however, is a concern for the broader field of religion in the islands, such as
Islam in Fiji or Baha’i in Samoa.
In New Zealand and Australia, there is a strong association between studies
in religion and Christian theology. We have noted above the historical links
for New Zealand, and there are also current initiatives, not always focused on
theological colleges. Religious Studies at Victoria University, for example, has
made a formal arrangement with three Wellington church groups—St John’s
in the City (Presbyterian), St Peter’s Willis Street (Anglican), and the Trinity
Newman Trust (Ecumenical), to support a lecturer and library resources for
teaching new courses in Christianity and involvement in an Honours course.
Within the last twenty years in the Australian tertiary sector, Colleges of
Theology or Divinity have begun to form ties with universities for the purpose
of offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Colleges of Theology in
Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane have been affiliated with Murdoch University,
Flinders University and Griffith University respectively. St Mark’s National
Theological Centre in Canberra has been affiliated with the School of Theology
at Charles Sturt University, and the Melbourne College of Divinity has forged
links with the University of Melbourne and Monash University. These ties are
sometimes between studies in religion departments or programs and sometimes
ventures in their own right to introduce theology into the universities. Other
shared ventures involve symposia attended by staff teaching studies in religion
as well as theologians, for example with the Women Scholars of Religion and
Theology group. There has also been a trend for postgraduate students who
might normally have been expected to undertake their study in theological
colleges to apply to studies in religion departments for doctoral candidature.
Students, for example, from the communities of the Seventh Day Adventists
and the Assemblies of God churches have shown that they can succeed at
academic critical work in studies in religion while still remaining committed
to their own traditions, and they prize the qualification that proves their ability
in the secular tertiary arena. While there were major discussions about the
difference between old programs in divinity or theology and the new programs
of comparative religion as studies in religion departments were developed in
Australia, there has not been discussion to the same extent with the reintro-
duction of theology into the universities, although Majella Franzmann has twice
broached the subject in her recent presidential addresses to the AASR
(Franzmann 2002, 2004).
Christian theology is strongly supported both by theological colleges and
within the university sector in the Pacific Islands, but there is little to link it
with studies in religion (Afeaki et al.1989). The major university for the Pacific
Islands, the University of the South Pacific, founded in 1968, has no studies
in religion program, although in 1987 Peter Donovan reported to the NZASR
conference on the inception of religious studies there. Within the university,
the Institute of Pacific Studies has supported and fostered many initiatives
1111
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1011
1
2
3111
4 5 6 7 8 9
20111
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
30111
1
2
3
4
35
6
7
8
9
40111
42222
3
411
AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
233
