John Dickson (author)

John Dickson is an author,[1] speaker,[2] historian,[3] minister[4] and media presenter.[5]

For other people named John Dickson, see John Dickson (disambiguation).

John Dickson
BornAustralia
OccupationAuthor, speaker, lecturer
Alma materMacquarie University
GenreChristian Author

Dickson has an Honours degree in Theology and a PhD in Ancient History, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie University. He also teaches a course on the Historical Jesus for the Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Sydney, is a Visiting Academic of the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University, and in 2019 was appointed as the Distinguished Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Public Christianity at Ridley College in Melbourne.


Early life

Dickson was educated at Mosman High School in what he describes as "a typical Aussie home".[6] His family were not 'religious' and rarely discussed spiritual matters. John claims he had "never been inside a church before he was sixteen".[7]

Despite the limited exposure to any formal religious tradition,[6] Dickson’s interest in existential thought started at a young age. On 12 October 1976, John’s father died in the Indian Airlines Flight 171 crash at Bombay Airport.[8] John was 9 years old at the time. He is recounted to have asked his mother in the following days, “Why did God let Dad’s plane crash?”[9][10][11]

In high school, Dickson was a self-professed "low performer".[9] He attended Christian Scripture Class (SRE) in the pursuit of a "pleasant way to pass half an hour"[6] and to "ask questions to make the volunteers look stupid".[6] At the age of 15, however, John became intrigued by the Christian faith through these classes, and was especially influenced by a teacher who "presented Jesus in an articulate, funny and intelligent way".[9] Through asking questions and hearing the historical accounts of Jesus Christ, John found himself first becoming a “fan of Jesus, and then at 16 a follower of Jesus”.[7] Almost immediately, Dickson felt "the need to tell other people about the person of Jesus",[7] who he had only recently discovered himself.

Career

Dickson's career has included:

Books

In 2012, Dickson wrote Hearing Her Voice: A Case for Women Giving Sermons. In it, he argued that 1 Timothy 2:12 ("I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man") does not mean that women cannot give sermons today, since the "teaching" referred to meant "preserving and laying down the traditions handed on by the apostles", and that does not happen in most sermons today. Matthias Media published a volume of essays in response to Dickson's book: Women, Sermons and the Bible: Essays interacting with John Dickson's Hearing Her Voice.

On 6 May 2015, Dickson's book A Sneaking Suspicion (1995) was banned from state schools by the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities on the basis of a "potential risk to students in the delivery of this material, if not taught sensitively and in an age appropriate manner."[12][13] The ban was lifted 18 May 2015.[14]

Music

Dickson was the lead singer of the Christian rock band "In The Silence" through the late 1980s and early 90s and would play up to six shows a week. The band's objective was to "play in pubs and clubs and talk about our faith between songs".[15] Although their lengthy song introductions were not always well received, people would "generally just put up with their Christian spiels".[15] On some occasions, Dickson would speak for 10 minutes between songs.[7]

Three of the band members and two of the crew went to theological college.[7]

Academic
  • Fellow of Macquarie’s Department of Ancient History (2004–17)[16]
  • Visiting Academic of the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University in the UK (2017-2020)[16]
  • Distinguished Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Public Christianity at Ridley College (Melbourne), announced in March 2019[17]

Ministry

Media

Books
  • The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission: Promoting the Gospel with More Than Our Lips (Zondervan)
  • Promoting the Gospel: the Whole of Life for the Cause of Christ (Aquila)
  • If I Were God, I'd End All the Pain (Matthias Media, 2001)
  • If I Were God, I'd Make Myself Clearer (Matthias Media)
  • Simply Christianity: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Faith (Matthias Media) Australian Christian Book of the Year, 2000
  • A Spectator's Guide to World Religions: An Introduction to the Big Five (Blue Bottle Books) Australian Christian Book of the Year, 2005
  • The Christ Files: How Historians Know What They Know about Jesus (2006, Blue Bottle Books)
  • James: the Wisdom of the Brother of Jesus (Aquila, 2006)
  • Vital Signs: the Wisdom of James for a Life of Faith (Aquila), with Simon Smart
  • 666 and All That: The Truth About the Future (Aquila), with Greg Clarke
  • Jesus: A Short Life (Lion, 2008)
  • A Spectator's Guide to Jesus: An Introduction to the Man from Nazareth (2008, Blue Bottle Books)
  • Mission-Commitment in Ancient Judaism and in the Pauline Communities (Paul Mohr Verlag)
  • Life of Jesus: Who He Is and Why He Matters (Zondervan, 2010)
  • Hearing Her Voice: A Case for Woman Giving Sermons (Zondervan, 2014)
  • A Doubter's Guide to the Bible: Inside History's bestseller for believers and skeptics (Zondervan, 2015)
  • A Doubter's Guide to the Ten Commandments: How, for better or worse, our ideas about the good life come from Moses and Jesus (Zondervan, 2016)
  • Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership (Zondervan, 2018)
  • A Doubter's Guide to Jesus: An introduction to the man from Nazareth for believers and sceptics (Zondervan, 2018)
  • Is Jesus History? (Good Book Company, 2019)
Young readers
  • A Hell of a Life: From Manger to Megastar (Matthias Media)
  • Hanging in There (Matthias Media)
  • A Sneaking Suspicion (Matthias Media)

See also

References
  1. "Books". John Dickson. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  2. "Dr John Dickson". Q+A. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  3. Dickson, John. Is Jesus History?. ASIN 1784983659.
  4. December 12th, Rebecca Abbott |; Comment, 2018 03:25 PM | Add a. "John Dickson steps down from church ministry - Eternity News". www.eternitynews.com.au. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  5. "Media". John Dickson. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  6. "Episode 14: John Dickson: A Public Advocate for the Christian Faith". Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  7. "A lifetime ambition to be a "public Christian"". Undeceptions. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  8. Dickson, John, author. (November 2019). If I were God, I'd end all the pain : struggling with evil, suffering and faith. ISBN 978-1-925424-62-1. OCLC 1137554842.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. "Interview: John Dickson author, academic, and musician". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  10. "Bio". John Dickson. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  11. "John Dickson - Ridley College". Ridley College, Melbourne. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  12. "Book ban reversed". Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  13. Piccoli, Adrian. "Letter to His Grace the Most Reverend Dr G Davies" (PDF). Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  14. Moore, Natasha (5 June 2015). "Religion still has a worthwhile place in the classroom". ABC News. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  15. "John Dickson « History Makers Radio". Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  16. "Bio - John Dickson". Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  17. "John Dickson appointed to Ridley Faculty". Ridley College (Melbourne). 18 March 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  18. Abbott, Rebecca (12 December 2018). "John Dickson steps down from church ministry". Eternity. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
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