environment was reshaped by scholars between the University of Queensland, Griffith University, and the rest of the educated society.

 

REFERENCES IN THE PRIMARY SOURCE RESOURCE AND BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE TOPIC

 

Ackerman, J. M. (1991). Reading, Writing, and Knowing: The Role of Disciplinary Knowledge in Comprehension and Composing. Research in the Teaching of English, 25(2), 133–178. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40171186

Adam, R. (2008). Relating Faith Development and Religious Styles: Reflections in Light of Apostasy from Religious Fundamentalism. Archiv Für Religionspsychologie / Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 30, 201-231. Retrieved April 29, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/23907899

Alford, R. (1961). Catholicism and Australian Politics: A Case Study of ‘Third Parties’ and Political Change. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 6(1), 15-33. Retrieved April 29, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/42888980

Almond, P. (1983). Wilfred Cantwell Smith as Theologian of Religions. The Harvard Theological Review, 76(3), 335-342. Retrieved April 29, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/1509527

Almond, Philip C. & Woolcock, P. G.  (1978).  Dissent in Paradise : Religious Education Controversies in South Australia.  Magill, S.A :  Murray Park College of Advanced Education

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Arcus, M. E. (1980). Value Reasoning: An Approach to Values Education. Family Relations, 29(2), 163–171. https://doi.org/10.2307/584067

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Badger, C.R.  (1971). The Reverend Charles Strong and the Australian Church, Melbourne, Charles Strong Memorial Trust

Bagood, A. (2010). Complexity System and Our Catholic Faith. Angelicum, 87(1), 177-202. Retrieved May 8, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/44616488

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Barcan, A. (2007). Whatever Happened to Adult Education? AQ: Australian Quarterly, 79(2), 29-40. Retrieved April 29, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/20638464

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Bouma, Gary  (2007). Australian Soul : Religion and Spirituality in the 21st Century, Cambridge University Press

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ENDNOTES

 

[1] B.01 Education for Faith & Belief: ‘Education for Faith and Belief’: The Problem of Popular Misconceptions in Queensland, 2022 Australian Historical Association, Geelong, Victoria, Australia, Thursday 30 June 2022.

[2] Historical Sociology of/for Christian/Religious Education in Queensland: Mapping 1859-2022 and Beyond, 2022 Australian Sociological Association Conference (TASA), University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Wednesday 30 November 2022.

Essay 2 — Historical Overview

Essay 2 — Historical Overview

by | Nov 4, 2022

The Beginning of a Pilgrim’s Progress in Australia and The United States of America

In The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), Bunyan’s classical work of Christian thought, ‘Christian’ starts his journey from his hometown, the ‘City of Destruction’ (“this world”), to the “Celestial City” (‘that which is to come’: Heaven) atop Mount Zion. It would be unfair and not true to see the City of Brisbane as a place of destruction, although destructions do happen on the landscape and in the souls of the city’s residents. Brisbane was a site of a Christian construction, and, in fact, of many such continuing constructions, and thus the Puritan’s worldview is greatly in error, if we do not have a generosity of spirit to a liberal reading to the story.

I, the author, say this, for the essays, and the forthcoming book, since Christian fundamentalists and Post-Christian rationalists form two opposing groups of persons who do not usually expresses generosity to a liberal reading.  This essay is an historical overview. Most of what is presented can be literally read as the empirical observations (but not all). The reader, though, is warned that there is a sojourn ahead, one that is full of the dangers of allegory and metaphor. It may seem strange, but the use of allegory and metaphor is the pathway to de-mythologising what has been taken as “history of Teen Challenge Inc.” as the antidotes account. This is history, not myth. However, one must understand truth in myth, what allegories and metaphors signal.

A history needs to have a beginning, and so we turn to Brisbane, 1956. Our local pilgrim, Charles Ringma had just completed scholarship at the Murarrie State School. The following year, the young Charles begins his apprenticeship training course as a compositor and typographer at the Central Technical College, located in Brisbane City. In the same year, in another, a better-known city, New York City, the infamous event of the Michael Farmer Murder has occurred in Manhattan. It becomes a national newspaper sensation for the United States but is almost not heard across Australia.  Charles is too busy in his work as an apprentice at the printing firm of Jackson & O’Sullivan in Queen Street.

Figure 1. David Wilkerson in NYC 1958. Source: teenchallengeusa

In February 1958 in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, an Assemblies of God (AOG) minister, Dave Wilkerson, our second pilgrim in the story, does hear the voice from the newspaper, what he would describe as the ‘Call of God Moment’. It calls him to reside in New York City for a few years, initially to try and convert the alleged murderers of Michael Farmer. On Tuesday, 8 July 1958 Wilkerson got his inspired moment with a dashing-but-less-than-convincing court room performance at the opening stages of the trial. Undeterred and waiting on God’s guidance, the turning-point came with the conversion of Nicky Cruz at the St Nicholas Arena Rally, the first of a series of revivalist meetings that Wilkerson organised with several AOG ministers on Manhattan Island. Within two years the mission was becoming a permanent entity. On Saturday, 10 October 1959, a meeting of 20 Manhattan Assemblies of God pastors, led by Reg Yake and Frank Reyolds, was held at the Manhattan Glad Tidings Tabernacle. Note, the ‘Manhattan Glad Tidings Tabernacle’, because later in the story we will find the Brisbane Glad Tidings Tabernacle as another central marker. The 1959 Manhattan meeting agreed to organisational support of Dave Wilkerson, the start of the Teen Challenge (“Teen Age Evangelism”) movement. Dave Wilkerson dates his ‘Vision for the beginning of the Teen Challenge Ministry’ on Thursday, 15 December 1960.

Figure 2. Dave Wilkerson and the New York Youth Gang Conversions, 12 July 1958. Source: teenchallengeusa

The Days of “Teen Challenge Inc. Antecedence.”

Across the Pacific Ocean in the same set of years something else extraordinary was happening. In his early years in Australia, aged 14 to 16, Charles had a heighten anxiety. He felt that he had no experience of faith. Despite his strong theological environment – an immigrant Dutch family of the Reformed faith – he did not believe he was a Christian. The youthful resolution of such anxiety came in the commitment to Jesus Christ at the Leighton Ford staging of the 1959 Billy Graham Crusade at Milton Tennis Court. Aged seventeen, Charles quickly became the youth leader at the Reformed Church in Toowong.

The year 1959 saw the opening of the first world Teen Challenge facility, at 416 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City. During year, Wilkerson’s sister, Ann Wilkerson, also organised the first coffee houses of the Teen Challenge movement. In January the following year, came the first training session of Teen Challenge at Brooklyn of 20 students from Central Bible College, Springfield, Missouri, and Lee College, Knoxville, Tennessee. Meanwhile Charles was finishing his apprenticeship training course at the Central Technical College and work at Jackson & O’Sullivan. Upon that completion, Charles, and his wife and dedicated co-collaborator, Rita, became welfare workers-missionaries with the Presbyterian Church, working amongst Indigenous communities in Western Australia. It was a big move and marked a pathway away from the ethos of the Toowong Reformed Church.

Charles and Rita had begun their missionary work amongst First Nations in Brookton, Western Australia, working in general welfare, pastoral care, and preaching. In these same few years Dave Wilkerson was building something much bigger than a ‘convent-type’ recovery centre for drug addicts seeking conversion and rehabilitation from a drugged life. In June 1962 Wilkerson had his vision for the Rehrersburg Center, Pennsylvania, the first Teen Challenge training center for men. In that year Charles had begun a full-time ministerial training course at the Reformed Theological College, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; leaving behind Presbyterian work amongst Indigenous communities in Western Australia.

When on 28 February 1963, which saw the publication release of Dave Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade, Charles was working as a part-time high school teacher at Geelong Junior Technical College, teaching English and Social Studies. A major theme in this historical story is the tension between education and publicity. The history is that Friday, 5 March 1965, building on the initial publication success among American Christian communities, the Teen Challenge organisation was placed on the global map. It is the release date of the edition of Life magazine which had the article profiling Dave Wilkerson and the Teen Challenge New York work. Any grand enterprise is the accumulation of the educative experiences, of those many humble persons and the fanfare seen in glossy publications. On the ground, the year 1965 saw the opening of the first Teen Challenge facility for a women’s program, at 380 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City. And on this side of the Pacific Ocean, Charles finished his teaching at Geelong Junior Technical College, and in 1967 was awarded a Th. Grad. (Hons.) degree from the Reformed Theological College. Without the publicity of 1965, this story would have been impossible, however, the myth of Teen Challenge sadly clouds the power of the story. It is the revivalist error where the thinking is ahistorical – far too immediate and conflating events and lives of many persons.

Figure 3. Ann Wilkerson and the Teen Challenge Coffee House Ministry, 1960. Source: teenchallengeusa

The year 1967 is when ‘Jesus Movement’ made its earliest impetus. The Jesus Movement was originally on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and simultaneous became global with the help of daily international media reports. The movement, however, was one among several parallel developments happening in the same years, globally in churches and parachurch organisations. The Charismatic Movement had already been in full swing in the United States for about a decade. In Australia the Jesus Movement and the Charismatic Movement overlapped, often involving groups of the same persons. The difference was that the Jesus Movement centred on the idea of a socio-political Jesus from the Gospels of compassion, as opposed to that of westernised prosperity. The Charismatic Movement was more socio-politically conservative and tended to be kept in the confides of conventional Neo-Pentecostal churches or parachurch organisations. An overlap was maintained up to circa 1975. After that time tensions between the Evangelical Left and Evangelical Right broke the informal compact. Neo-Pentecostal churches were driven by the Prosperity Doctrine and the American Revivalist Business Model, as seen in the Megachurch growth of the 1980s and 1990s.

Figure 4. Charismatic Renewal in the Jesus Movement Setting. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

In 1967, just as these charisma experiences were beginning for Charles and Rita, Charles completed a course in linguistics with the Summer Institute of Linguistics at Emmanuel College, at The University of Queensland. Briefly, Charles and Rita were looking for new beginnings, moving between Queensland and Western Australia for about two years. In 1967 Charles had been appointed Probationary minister at Broomehill, Western Australia, for the Reformed Church, but the relationship broke down between the Ringmas and the conventional Church. Charles and Rita’s thinking had changed through their experiences of the Holy Spirit, that is, the spirituality via the beliefs in the historical Jesus and historical charisma.  A spirit of change did not sit at all well with conservative Reformed theology of the ahistorical-thinking conventional churches. History is change, not frigid dogma.

In 1968 the movement of the Holy Spirit brought Charles and Rita to their new beginning in the City of Brisbane. Charles with a close friend begun a street ministry with a Drop-In Centre at the former convent in South Brisbane, known as the Good News Centre. By the following year, Charles, burnt with the unpleasant fallout in the Reformed Church, ensured to secure the support from the local Catholic and Methodist churches. As a result, Charles gained the necessary profile as ‘the director’ of the welfare agency, Good News Centre, working with alcoholics in South Brisbane. The friendship of Ivan Alcorn and the connection into the Lifeline ministry of the Methodist Church provided Charles with security of funding and reputation. Plans were put in place in Lifeline late 1970 for Charles to take on a much larger enterprise. For most of 1971, Charles was funded by LifeLine to undertake a ‘Drug Rehabilitation Study World Tour’, studying the impact of the illegal drug problem on young people and programs to repair the damage. His tour took him to the Netherland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. In the United States Charles was introduced to the Teen Challenge programs in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles.

Figure 5. The Way, or The Good News Centre, with Mark Lane and faithful friend, Carlos. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

The Beginning of Teen Challenge Inc. Australia

On his return to Brisbane, Queensland, Charles wasted no time. In December 1971 the processes began, with LifeLine’s support, creating Teen Challenge (Brisbane) Incorporated, with Charles as its Australian founder, coordinator, and executive director. A few months earlier, conversations between Charles and Rev. Bob Barnett, the Philadelphia Director, and the national Executive Director Don Wilkinson, had secured the initial plan. Charles stated that he would be recommending, in his report to Lifeline, to adopt the Teen Challenge model. The two events: 1) the securing the agreement with the USA Teen Challenge organisation for the brand and adoption of their programs, and 2) the guiding hand of the LifeLine Queensland organisation, created a global opportunity on a local setting.

By the end of 1971 “His Place” Coffee House, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City, as a Teen Challenge community outreach had been put into place. ‘The Way’ became Teen Challenge’s more intensive support service, and their home base; a re-development of the Good News Centre. With LifeLine’s main service being phone counselling, a 24-hour hotline and counselling facility was set up for Teen Challenge’s Elizabeth Street facility.

Figure 6. Entry to His Place, Elizabeth Street, Brisbane City. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

Within a year Teen Challenge Inc. was an established entry on the local church and parachurch scene. In October 1972, the organisation had completed the Cooroy State High School I.S.C.F. Outreach. In December (9-10) the Jesus People Secondary School Camp, Caloundra, was held. In the first few months of operation Teen Challenge leaders were coming to the fore. In February, John Healey and Jenny Deeth were appointed among the first official Teen Challenge workers. In May John Healey began his training for two and half months at the San Francisco Teen Challenge Center.

During the first year of activities, the Good News Centre formally rolled over into the Teen Challenge organisation. Work began on creating organisational infrastructure and a board, as well as registration. Incorporation of Teen Challenge in Queensland was achieved. This was a process to find balance between the enthusiasm of the ‘Jesus Movement’ and creating an organisational structure which would keep the enterprise positively grounded. The Jesus People Secondary School Camp spoke to the former. Part of that popularist thinking was the axillary groupings inside the multiparous Jesus Movement, which included Neo-Reformed theology, or the antecedent form of Christian Reconstructionism. In the 1980s it came to bite hard – negatively – on the Jesus-oriented compassionate faith within the organisation. As such, there was a naive enthusiasm for the early writings of Os Guinness and Francis Schaeffer. The populist theology propagated a Christianised version of the outdated Oswald Spengler’s thesis (‘Decline of the West’). In July 1972 Chris Adams, a soon-to-be staff member, studied directly under Francis Schaeffer in L’Abri, Switzerland.

The year 1972 was significant for the organisation for several reasons.  During the year came the American cinema opening of The Cross and the Switchblade film in 5,000 theatres. The year also saw the opening of the first Teen Challenge Outreach Centre outside of Queensland, at 87 Macleay Street, Kings Cross, Sydney. Charles and Rita toured North Queensland, spending time in Cairns and Kuranda. The plan was to extend the organisation across populated areas of Queensland and where community drug problems were apparent. Although most of the organisation’s activities resided in South-East Queensland, important bridges were extended to the rest of Queensland. Following the Outreach and Counselling Training Seminar in Brisbane during January (15-19) 1973, Jesus to the Surfies Witness Camps (“Temporary Communes”) were simultaneously held (20 January-10 February) in the Gold Coast, Bribie, North Coast, and Cairns. A second Brisbane Outreach and Counselling Training Seminar was held in February (12-27). There was within the organisation, for these first few years, a stronger commune ethos. Several staff members lived together in the former South Brisbane convent (‘Good News Centre’). At the lived-in centre, a 10 cents-a-week periodical was produced, Jesus Paper.  Copies were distributed in March at the Nimbin Age of Aquarius festival.

Figure 7. Peter and Dot Lane outside ‘The Way’. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

With John Healey appointed Teen Challenge Rehabilitation Director in January 1973, new staff members and volunteers joined the organisation. Peter Justice begins work at Teen Challenge, Brisbane, in January. Cathy and Greg Job joined in February.  A major boost came in April when De Vore Walterman, Executive Director, American National Council for Prevention of Drug Abuse, spoke at a series of Drug Awareness meetings. Three talks spoke to what was occurring in Teen Challenge (Queensland) Inc. and helped to connect with the wider audience working in health and social work; with the topics as:

  • “The Drug Sub-Culture and the Jesus Movement” (Thursday, 20 April, Lecture Theatre No. 1 Physiology, University of Queensland);
  • “Causes for Drug Abuse. A Deeper Problem than Addiction”, and “The Drug Syndrome — Drug Abuse and their Effects” (Saturday, 22 April, Jacaranda Room, The Canberra Hotel, Brisbane City); and
  • “The Big Marijuana Lie” (Monday, 24 April, Jacaranda Room, The Canberra Hotel, Brisbane City).

The title of the last talk expressed the conservative view that Teen Challenge organisation adopted, but it was in-line with the conventional view of the time, that soft-drug habits were the direct gateway to the hard drug habits. In 2021 medical views on marijuana are still contentious.

Figure 8. John Healey, circa 1977. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

By the end of 1973, across the nation, Teen Challenge was considered as one of the first-line alcohol and drugs support organisations with leading expertise. There were some reservations among members of the medical fraternity who had strong skeptical views of the Christian therapeutic model. In Queensland, though, outright opposition was the minority among the skepticially-inclined population. Globally, the Christian therapeutic model had been too well-established. Although medical opinions were important, the organisation’s main audience were churched youth while making connects with unchurched street youth. This theme was expressed at the 1973 Christmas “Accent on Youth Camp”, Beulah Heights, on the North Coast (25 December 1973-1 January 1974).

By the end of 1974, as the Jesus Movement started to wind-down, the organisation became more focussed on the drug prevention and rehabilitation programs. In that year the organisation took it next major step. The former convent site was sold, and a residential rehab centre was established in Enoggera. In previous years, the rehabilitation program was run in the South Brisbane centre and in the homes of staff members, such as the Ringmas. Greater formalisation of the program came from Charles and Rita with the new staff members Peter and Dot Lane. Around 1976 the first registered Rehabilitation Home for Teen Challenge Inc. at 106 Simpsons Road, Bardon, opened, and the program grew as a therapeutic family model.

Figure 9. Teen Challenge Residents having a Night Out with Pete and Dot. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

Beyond the Americanised Jesus Movement but Following Jesus of the Gospels

For the next several years, the organisational structure continued to improve, and services expanded with new ‘detached’ street workers, continuation of the 24-hour telephone service, the drop-in centre for counselling and support, the rehab program and drug prevention talks in schools. In 1975 new staff members Gary and Lorna Swenson opened the Teen Challenge Girls Home in Red Hill. The organisation continued to strengthen links with churched youth, particularly by informal social interactions during fund-raising events. An example was the Andrae in Concert, at Festival Hall, Brisbane City on Saturday evening, 4 December 1976. By then Charles had begun his B.A. degree studies part-time at The University of Queensland, majoring in Sociology and Studies in Religion. The education would strengthen the leadership in the organisation. In only a few years ahead, with the guidance of supporter churches and parachurch organisation, social workers were employed or interned into the work. Education would also challenge the organisation. Several members in the organisation were taking on education, while other members retained a conservative and populist form of quiet skepticism. Fundamentalist in disposition, Queensland Protestant churches had long been plagued with congregations who dared not openly push their hard biblicism but worked against the “liberal” church leadership in covert “spiritual warfare.” In late 1977 it became a more open and political form of ‘warfare’.

Figure 10. Charles and Rita Ringma, circa 1977, at the time of the Queensland Christian Churches’ Crisis of Faith. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

Charles and the Teen Challenge leadership came to realise, through ‘the word on the street,’ and through Ray Whitrod, the Queensland Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service, the extent of the corruption of the Police Force. Terry Lewis, the Assistant Commissioner, and his friendship with the extremely naive or corrupt Premier of Queensland, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, set in motion a series of actions which would be infamously historic for Queensland. With Whitrod resigning in protest in 1976 at the corruption which by then endemic, Bjelke-Petersen appointed Lewis Commissioner. The disgraceful chapter of history progressively worsen until the Fitzgerald Inquiry (1987–1989) and the abortive trial of Bjelke-Petersen (1991-1992). Charles and the Teen Challenge leadership, however, were ahead of the moral curve and had originally made Whitrod aware of the intelligence that they were getting from the streets, of police support and participation in criminal activities across the illegal drug scene. Charles and other Church leaders had meetings with Bjelke-Petersen to expose the problem of police corruption, but the Premier only promised to look into the matter and had clearly dismissed the concerns.

Figure 11. Street Demonstrations and Police Arrests in 1977, Protesting Against a Corrupt Police Force and Government. Source: State Library of Queensland

In late October 1977, matters came to a head. Charles, among the “liberal” Church leadership, participated in the Right-to-March Street demonstration on Saturday, 22 October. It was not a lightly considered matter, coming with the National Party’s anti-democratic strategy of banning street marches, and during street violence from Queensland Police. The act of defiance was followed, on Wednesday, 26 October, in the publication in The Courier Mail, Queensland’s main daily, with statements from 16 Church leaders on the Right to March as a democratic proper position. Among the statements to condemn the government were those of Charles, and his friend, the state’s leading Christian ethicist, Noel Preston. It was too much for the conservative and too-conventional members of Teen Challenge and the supporter churches. Charles was roundly criticised for a brief time. The difficulty for the reactionaries was that they lacked the sociological and political language to justify the government stance.

The ‘unpleasant’ (a common word from Christian conservatives) episode appeared to be brief and the damage to the organisation was fleeting. Even in 1977, as tensions mounted, the organisation remain financially stable, so to see the acquisition of the Rathdowney Farm as a retreat facility. By April the following year, the conservative-liberal tensions had been completely forgotten. On Wednesday, 12 April, the Teen Challenge Ladies Luncheon had its guest speaker, Lady Phyllis Cilento, at the Five Continents Room, 5th Level, Lennons Plaza Hotel. The Nationalist establishment had forgiven Charles.

Figure 12. Primmer Lodge. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

The conservative Board members somehow patched up the relationship with the Bjelke-Petersen government. Bjelke-Petersen, himself ‘a devout Christian’, would have wanted to benefit the Teen Challenge organisation, to blunt the criticisms coming from the Uniting Church Queensland Synod. As a result, funding for the organisation greatly improved and the organisation was able to expand facilities. On Saturday, 13 May 1978 saw the opening of Primmer Lodge at Taringa, the emergency accommodation and work program, with guest of honour, Minister for Welfare, John Herbert. A few months later, in July, Hebron House, the crisis accommodation (up to two nights) facility at 356 Milton Road, Toowong, was opened.

Figure 13. Hebron House, Milton. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

By 1978, the attitudes in the medical fraternity were soften further, and Charles began part-time work as a clinical teacher in social medicine and drug abuse, with the Medical School, The University of Queensland. It was not the only institution which had difficulty with the compassionate view of Jesus of the Gospels. In the same year Charles pioneered Jubilee Fellowship, an inner-city community and interdenominational church, as its part-time minister. Charles came to the spiritual enterprise reluctantly. His original commitment in the organisation was to direct graduates from the rehab program to the established local churches. However, these graduates came to Charles to say that, as inheritors of street culture, converted or not, they were made very unwelcomed in the local churches. Jubilee Fellowship became a necessary spiritual home.

Figure 14. The Birth of Jubilee Fellowship. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

The Ringma Reformation of Teen Challenge Inc.

In 1980 the organisation was increasing its professionalisation. In May the Teen Challenge Counselling Team was officially formed under coordination of Harvey Whiteford. At the same time the Rehabilitation Appeal was launched. The Placement of Adolescents in Families (PAF) Program was also designed by Charles Ringma during the year. What capped off the fresh push of re-development was the National Teen Challenge Diploma Training Course (one year long). Education became a major function in the organisation and Charles took on the role of the National Director. Social worker Brendan Scarce was appointed the full-time chaplain and played a much larger leadership role in the organisation (1981-1984). The national training course originally drew interstate students to Brisbane, but eventually the national course expanded to include interstate Teen Challenge’s locations. By the end of 1980 Charles had received a 4BC Golden Award for Excellence for community service through the work of Teen Challenge.

Figure 15. Charles Ringma and the Conservative-Liberal Community Connections, circa 1983. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

The following year marked Teen Challenge 10th Year. A Reunion Banquet was held, with guest speaker Sonny Arguinzoni from Victory Outreach Los Angeles, at the Greek Community Centre, South Brisbane (18 September 1981). It was not only a time of looking back, but the year also marked the beginning of Koinonia’s long term lease. Koinonia, a heritage home on the banks of the Brisbane River at Graceville, was the new twelve bed residential rehabilitation centre. It was a significant place for the organisation. With a residency over the short four years (1981- August 1983) of ‘clients’ and staff members, as well regular guests, who crossed-over the organisation and the life of Jubilee Fellowship, Koinonia was the significant hub of the organisation. Among the staff members living on the site were Neil Paulsen, Sue Paulsen, Roy Calic, Lyn Calic, Margaret Robertson, John Moutou, Mike Bellas, Mike Power, Chris Cummings, Neville Buch (the author here), and many others.

Figure 16. Koinonia Drug Rehabilitation Home, Graceville. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

The profile and reputation of the organisation was ever increasing in these years with a larger public engagement. On Saturday, 30 October 1982, Ted Watson, Pat Noller, Charles Ringma, and Peter Lane held a major One-Day Seminar on Sexuality and Today’s Christian. These types of public events strengthen the connections with local churches. The following month Greg Passmore, a well-known local Baptist pastor, spoke at the Teen Challenge and Jubilee Fellowship Camp (5-17 November) at the Neranwood Conference Centre. During the year Charles received a Certificate of Award from the Bardon Lions Club in recognition of outstanding community service.

By the following year activities were doubling. In January saw the first 12-month PAF course held by the Teen Challenge Training Institute (previously the scale was smaller and less formal). Camps continued such as the Teen Challenge Camp at Margate on the 10-13 June. Major public seminars continued, such as the “Outreach to Troubled Youth”, the Teen Challenge Training Institute Seminar at the Bardon Professional Centre (22-23 July). During the year Charles became a part-time lecturer at Commonwealth Bible College, Katoomba, New South Wales, teaching in Youth Ministry. And yet again, Charles and the organisation were awarded, this time with Charles receiving the 1982-1983 Lions District Governors Community Service Award for the work of Teen Challenge.

In July 1984 Charles retired as Executive Director of Teen Challenge (Brisbane) Incorporated, and, in the following month, Jean-Claude Boulenaz formally became new Executive Director. Seemingly as to mark the end of an era, on 21 September 1984, Leon Patillo performed his concert, at Chandler Weightlifting Theatre, to a generation of young people who had lived through the pop culture of the 1970s and the first half of 1980s. Paralleling the way the year 1975 had closed a chapter in the life of the organisation, the year 1984 marked another ending.

Figure 17. Charles and Rita Ringma, 1984. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

Although no longer part of the Teen Challenge leadership team, for the next forty years, Charles’ post-TC activities would filter into the maturing process of the organisation. In 1984 Charles finished his part-time work as a clinical teacher with the Medical School, and began his post-graduate degree pathway, part-time, at The University of Queensland majoring in Sociology and Studies in Religion. He would soon finish the M.A. (Qual.) thesis on “Towards a Sociological Approach to the Study of Early Christianity.” It was a sociological study as an outcome of the Evangelical radical discipleship model, one that had been applied in Teen Challenge and Jubilee Fellowship. Charles would continue to develop a body of theological knowledge which greatly drew on the historical experiences of Teen Challenge. It feed into Jubilee Fellowship, rather than the post-1985 Teen Challenge. In 1986 Charles completed his Batchelor of Divinity degree at the Reformed Theological College at Geelong with a thesis on “A Critical Evaluation of the Ecclesiology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” In the same year he also began his Master of Literature Studies degree at The University of Queensland in Studies in Religion and Sociology majoring in the study of the “Hermeneutics of Dilthey, Gadamer and Habermas.” The larger work was completed as a doctorate with critical application of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutic to the hermeneutics of Feminist, Black and Liberation Theologies, awarded in 1991. In that year Charles steps back in his role at Jubilee Fellowship. The neo-liberal 1990s had arrived.

The Post-Ringma Teen Challenge Inc.

The following year (1985) from his “retirement”, Charles becomes a part-time senior research assistant in the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at The University of Queensland. His presence, though, would be inescapably in the ‘TC’ organisation. In August 1987 he would deliver the keynote address at the 4th World Seminar held at Glad Tidings Tabernacle, Fortitude Valley.  He and Rita would attend several TC anniversaries. In the 1996   25th Anniversary Event, held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, South Brisbane, Charles was the guest speaker. The Ringmas were the guests of honour at the 2021 gala. With or without the Ringmas, anniversaries, such as the 10th Anniversary (Saturday, 15 October 1988) Celebration of Hebron House, held in King George Square, renewed memories of the Ringmas. The key question for Teen Challenge Inc. for the last half of the decade was how much of the Ringma legacy would continue and what new directions would the organisation take theologically, philosophically, and sociologically. In what follows is a brief sketch, with other essays picking up further details in the explanation.

Figure 18. John Lewis at Glad Tidings Tabernacle for the Official Opening of the Activity Centre, 1982. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

There were new activities which were reminders of the early days of the organisation. CareLine, the youth telephone counselling service, opened at the end of 1985. The volunteer counsellors that had completed the CareLine Training Course would ‘man’ these phones. The last years of Ringma era saw a development of the Activity Centre at Glad Tidings Tabernacle at Fortitude Valley. In 1985 a Youth Chapel was conducted each week at the Valley Activity Centre and was a creative outlet for the organisation ‘students.’ Success was renewed and awards were made. Even before becoming Executive Director, Teen Challenge worker Alex Spencer received 1987 Queensland Award for Youth Achievement by the Queensland Day (June) Committee. The new Executive Directors in the late 1980s and in the 1990s, Jean Claude Boulenaz (1985-1989), Alec Spencer (1993-1996), and Alan Le May (1997-2010) made their own particular mark on the organisation.  Boulenaz had been the Manager at Primmer Lodge, and, during his governance, the full organisation worked closely with Brisbane City Mission. Under his guidance, the Redcliffe Counselling and Kedesh Male Rehabilitation Centre opened (8 December 1988), at 254 Flinders Parade, Sandgate. After his directorship, he and his partner, Rosa, turned to management work, Claude as Rehabilitation and Regional Director. Alec Spencer had been the Manager at Hebron House, which had been relocated to 15 Frasers Road, Ashgrove. Spencer’s governance was reflected in the development of the Macedonian Missions within the organisation, an evangelical platform. When Alan Le May had joined Teen Challenge around 1993, a great deal of reshaping of the organisation had begun, with a focus on three traditional areas – prevention, treatment, and training, and these main services included street outreach, high school programs, counselling, crisis and transitional housing, rehabilitation, and seminars. The reshaping was corporate. Over the following decades, in line with the global business culture, there were several attempts at re-branding and organisational re-structuring. With this re-structure, Le May brought a better regionalisation for the organisation, beginning with the opening of the Charters Towers rehabilitation centre.

Figure 19. The Valley’s Teen Challenge Activity Centre. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

New Directions in Teen Challenge Inc. and Christian Missions and Social Work, and the 1990s Globalisation.

The Australian organisation always kept the links with the American and global institutions. In May 1987 the links were renewed with the “Success Factors in Christian Rehabilitation & Discipleship Youth Workers Seminar (Saturday 9 May)”, with the speakers, Reg Yake, Executive Director Teen Challenge Rehresburg, and Ray Elder, Public Relations Director, US Teen Challenge Training Centre, held at Brisbane City Mission, Brisbane City. With very negative fallout from the Neo-Liberal globalisation, the Christian mission world had been rocked and a new-radical pathways opened, along with an old continuous roadway. The old was the ‘bread and butter’ of the Teen Challenge organisation – the main services. The new was the greater call for action to alleviate dire poverty and challenge social injustice from corporate structures. Charles Ringma was, again, a central figure. In 1995 he was appointed Professor of Theology and Mission at Asian Theological Seminary, Metro Manila, and Charles and Rita Ringma worked in the Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor’s local retreat house. In 2000 Charles would be appointed an international elder for the global mission, Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. Ringma’s new professional work was the major education for the renewed Christian mission. He was the recognisable figure for the field across the Asia-Pacific.

The global would have its local impact. In February 1999 a review of Teen Challenge’s branch operation program was conducted. It was found that it was no longer feasible or manageable for the outreach branch program to continue. Teen Challenge, therefore, rolled back its more hands-on involvement with churches, and instead created a youth outreach accreditation program. Other services were also rolled back.

A New Century of Teen Challenge Inc.

The rollbacks were also due to the vagaries of funding from churches. Some churched communities reacted unkindly to the rethink in Christian missions, locals trapped in the narrow and conservative conceptions of what was political and what was social, and too often voiced with negative semantics. Other communities were able to rise to the challenge. Thus, funding also was renewed, helped both by corporate re-planning and the philosophical-theological revaluations. The first achievement with the new funding was the opening of Teen Challenge New Life Centre, Toowoomba, in 2001. The purchase of the site had been made possible due to the generosity of Clive Berghoffer. Toowoomba became the new home for the rehabilitation work, supplement with the facility in Brisbane.

The heavy work delivered around two focuses of emergency accommodation and rehabilitation. In 2008 Hebron House changed to New Hope House, and Sean Solien became team leader. In the same the development of the Women’s Centre got underway, with design approvals from local Council finalised. Construction of the New Life Women’s Centre commenced in the following year. The Global Financial Crisis, though, caused great impact on donations which put the organisation under significant pressure. Several staff redundancies were a direct result. The construction of the Women’s Centre continued, but completion date was pushed back. Meanwhile the program was restructured with a new nine-week re-entry phase for clients, located in Cedar Creek, Samford. This re-entry involved a combination of work, financial responsibility, learning new skills (building and landscaping) and re-engaging back into their community on weekends. However, this program was terminated due to council restrictions, and the re-entry phase was relocated back to the New Life Centre, Toowoomba. Craig Watson was appointed Manager of the New Life Centre, and Hebron House fell under the leadership of Alanna Fraser as becoming a part of the new Outreach division.

Figure 20. Charters Towers Drug Rehabilitation Home. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

The major restructure for the organisation came in 2002, with the establishment of Teen Challenge Care (Qld) Ltd and the establishment of Teen Challenge International (Queensland) Inc. The change was as result of operational requirements from new charity and corporate Queensland legislation. Direct funding to the organisation as a charity had to be kept as a separate accounting to funding available to the corporate entity. It removed some of the risk for financial corruption. Examples of the former was the Tour De Freedom Bike Ride, and the community workday, first implemented in 2007. An example of the latter was the Teen Triple P Positive Program (began 2009) delivered by Outreach Services in partnership with the state Department of Communities.

Figure 21. Hume Ridge Church, Toowoomba. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

The Recent Decade of Teen Challenge Inc.

In 2009 Teen Challenge began looking at appointing a new Executive Director to replace Alan Le May, who finished his time the following year. The year, 2010, was when the global founder, David Wilkerson, passed away, and Joanne Hobbs was appointed as the new Executive Director. The decade began with the operational opening (10 November 2011) of the New Life Women’s Centre, with two full time staff, a team of volunteers, and two clients. Jo formally began her role in April 2011. Other staff members joined the organisation in a new chapter. Christine Richardson started as the Family Support Worker. The official opening ceremony of the New Life Women’s Centre came in March 2012, unveiled by Mr Kerry Shine MP.

In 2013 the Teen Challenge QLD (TCQ) celebrated eight years as a Registered Training Org (RTO) and continues to offer Cert IV’s in Alcohol and Other Drugs, Mental Health, and Youth Work. The CA. A Cert IV in Pastoral Care had also been added to the Training Services. In-service staff and volunteers were added to the organisation every two months. By 2015 training opportunities were rolled back, due to the decision not re-register for RTO (training registration), as the compliance requirements became increasingly complicated, and therefore not feasible to continue. The Cert IV in Youth Work or Ministry kept as an option for approved interns needed for the program completion.

Figure 22. Charles and Rita Ringma Today. Source: Teen Challenge Inc. (Qld)

In these years the board had spent time strategic planning with Duncan Brown in order to accommodate TCQ’s purpose and direction. It would, unfortunately, see a decrease in Government grants. Alternative funding was sought. In 2015 the family sponsorships of students began. The Elite Athletes (five dedicated businessmen) raised over $100,000 for TCQ by hosting two fundraising dinners. Other fundraising events included, the Gala Dinner, the Toowoomba Garage Sale, other charity dinners, Ladies High Tea and more. This helped to fund new services such as the Life Recovery Day Program and the Arrowsmith educative program ‘Empowering Lives’ for children and adults.

Over the years the offices of Teen Challenge Inc. shifted from Bardon to Mount Gravatt and returned to South Brisbane. The Corporate Office shifted again from South Brisbane to Gaythorne in January 2016. Other facilities have also been established in recent years. In 2020 the Hope Collection Shop was launched. It has been three years since the 60-year anniversary (2018) of the global Teen Challenge phenomenon. During great change the Australian-Queensland story has remarkably proven the worth of a compassionate and dedicated organisation, a strongly related network of many persons.

Letter. Explaining Myself in the Hope of Dialogue, 29 January 2023

Letter. Explaining Myself in the Hope of Dialogue, 29 January 2023

by | Jan 29, 2023 | Concepts in Educationalist Thought Series, Concepts in Public History for Marketplace Dialogue, Concepts in Religious Thought Series, Concepts in UQ Philosophy and History, Intellectual History, Letter, Mapping Brisbane History, The History Of Ruth, The Importance Of History In Our Own Lives?, Value of Local History, What Is History Meaning?

Dear American friends,

I am leaving Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, tonight, for a country I have critically admired my whole life. It is the second trip, the last in 30 years (1991-1992).

An intelligent conversation, the last few days, has indicated to me that I need to clarify where I am coming from as an American-Australian relational scholar. My concern is national and cultural bubble of cognition, and the question I wrestle with is the wilfulness. And I here I admit to my own national and cultural bubble of cognition. Perhaps, we can all help each other in understanding.

What I am saying is that Europeans, others in the world, AND liberal-thinking Americans, can identify an American bubble of stupidity and ignorance. That is admittedly harsh and is no doubt shaped in different national and cultural bubbles of cognition.

What is being signalling in such global comments is the question of the stupidity on the face of it. In many cases it appears to be wilful. It is made by persons who do know better; they are familiar with the literature of ‘American modernism’. The ignorance is that those comments (again, the bubbled pointed references, but globally made) on the face of it are made by persons who do not know better; the problem of American under-education on world affairs. However, I am not saying it is only a problem of the Americans. All national cultures suffer in the same way.

The reason why the United States is single-out is because of our global understanding of American modernism, and also in the understanding of Americans (educated). American modernism was the ideological structure of the 20th century in the rise of the United States as the global superpower – like Rome in the ancient world. It laid out the alleged superiority of American culture perceived in the national mythology. Like Rome in the ancient world, once the world hegemony reaches a maximum point, there is a decline. The cultural standing of the United States has been declining since 1989, although it was always challenged by other national cultures before 1989 and the United States still enjoys some strength in the global standing in the last two decades of this century. The liberal Americans are globally correct. The United States needs to re-conceive itself in the 21st century.

I hope this central message of my broader work in Australian-American relations is clarified for you, and we have the opportunity to dialogue further to aid our better understanding of each other as cultured human beings.

Kind regards,
Neville.

Image: Neville’s Life as Australian-American relational scholar