Speeches
Sunday, 05 July 2026
International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature
I am pleased to be here today to open the 2026 International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, the first time this gathering has been held in Australia since it met in Melbourne in 1992.
I especially welcome the scholars who have travelled from North America, Europe, Australasia, Pasifika, and South and East Asia to take part in this meeting.
As Governor, I am heartened by the scale of this international gathering, which speaks to the importance of biblical and theological scholarship across the globe.
I thank the partners who have made this meeting possible, including the Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Studies, the Australian Catholic Biblical Association, the Australian Catholic Theological Association, the Oceania Biblical Studies Association, the University of Divinity, and Adelaide University.
Their cooperation and understanding reflect the strength of Australia's collaborative theological and biblical studies community.
Overseas visitors may be interested to learn that South Australia’s distinctive religious history, founded in 1836 as a free settlement without an established church, a place once described as a "Paradise of Dissent."
That founding vision allowed a pluralist religious landscape to take root early, shaping a tradition of religious diversity and institutional independence that endures today.
This included the early presence of the Anglican Church, the strong growth of Catholic communities, and the profoundly influential Lutheran migration into the Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills.
In fact, just this morning I was pleased to join members of the congregation of Scots Church Adelaide, a congregation of the United Church in Australia, in a service of worship to celebrate their 175th anniversary. Formed following the “Disruption” in the Church of Scotland in 1843, Adelaide members of the Free Church of Scotland held their first service in their newly erected church building, Chalmers Church, just across the road on North Terrace on 6 July 1851.
Together with many other denominations, these traditions gave rise to Adelaide’s reputation and soubriquet as the ‘City of Churches’, a name referring, contrary to popular interpretation, to their spiritual more than their physical presence.
The churches, tangible and intangible, were also centres of education and biblical interpretation, contributing to the intellectual life of this state.
I am pleased to see that Adelaide continues to make a notable contribution to biblical scholarship on the world stage.
I note with pride the Earth Bible Project[1], which originated here in Adelaide in the 1990s and has strongly influenced ecological readings of scripture focused on the Earth and on creation justice.
That work has had a significant impact on ecological hermeneutics around the world.
I note that Australian and Oceania scholarship is also now a respected contributor to Indigenous and decolonial biblical interpretation, and Pacific contextual theology.
This growing regional influence reflects a wider shift in biblical studies, in which the centre of gravity is no longer confined to Europe and North America.
I believe that some of our best ideas are developed through actively listening to other people, and this meeting offers exactly that opportunity.
Your meeting will consider biblical languages, texts, and the history of interpretation, in a spirit of respectful academic engagement.
I am confident that delegates will find in Adelaide a setting well suited to this exchange, given the depth of this state's Christian heritage and its long tradition of scriptural enquiry.
This meeting was originally due to take place in 2020, and I am pleased that, after a long delay, it has now found its way here.
I wish all delegates a productive, enjoyable and spiritually enriching conference.
[1] https://www.webofcreation.org/Earthbible/ebprogress.html and conference program on Mon, 6 July ‘The Earth Bible in Australia’: https://www.xcdsystem.com/sbl/program/m0O4xQ2/index.cfm