In a week where a new pope has been elected in Rome, a religious leader has been named as the ABC’s 2005 Boyer lecturer in Australia.
Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen will present the 2005 ABC Boyer Lectures, to be broadcast on ABC Radio National in November and December.
Archbishop Jensen studied in Sydney, obtaining a Th.L (Licentiate in Theology) through Moore Theological College, and a BD (Bachelor of Divinity) from London
University. He was subsequently awarded a Master of Arts degree by Sydney University, and earned his Doctorate of Philosophy at Oxford University.
Jensen has served in several positions in the Diocese, notably as Principal of Moore Theological College for 16 years. In 2001, he was elected as Archbishop of Sydney, the largest Diocese in this country, and was recently
appointed as the Chair of the General Synod Doctrine Commission.
He has written a number of books including The Quest For Power, At the Heart of the Universe and The Revelation of God. He has been invited to Ireland in June to give the inaugural TC Hammond Lectures, and will also be a speaker at the European Leadership Forum in Hungary, established to encourage a renewal and reformation of biblical Christianity in Europe.
ABC Chairman, Donald McDonald AO, says: “Archbishop Jensen joins the rollcall of distinguished Australians who have accepted the challenge of delivering the ABC’s Boyer Lectures. The 2005 series will no doubt add to this valuable collection of Australian ideas and debates.”
This year marks the 46th anniversary of the Boyer Lectures. They began in 1959 and are named after the late Sir Richard Boyer, a former chairman of the ABC. Each year, the ABC Board invites a prominent Australian or group of Australians to present six talks, expressing their thoughts on major social, cultural, scientific or political issues.
Previous Boyer Lecturers include writer and academic, Peter Conrad; international affairs expert, Owen Harries; historian, Professor Geoffrey Blainey; Chief Justice Murray Gleeson; author, David Malouf; historian, Manning Clark; social commentator, Eva Cox; former Prime Minister (then head of the ACTU), Bob Hawke; Aboriginal leader and lawyer, Noel Pearson; historian, Inga Clendinnen; writer,
Shirley Hazzard; Justice Michael Kirby and former Governor-General (then vice-chancellor of New England University), Sir Zelman Cowen.