I come from a farm community in Yulecart, near Hamilton in Victoria and I still love the land. My German ancestors came to South Australia in the 1840s and later moved to Victoria. I pursued post-graduate sturdy in America and from 1957-60 took charge of a tough parish in Brooklyn, New York, where police chained vagrant boys to the church fence. From 1960-73 I taught Biblical Studies at Concordia Seminary, St Louis. During that time I was involved in the Civil Rights movement. I am proud of a set of 36 children’s books and records I created during those years. They are entitled The Purple Puzzle Tree and have now become something of a classic. Early in 1974 I, along with other lecturers, were driven out of the Seminary by a right wing church administration.

I returned to Adelaide that year and established the first department of Religion Studies at a tertiary institution in Australia. I was also connected with the Faculty of Education and, with others, developed a research centre for the study of Education and Social Justice. Social Justice in Today’s World, published by HarperCollins, is a product of that research. From 1984-87 I was Principal of an International School at Kodaikanal in South India. There I discovered the Dalits (once called Untouchables), more than 300 million oppressed outcastes and I began to wonder what God was doing during their 3000 years of oppression.

Back in Australia I worked with a group of Aboriginal Elders in Queensland to facilitate a book called Rainbow Spirit Theology, also published by HarperCollins. I was privileged to assist these elders reclaim their culture within a Christian context. Now I feel a similar honour as I join the struggle for reconciliation through my new book as I wonder about what God was doing during the more than 200 years of suffering of Indigenous Australians.

Some people may know me as a Biblical scholar through such works as The Land is Mine or my commentary on Job. Others may know me as a poet through songs and texts like Outback Christmas. Still others may be aware of my involvement in ecojustice issues and my work as editor of a new international series of books entitled The Earth Bible. Whatever the connection, my new book Reconciliation: Searching for Australia’s Soul draws on all of these experiences. For me, it is a personal statement about being an Australian.