Table Of ContentOceanic Voyages
in Theology and
Theological Education
Reflections and Reminiscences in Celebration
of the 50th Anniversary of the
Pacific Theological College
Oceanic Voyages
in Theology and
Theological Education
Reflections and Reminiscences in
Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the
Pacific Theological College
Edited by Feleterika Nokise & Holger Szesnat
Pacific Theological College
Suva
This book is Copyright © 2015 by the individual authors.
Published in March 2015 by the Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji
Islands.
Publisher's address: Pacific Theological College, Private Bag, Suva, FIJI
ISLANDS.
Website: http://www.ptc.ac.fj
Copyediting by Tessa Mackenzie and Holger Szesnat.
Typesetting by Holger Szesnat, using open-source software (LibreOffice
4.2.5.2) and an open-source font (Liberation Sans).
ISBN-13: 978-982-348-025-1
Contents
Preface 1
Feleterika Nokise & Holger Szesnat
Contributors 3
Part 1: Historical Reflections & Personal Reminiscences
Navigating the Ecumenical Dream: A Brief History of PTC's 7
First 50 Years
Feleterika Nokise
Pacific Theological College: Memories of a Fifty Year 71
Relationship
Tessa Mackenzie
You Were Always on My Mind 73
Nga Mataio
Part 2: Reflections on Theology & Theological Education
Being a Missionary in the 21st Century: Lessons from PTC 81
Jenny Willsher
From Mission to Ecumenical Learning with a Pacific Church: 88
Perspectives from a European-Pacific Partnership in God's
Mission
Traugott Farnbacher
Pacific Horizons for a Lutheran Theologian from Finland 106
Olli-Pekka Lassila
Melanesian Hopes for a Better Life and Christian Faith 112
Michael Press
Understanding God's Will in the 21st Century as Revealed in 119
Micah 6:8
Francois Pihaate
The Postcolonial Turn for Biblical Hermeneutics at the 125
Pacific Theological College
Mosese Ma'ilo
iii
Gender-based Violence and Ephesians 5: Reflections on 133
the Ethics, Hermeneutics and Didactics of a Community
Bible Study in Suva, Fiji
Holger Szesnat
iv
Preface
Feleterika Nokise & Holger Szesnat
Any institution that manages to get to its 50th anniversary intact and
with still a role to play in human society has achieved something
remarkable. It is only right and proper that we, too, celebrate this
event, as the Pacific Theological College approaches its 50th
anniversary. In an academic context, it is not unusual to mark this
kind of an occasion with the publication of a book – a Festschrift
(celebratory book), as the German tradition has it, a term not
infrequently also used in academic environments that use English.
We approached a large number of people who are connected to the
College and asked them whether they might be able to contribute to
this celebratory volume. Some rose to the occasion, and we gladly
present these contributions in this book. As you will see, it is an
interesting mix of things: it has personal and institutional aspects,
with historical, theological, educational and ecumenical dimensions.
As such, it provides a glimpse of the rich diversity of the College.
English is a second, third, or fourth language for almost all students
and most faculty members at this College. This is naturally also
reflected in the contributions to this little volume. Part of the
challenge of living, working, and praying together is to learn to hold
each other's linguistic and rhetorical customs and habits together.
We have therefore refrained from fundamental changes, although
significant copyediting has been done, and we thank Tessa
Mackenzie in particular for her work in this regard. We have also left
the referencing system of each author 'as is', and have edited little in
this regard.
As we looked through the various contributions sent in from all over
the world, a certain pattern began to emerge. Although some papers
go across these patterns, it nevertheless seemed useful to divide
them into two broad categories, and hence part 1 and part 2.
Firstly, there are historical reflections and personal reminscences.
Naturally, they all include theological reflections to some extent, but
the primary theme that holds the first three chapters together is
history and memory. Rev. Prof. Feleterika Nokise put together an
outline of the history of the College, greatly enhanced with many
photographic records, some of which are very rare. Ms. Tessa
Mackenzie recounts some personal memories, which go back to the
laying of the foundation stone of PTC. Mr. Nga Mataio adds an
1
institutional perspective, in this case one reflecting the role of one of
the owner churches of the College, namely the Cook Islands
Christian Church.
Secondly, there are reflections on themes in theology and theological
education. In themselves, they broadly fall into three areas, and we
have grouped them together in this way: mission, theological
education, and Biblical reflection.
Rev. Jenny Willsher considers the task of 'being a missionary' in light
of her experience of teaching at PTC in the early 2000s. Rev. Dr.
Traugott Farnbacher offers theological reflections on the challenge of
the partnership between overseas churches and mission
organisations on the one hand, and churches and church institutions
like PTC on the other. Rev. Dr. Olli-Pekka Lassila explores some
opportunities for learning that arose for him as a Finnish Lutheran
theologian when he taught at PTC some years ago. Rev. Dr. Michael
Press explores conflicting worldviews and theological issues in the
growth of the Christian faith in Melanesia, based on his time as a
lecturer at PTC. Rev. Francois Pihaate demonstrates an ecumenical
perspective on church life and theology around a well-known text
from Micah. Rev. Dr. Mosese Ma'ilo considers the opportunities of a
postcolonial Biblical hermeneutic for Oceania. Finally, Prof. Holger
Szesnat offers some tentative theological, ethical, hermeneutical and
didactic reflections on a recent community Bible study in Suva.
We hope that readers will enjoy these contributions, as all of them in
their own way represent an aspect of the life and times of this
College.
Vinaka vakalevu.
2
Contributors
Contributors are listed alphabetically by surname, and details focus
on the relationship of the person to the Pacific Theological College.
• Rev. Dr. Traugott Farnbacher is an ordained minster in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bavaria, Germany, and
works as the Secretary for Papua New Guinea, the Pacific,
and East Asia at Mission EineWelt (Mission OneWorld), an
ecumenical centre of his church. Over the last ten years he
has been at the forefront of his Mission Boards' efforts to
have students from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Papua New Guinea undertake postgraduate studies at PTC,
and to support numerous College projects.
• Rev. Dr. Olli-Pekka Lassila is an ordained minister in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, and was formerly
the Head of their Foreign Relations Office. In 2005-2006, he
spent a year as a visiting lecturer in the Church Ministry
Department of PTC.
• Ms. Tessa Mackenzie is a lay minister at Holy Trinity
Cathedral, Suva (Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand
and Polynesia), and is the current Secretary of the Council of
PTC.
• Rev. Dr. Mosese Ma'ilo is an ordained minister in the
Methodist Church of Samoa and a former graduate of PTC.
He is currently the Principal as well as Lecturer in Biblical
Studies at Piula Theological College, Samoa.
• Mr. Nga Mataio is the General Secretary of the Cook Islands
Christian Church. In his capacity as the CICC General
Secretary, he has served the College on its Council for many
years.
• Rev. Prof. Feleterika Nokise is an ordained minister of the
Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, and the
current Principal of PTC. He has filled this role at the College
since 2002. Prior to that, he served the College as Vice-
Principal from 2000 to the end of 2001, and from 1998 until
2001, he was a lecturer at PTC, first in Theology & Ethics,
and then in Church History.
3
• Rev. Francois Pihaate is an ordained minister in the Etaretia
Porotetani Maohi and the General Secretary of the Pacific
Conference of Churches. He is a member of the College
Council and Executive as well as the Appointments & Staff
Review Committee of the College.
• Rev. Dr. Michael Press is an ordained minister of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Germany, and the
Director of the Lutheran Studies Centre at Sabah
Theological Seminary, Malaysia. He was a lecturer in Church
History at PTC from 2003 until 2009.
• Prof. Holger Szesnat is the current Academic Dean of PTC,
as well as Professor of Biblical Literature and Languages,
and the Head of the Department of Biblical Studies. He
served the College from 1998 until 2001, and again since
2010.
• Rev. Jenny Willsher is an Anglican priest and currently works
as the Head of St. Martin's College, Wagga Wagga,
Australia. She was a lecturer at PTC from 2000 until 2003,
teaching courses in ethics and ministry.
4
