Friday 08 September, 12:00 - 1:30pm
The St John's Centre, Wellington CBD
According to the World Health Organisation, one in three women suffer physical or sexual violence. Sadly, research shows that such violence is similarly prevalent in the Church. Join us, Friday, 8 September (12:30-1:00pm) as international scholars Dr. Seforosa Carroll (Charles Stuart University – Australia) and Dr. Richard Davis (Pacific Theological College – Fiji) engage Church responses to this crisis in the Pacific region. Dr. Carroll, a Fiji born Rotuman who works for the international partnership agency of the Uniting Church in Australia, will speak on the topic of “Church Responses in the Pacific.” Dr. Davis, a native Wellingtonian and elder in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, will address the issue of “The Sin of Disobedience and the Violence of Obedience.”
Rev Dr Seforosa Carroll, Uniting World, Australia. Sef is a Fiji born Rotuman who spent her formative years growing up in Lautoka, the Western side of Viti Levu in Fiji. Sef is an ordained minister of the Uniting Church in Australia. She currently works for UnitingWorld, the international partnership agency of the Uniting Church in Australia in the role of Manager, Church Partnerships, Pacific. In this role, Sef continues to wrestle with the challengers of gender-based violence, women in leadership, climate chang e and the powerful role theology can play in bringing about transformative change.
Dr Richard Davis is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Ethics at the Pacific Theological College, Fiji, where he has taught since September 2014. Prior to coming to PTC, Richard worked for many years in central and local government in Aotearoa, and is currently an Elder and lay preacher in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. Immediately prior to coming to Fiji Richard worked as the Clerk of the Presbytery of Wellington in the PCANZ. He has previously worked for the General Assembly office of the PCANZ in social justice, administration, and communications roles. Richard has degrees in business, philosophy, and theology and earned his PhD in theological ethics at New College, Edinburgh, graduating in 2013. Richard is a former International Fellow at the Kettering Foundation in Ohio (2003) and continues to be interested in deliberative democracy and the contribution of civil society to democracy. He teaches across the fields of theology and ethics, with a special focus on Christian social ethics and political theology. He is a regular contributor to the PTC's Institute of Mission and Research programme in Leadership and Management. His writes on topics from climate change to peace and public theology.