Book Launch Harold Pidwell, A Gentle Bunyip. The Athol Gill Story. West Lakes, SA: Seaview Press, 2007. Monday, Dec 3, 2007, 5:30pm at Whitley College It is wonderful to have this occasion to publicly remember and remind ourselves of the person and the life of Athol Gill. And we thank Harold Pidwell, the Community of the Gentle Bunyip and Whitley College to make this possible. We have not forgotten Athol Gill. We keep cherished moments of encounter in our memory. We consult his books and articles. We take courage and gain inspiration from his life, his theology, his courage and his presence in the public place and in the church. It is over 15 years since Athol died of a heart attack. The evening before his death he and our son Stephan painted the office at the Bunyip. Athol complained about pain as he raised his arm painting the ceiling. Stephan told him to see a GP. But time ran out. We studied together in Eastwood, Rüschlikon and Zürich. In Rüschlikon and Zürich we had the same major professors - and indeed, we received our doctorates at the same time. On the day of our oral examination we drove in to the University with the Seminary van, had our orals, and came home as freshly baked Drs of Theology. We celebrated! Athol's Greek Synopsis was underlined with various colours. I think it was blue for Pre-Mark, red for Q, black for M and green for L. In fact, it was much more sophisticated. My wife Jill still has her English Synopsis which she had to underline in one of Athol's New Testament classes. But it did not only look pretty. Out of this colour scheme came a colourful theology of Mk, Mt, and Lk - yes even Q! And long before the "Jesus Seminar" started, did we debate what could have come from the historical Jesus, and we tried to write Wirkungsgeschichten for the many Jesus sayings in the gospels. Athol became an expert in the theology of the anonymous, but, besides Paul, probably the greatest theologian in the early church - whom we call "Mark". Athol's studies in Life on the Road (1989) are insightful and reliable. They are among the best on the theology of the Synoptics. I use them often. Given the way the world is and the church is, Athol used to say that the friends of Jesus should have one foot in the church and one foot in the world. But they should be careful on which foot they put their weight. Athol was quite reserved, quite humble - but he was not a pushover. When in Rüschlikon we had a librarian who loved books more than students, and hid thousands of books in a so-called treasure room, he helped organise a strike until those books were made accessible. It remains a terrible indictment for Baptists that we, the very people who seek to echo what we read in the Bible, did not readily embrace Athol Gill and thank God for him and his gifts. We gave him a hard time and hindered rather than supported his ministry. I hope that Victorian Baptists have not forgotten - and indeed will never forget - what happened at the Baptist General Council on July 6, 1984. Nor should they forget the humility and the skill with which Athol showed up his opponents a few weeks later. Please read about it in the book that we are launching tonight. Athol was simply right in so many things. .He was right in emphasizing that faith in Christ is more than pious withdrawal or the acceptance of cherished doctrines. It has a biblical, experiential, communal and spiritual dimension. It means following the Crucified One in the market places of life. .He was right in emphasising the old dictum from the prophet Jeremiah that to know God means to do justice. We sat together in Rüschlikon following the International Congress on World Evan-gelization (1974) where Athol, together with other theologians, had influenced the final wording of the Lausanne Covenant and had also been instrumental in writing the so-called Response to Lausanne. With that emphasis evangelicals - even Billy Graham - added "justice" and "human rights" to their vocabulary. Confession and Evangelism was inter-locked with socio-political demonstration and action. .Athol was right when in his living and in his writings he spoke of the partiality of God and of the divine option for those who have no voice, no power and no friends. When, some years ago now, I met Miguel Castro Garcia, pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist church in San Salvador who in the name of Jesus helped the poor, was therefore called a communist and subsequently thrown into prison, the first thing he asked me was about Athol and his family and about the House of the Gentle Bunyip. And then he repeated his gratitude of Athol coming to El Salvador intervening with the police on his behalf. You can read about Athol's significant intervention for brother Garcia in the book that we are launching tonight. On many occasions the House of the Gentle Bunyip had hosted me on my visits to Australia. It was a place of friendship and a community of challenge. Whether it was inspiring conferences or protesting at military establishments Athol kept things moving. For several years we were together on the Human Rights Commission of the Baptist World Alliance. At one of the meetings Athol gave an excellent presentation on the poor in the Bible (an extensive unpublished text on that topic is found in the book). It was more than just theology and exegesis. It was a challenge to look at life from God's perspective. Then we visited a Palestinian Refugee Camp on the West bank and witnessed the agony and oppression of people who had no spark of hope in their eyes. We were together in Seoul at a Baptist World Congress. We went to the opening mass meeting in a football stadium. When we saw the platform with all males in black suits we looked at each other, raised our eyebrows and smiled. We knew the speaker and did not expect too much. But when he based a major illustration on the fact the orchids have a beautiful smell, Athol leaned over and whispered: "Orchids don't smell." At that point we walked out. I could go on. But I don't need to go on, because we shall buy Harold Pidwell's book about the gentle Bunyip, Athol Gill, and in reading it, Athol will be brought to our memories and we shall renew our friendship with him, Judy, Jonathan and Kirsten. Thank you, Harold Pidwell, for making that possible. I herewith launch the book about the person and life of Athol Gill. Thorvald Lorenzen
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