Adelaide College of Divinity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adelaide College of Divinity

Established:	1979
Type:	Theological consortium
Location:	Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Campus:	Brooklyn Park, South Australia

The Adelaide College of Divinity Inc. (ACD) started as an ecumenical consortium of the theological colleges of the Anglican, Baptist, Roman Catholic and Uniting Churches, and the Bible College of South Australia in Adelaide, South Australia in 1979.

The ACD offers degrees in its own right and forms the School of Theology at Flinders University in the Faculties of Education, Humanities, Law, and Theology. The Baptist Church's Burliegh College and the Bible College of South Australia later withdrew and now offer awards from the Australian College of Theology.

In 2003, Coolamon College, a Uniting Church distance education provider joined the ACD after moving from Brisbane where it had been a member of the Brisbane College of Theology. (It also offered Sydney College of Divinity courses).

Constituent member colleges of the ACD are:

St Barnabas College (Anglican)
Catholic Theological College
Coolamon College (Uniting)
Nungalinya College (ecumenical with a focus on theological education and training for ministry for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is located in Darwin, Northern Territory)
Parkin-Wesley College (Uniting).

There are close associations between the ACD and the Churches of Christ in South Australia, as well as the Australian Lutheran College. The Centre for Theology, Science and Culture is a Research Institute within the University.

In the late September 1997 the three constituent colleges in Adelaide joined at the one site in Brooklyn Park, South Australia. Teaching began on 7 October and the ACD campus was officially opened on Sunday, 9 November by the Governor of South Australia, Sir Eric Neal This facilitated the creation of the one Adelaide Theological Library, from the three collections of the colleges. The library has grown since the merger and in 2006 held over 60,000 volumes, including many dating back before 1850 and some to the 17th Century. Within the college grounds is a labyrinth designed by Adelaide stained glass artist Cedar Prest to honor the journeys of refugees and migrants. Symbols incorporated in the labyrinth include a large chalice and a central wafer - a reference to Holy Communion. A stylised version of the labyrinth is used as the college logo.