
Dr Di Rayson
Casual Academic
School of Humanities and Social Science
- Email:dianne.rayson@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:(02) 4921 5162
Career Summary
Biography
Dr Di Rayson came to theology after a varied career.
With a background in Public Health, she has worked in PNG, NT and NSW in community development, health promotion, and program delivery roles. She was the NT's tobacco control officer who developed legislation to limit smoking in public places and restrict sale of tobacco. In PNG she worked in Women and Their Children's Health (WATCH) projects, training village birth attendants. She was Director for Alcohol and Other Drugs and then Director for Crime Prevention in the NT government, and has run a consultancy in public policy, community engagement, and research.
As an academic, Di's research has centred on the life and work of German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) and especially its relevance to contemporary social issues.
Her thesis, Bonhoeffer's Theology and Anthropogenic Climate Change: In Search of an Ecoethic
interrogates the problem of climate change from a theological perspective. Bonhoeffer's Christological foundation provides an entry point for understanding the human place in the ecology. Following Bonhoeffer, it investigates an ecoethic commensurate to the problem, utilising notions of Stellvertretung and Sachgemäßheit: ethics based on standing in the place of the other, and appropriate to the context of the problem.
She works with churches and religious groups to help them understand that climate change is a religious problem requiring a religious response.
Di has worked on other contemporary issues such as war, rape culture, and theology and the arts. She has also published on Bonhoeffer and Gandhi and Bonhoeffer's political theology. She has been invited to speak in South Africa and Chicago, and is regularly interviewed on ABC radio for a theological and ethical perspective on social issues.
Di teaches into the Bachelor of Arts program at UON and elsewhere she lectures in theological studies. Some sample student feedback comments:
- Thank you for a wonderful course, I found it challenging and exceptionally interesting.
- I just wanted to say thank you for your guidance and help this semester. I feel completely overwhelmed by the responses and feedback I have been given for my assessment tasks. I have honestly never done as well in any assessment tasks at a tertiary level as I have in this subject.
- Di’s extensive knowledge, passion for the subject and expertise is clearly evident. The lecture materials were accessible and Di was easy to contact if advice was requested. She was also very quick to respond, which I appreciated.
- I very much appreciated Di’s encouraging emails at the start of each week.
- Di was amazing throughout the Unit. She responded so quickly to questions or comments on the discussion board. I really enjoyed that her passion comes through in her videos and even in the weekly updates. Her feedback on assessments was incredibly explicit and detailed - which I appreciated.
- Thank you so much for the scaffold for approaching the assignment. I love your energy and passion for what you are teaching and the way you are supporting us.
Di is an elected board member of the International Bonhoeffer Society - English Language Section and is Deputy Editor of The Bonhoeffer Legacy: An International Journal. She is Convenor of the Australian Bonhoeffer Conference.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Newcastle
- Diploma in Applied Science (Nursing), University of Newcastle
- Master of Public Health, Curtin University
- Graduate Certificate in Theology, University of Newcastle
- Master of Theology, University of Newcastle
Keywords
- Bonhoeffer
- Christian Ethics
- Christology
- Earthly Christianity
- Ecoethics
- Ecofeminism
- Ecotheology
- Feminist Theology
- Homo cosmicos
- Public Theology
Fields of Research
Code | Description | Percentage |
---|---|---|
220401 | Christian Studies (incl. Biblical Studies and Church History) | 60 |
220303 | Environmental Philosophy | 40 |
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
Title | Organisation / Department |
---|---|
Casual Academic | University of Newcastle School of Humanities and Social Science Australia |
Academic appointment
Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
---|---|---|
9/10/2017 - 19/10/2019 |
Lecturer Theological Studies Di lectures at The University of Newcastle and at Charles Sturt University. Her experience in public health, programs and policy, in research and community development, media and marketing, and now in theology, means she is well equipped to teach across the humanities. At UON she has taught policy development, research methodology, epistemology, mental health, and sociology for health care providers. At CSU she teaches ecotheology, systematics and ethics. At BBI-TAITE taught Foundations for Theological Studies and Bonhoefferian theology. |
BBI - The Australian Institute of Theological Education Australia |
Awards
Prize
Year | Award |
---|---|
2020 |
ECR Award for Paper submitted to ANZATS Annual Conference ANZATS |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Chapter (2 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Rayson D, 'Bonhoeffer and 'The Right to Self-Assertion': Understanding Theologically the Mastery of Nature and War', Ecological Aspects of War: Religious and Theological Perspectives, ATF Press, Hindmarsh, S.A. 95-110 (2017) | ||||
2016 |
Rayson DP, Lovat TL, ''Lord of the (Warming) World': Bonhoeffer's Ecotheological Ethic and the Gandhi Factor', The Nature of Things: Rediscovering the Spiritual in God's Creation, Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR 125-135 (2016) [B1]
|
Journal article (4 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Rayson D, 'Earthly Christianity: Bonhoeffer s contribution to ecotheology and ecoethics', The Bonhoeffer Legacy: An International Journal, 6 21-34 (2018) | ||||
2016 | Rayson DP, 'Bonhoeffer s Christology in a Warming World: Ecotheological Conversations with Feminist Theology', Seachanges: Women Scholars of Religion and Theology, 7 (2016) [C1] | ||||
2015 | Rayson DP, 'Letters to London: Bonhoeffer's previously unpublished correspondence with Ernst Cromwell 1935-6', The Bonhoeffer Legacy: Australasian Journal of Bonhoeffer Studies, 3 101-102 (2015) | ||||
2014 |
Rayson D, Lovat T, 'Lord of the (Warming) World: Bonhoeffer's Eco-theological Ethic and the Gandhi Factor', The Bonhoeffer Legacy: Australasian Journal of Bonhoeffer Studies, 2 57-74 (2014) [C1]
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Show 1 more journal article |
Review (3 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | Rayson D, 'The Cross of Reality: Luther's Theologica Crucis and Bonhoeffer's Christology by H. Gaylon Barker (2018) | ||
2017 | Rayson D, 'Radical Discipleship: A Liturgical Politics of the Gospel (2017) | ||
2016 | Rayson D, 'The Doubled Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Women, Sexuality and Nazi Germany (2016) |
Grants and Funding
Summary
Number of grants | 1 |
---|---|
Total funding | $1,500 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20131 grants / $1,500
Flechtheim Scholarship$1,500
Flechtheim Scholarship Background Information
The Flechtheim Scholarship was established in 2006 by a legacy from the donor’s maternal grandfather, Julius Flechtheim, a former professor of Jurisprudence at Berlin University who died as a victim of the Holocaust in 1940. He was a contemporary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lectured on systematic theology at the same time and who was killed by the Nazis in 1945.
The legacy funding the scholarship was made available by Father Stephen Moore, Julius’s grandson, after the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims in 2005 recognised the legitimacy of a life insurance policy taken out by Professor Flechtheim 70 years earlier.
In their respective fields both men recognised in the upheaval of their country that true responsibility (both secular and temporal) means freedom and true freedom means responsibility. Both confronted the ‘principalities and powers’ of the Third Reich: Flechtheim stood up for justice as defined by international law; Bonhoeffer was martyred for his confrontation over the legitimacy of the State’s authority. In a setting where democracy was replaced by authoritarianism, both challenged the authenticity of theological and political power.
The scholarship is offered in the hope that it will give fresh inspiration to all who are called to ask the awkward moral and ethical questions by encouraging study into the ethics of responsible action with particular reference to Bonhoeffer’s theology.
Funding body: Flechtheim Scholarship Fund
Funding body | Flechtheim Scholarship Fund |
---|---|
Project Team | Sole recipient |
Scheme | Flechtheim Scholarship |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2013 |
Funding Finish | 2013 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | C3120 - Aust Philanthropy |
Category | 3120 |
UON | N |
Dr Di Rayson
Position
Casual Academic
School of Humanities and Social Science
Faculty of Education and Arts
Contact Details
dianne.rayson@newcastle.edu.au | |
Phone | (02) 4921 5162 |
Links |
Twitter |
Office
Room | MC154 |
---|---|
Building | McMullin |
Location | Callaghan University Drive Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia |