The Multicultural Challenge to Sydney Anglican Identity: Its Achilles' Heel--An Interdisciplinary Approach...

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Mersina Papantoniou Stuart Piggin

The Multicultural Challenge to Sydney Anglican Identity

Name: The Multicultural Challenge to Sydney Anglican Identity
Price: 61.88 AUD
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ISBN: 9798385240913

Its Achilles' Heel--An Interdisciplinary Approach

Mersina Papantoniou, Stuart Piggin

$72.95 $61.88

Paperback

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English

Pickwick Publications
21 April 2026

Religious ethics; Christianity; Anglican & Episcopalian Churches, Church of England; Christian theology

The creation of a little-known department of cross-cultural ministries in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney (DCCM), 1987-2000, straddles the theological/praxis divide of the diocese in regard to ministry with migrants and refugees. The department is placed in what was one of the largest welfare organizations in Australia, the Sydney Anglican Home Mission Society, later re-branded Anglicare. This work exposes its Achilles's heel with regards to evangelism and social welfare debates of the period, alongside examining Australia's social policy of multiculturalism. In what becomes, for the diocese, one of its most turbulent and polarized times in its history, those that are labeled ""the purists"" are bitterly opposed to the small but extremely influential Australian contingent from the inaugural Lausanne Congress, later becoming a polarized mix. All gloves are off in Sydney's most acrimonious race for archbishop, 1993. This book is intentionally written using a social sciences interdisciplinary approach, exploring contemporary First World, urban missiology with a view from the grass-roots--through the eyes of the laywoman who founded the DCCM. Yet, the theological/praxis and secular social policy debates continue to this day.

By: Mersina Papantoniou
Foreword by: Stuart Piggin
Imprint: Pickwick Publications
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 19mm
Weight: 490g
ISBN: 9798385240913
Pages: 366
Publication Date: 21 April 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dr. Mersina (Soulos) Papantoniou, is a lecturer in the Social Sciences, Excelsia University College, Macquarie Park, NSW. Her interests center upon the intersection between the politics of migration and evangelical religion. Her published works include ""'Seeing the Wood for the Trees' A Belated Love Letter Empowering the Australian Church's Engagement in Multicultural Urban Mission.""

Reviews for The Multicultural Challenge to Sydney Anglican Identity: Its Achilles' Heel--An Interdisciplinary Approach

""From national enthusiasm welcoming immigrants to divisive 'whitelash' and withdrawal into ethnic and social class enclaves, Anglican Bishops struggled to define the church and its mission. The value of this book lies in its nearly exhaustive documentation of the theological debate about Christ's mission to a lost nation through his church, and perhaps without serious reflection on their own bondage to the cultural biases of their national culture."" --Sherwood G. Lingenfelter, Senior Professor of Anthropology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California ""The conclusions of this work are of paramount importance for contemporary research on multiculturalism. The narrative chronicles the nation's arduous journey toward social equilibrium, intertwined with the gradual acceptance of the value of multiculturalism by a significant religious denomination, the Anglican Church of Australia, Diocese of Sydney."" --From the foreword by Stuart Piggin