The annual Knox Public Lecture is an important date in the calendar of Catholic Theological College. It commemorates the life and ministry of the founder of The College, the late James Robert Cardinal Knox, fifth Archbishop of Melbourne.
James Robert Knox was Archbishop of Melbourne from 1967 to 1974.
As Archbishop he had a grand vision for theological education in Melbourne, which led to the formation of a significant Catholic theological faculty dedicated to the education not only of future priests but also of religious and laity. This educational institute would take its place in the wider Christian and civil context as part of the Melbourne College of Divinity (now University of Divinity).
This vision is embodied today in Catholic Theological College and it is through the Knox Lecture that the College acknowledges its great debt to James Knox.
The Knox Lecture has been offered annually from 1978 and has been presented by eminent speakers. For a full list of Knox Public Lecture Speakers please click on link below.
2024 Annual Knox Lecture
The Christian vision of human persons is a source of hope and creativity in the face of growing insecurity and polarisation in today’s world.
This was the theme of the 2024 Annual Knox Lecture presenter, Rev Associate Professor Jamie Calder SJ, when he spoke recently at Catholic Theological College on the topic ‘Connecting with Hope, Reconnecting with the Christian Vision of the Person.’ Fr Calder is a member of the Society of Jesus and serves in the Directorate of Mission and Identity at Australian Catholic University. He is a practicing psychologist and his academic work focuses on the intersection of theology and psychology.
Fr Calder discussed today’s context of increasing social, ecological and cultural challenges, both within and beyond the Catholic Church, and how they confront our personal well-being and sense of connection to those around us.
At the heart of the Christian vision of the person, he argued, are three key recognitions: first, that humans are made in the image of a relational and dynamic Triune God; second, that the divine life has entered fully into the world in the form of the human, incarnate in Jesus Christ; and third, that all living things are connected in the ecology of creation.
We need to reclaim a sense of personhood shaped by this theology of relational intimacy.
Drawing on the psychological framework of attachment theory, Fr Calder spoke of the need for human attachment, emotional regulation and resilience building. The Christian understanding of relational intimacy and incarnational dynamism between the divine and human provides a sure way to promote the integral development of human persons.
Reflecting on the Gospel scenes of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son (or perhaps better, the Prodigal Father), Assoc Professor Calder outlined a theological anthropology of vulnerability and mutuality, as care for the other and for the self, including the divine Other who becomes our neighbour and holds us in a relationship.
The Christian vision of the person must be at the heart of efforts to ensure a safe church for all, and to prevent our safeguarding activities becoming empty checklists. Our safeguarding work should be an embodiment of the relational intimacy of God among us.
As Fr Jamie emphasised: ‘Love has come among us, and we will never be the same.’
Knox Public Lecture speakers 1978 onward
- 2024: Rev. Assoc. Prof. Jamie Calder SJ MAPS, “Connecting with Hope, Reconnecting with the Christian Vision of the Person” – 2024 Knox Public Lecture Video Coming soon
- 2023: Dr Susan Connelly RSJ, Catholic Social Justice Commission “Truth and Peace: Timeless Twins” Watch the 2023 Knox Public Lecture
- 2022: Facilitator: Dr Catherine Playoust; Panel: Rev. Prof. Austin Cooper OMI AM, Rev. Prof. Frank Moloney SDB AM FAHA, Most Rev. Dr Terence Curtin DD, Dr Rosemary Canavan, and Dr Michelle Goh RSM “50 Years of Theological Education in Context: Then, Now, What Next?” Watch the 2022 Knox Public Lecture
- 2021: Prof. Eleanor Bourke, Chair of the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission “Truth Telling & the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission” Read the VOX article
- 2020: Ms Sheree Limbrick, Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Professional Standards Ltd “Safe Church: Commitment, awareness & action for cultural change” Watch the 2020 Knox Public Lecture
- 2019: Dr Trudy Dantis, Director of the Australian Centre for Pastoral Research “The Voices of Plenary Council” Listen to 2019 Knox Lecture
- 2018: Dr Jeff Kildea, Adjunct Professor in Irish Studies at the University of New South Wales “What Price Loyalty?” “Australians in the First World War”
- 2017: Rev. Prof. Denis Edwards, Professorial Fellow in Theology at Australian Catholic University and a priest of the Archdiocese of Adelaide. “Ecumenical Priorities after 50 Years of ARCIC”
- 2016: Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane “Wandering to Journeying, Thoughts on a Synodal Church”
- 2015: Prof. Therese D’Orsa. Catholic Missiologist and Education Leader “Treasures Old and New: Catholic Education Fifty Years on from Vatican II”
- 2014: Bishop Paul Bird CSsR, Eighth Bishop of Ballarat “Living Liturgy: The Vision of Vatican II”
- 2013: Prof. Harold Attridge, Sterling Professor of Divinity, Yale University Divinity School “Dei Verbum Today: Reading the Bible in the Twenty-first Century”
- 2012: Rev. Ass. Prof. Orm Rush, St Paul’s Theological College, Australian Catholic University, Banyo Campus “Australia and Vatican II: Assessing the Reception of the Council”
- 2011: Rev. Dr. Austin Cooper OMI AM, Catholic Theological College, East Melbourne “Newman in Australia”
- 2010: Rev. Prof. Gerald O’Collins SJ AC, Former Dean of Theology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome “Jesus Our Priest: How can and should we describe the priesthood of Jesus himself?”
- 2009: Rev Dr. Brendan Byrne SJ, Jesuit Theological College, Parkville “Is Paul a Catholic?”
- 2008: Prof. Gregory Craven, Vice-Chancellor, Australian Catholic University “The Catholic Public Intellectual: An Extinct Species?”
- 2007: Very Rev. Prof. Francis J. Moloney sdb AM, Provincial of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Australia and Oceania “The Gospel of Judas”
- 2006: Prof. William Cavanagh University of St Thomas, St Paul, Minneapolis, USA “The Sacrifice of Love”. The Eucharist as resistance to Terror and Torture” (Text available in the Daniel Mannix Library”)
- 2005: Cardinal Wilfred Napier OFM Archbishop of Durban, South Africa “Good News from Africa”
- 2004: No Knox Lecture was given this year
- 2003: Cardinal Walter Kasper, President, Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity “The Future of Christianity: Truth and Dialogue in a Post Modern Era”
- 2002: Bishop Suriel, Coptic Orthodox Diocese, Melbourne “The Coptic Orthodox Church, History, Beliefs and Spirituality”
- 2001: Prof. Margaret Manion IBVM AO, Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts, University of Melbourne “The Art of Praise: Colour and Harmony in the Illuminated Choir Book”
- 2000: Prof. Kevin Hart, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Monash University “The Kingdom and the Trinity”
- 1999: Mr Gregory Burgess Gregory Burgess Architects Designer of Catholic Theological College, East Melbourne “The Spirit in Architecture”
- 1998: Dr Joan Barclay Lloyd Reader in Art History, LaTrobe University “Eucharistic Themes in the Art of Rome, Ravenna and Melbourne”
- 1997: Hon. Michael Tate AO Former Senator, Federal Minister, and Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands and the Holy See “A Tale of Three Cities”
- 1996: Prof. Peter Drake, Vice-Chancellor, Australian Catholic University “Three Big Words: Australian – Catholic – University”
- 1995: Archbishop Keith Raynor, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne (Topic Unknown)
- 1994: Rev. Michael Paul Gallagher SJ Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome “The Changing Face of Atheism”
- 1993: Rev. Dr Davis McCaughey AC, Former Governor of Victoria “James Cardinal Knox: Citizen of Two Worlds”
- 1992: Very Rev. Alan Jones, Dean, Grace Episcopal Cathedral, San Francisco, California “Making One Family Out of Strangers: The Recovery of Catholic Consciousness”
- 1991: Rev. Dr John O’Donnell SJ, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome “God’s Mercy and Justice: What Can We Hope For?”
- 1990: Rev. Dr Jerome Murphy-O’Connor OP, École Biblique, Jerusalem “Christ and Ministry”
- 1989: Archbishop Stylianos, Greek Orthodox Primate of Australia “The Relations between the Greek Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church in Theological Dialogue”
- 1988: Rev. Prof. John Macquarrie, Emeritus Lady Margaret, Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford “The Papacy in an Ecumenical Context”
- 1987: Prof. Charles Kannengeisser SJ, Catherine F. Huisking Prof. of Theology, University of Notre Dame, Indiana “Athanasius of Alexandria: A Paradigm for the Church of Today”
- 1986: Most Rev. Dr Eric D’Arcy, Bishop of Sale “Philosophy’s Farewell to God?”
- 1985: Rev. Prof. Gerald O’Collins SJ, Professor of Fundamental Theology, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome “The Resurrection of Jesus: Questions and Challenges”
- 1984: Rev. Michael Moynihan SJ, Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley, CA “Biblical Journey in Faith and through the Arts”
- 1983: Rev. David Power OMI, Catholic University of America “Current Developments in Sacramental Theology”
- 1982: No Knox Lecture was given this year
- 1981: Rev. Stanley L. Jaki OSB, Distinguished University Professor, Seton Hall University, NY “Science, Ethics and Christianity”
- 1980: Rev. Patrick Bearsley SM, Lecturer in Philosophy, Mt St Mary’s Seminary, Greenmeadows, NZ “Infallibility and Certainty”
- 1979: Rev. Roderick Strange, Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy “Understanding Newman: Preaching Christ as Saviour”
- 1978: Rev. Germain Marc’hadour, Professor of Philology, Catholic University of the West, Angers, France. Director, Moreana Quarterly “The Spirituality of St Thomas More
