Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

suffering significant psychological stress at any one time 58 . With so much literature onrisk and resilience and positive youth development relating to the presence or absence ofmeaningful relational connections 59 , isn’t there an urgency to learn from a spirituality thatdefines itself through connectedness? Shouldn’t students from the majority population beencouraged to reflect on the meaning of the four pillars for their own lives and culture?The elephant in the room is the economic machine that continues to dominate and drivenotions of progress and productivity in Western cultures—a great, looming, rarely namedgod of destruction, a sacred holy cow whose authority can never be seriously and directlychallenged by the mainstream systems that are embedded in its largesse.The main point of Kanyini, however, in the context of this thesis is that yet again itconfronts Western Christianity with a message of a spirituality that, despite emergingfrom outside of the recognised Christian community, resonates with meanings suggestiveof an ‘anonymous’ Christian faith. The following material is an excerpt from a keynoteaddress given by me to a conference of chaplains in South Australian governmentschools 60 . It offers a theological reflection on the meaning of the film Kanyini and issignificantly influenced by Karl Rahner’s sacramental theology and the Ignatian idea ofGod in all things.The sacramental wayThere is a way of walking through this life and this world that tramples on thecreation, that rides roughshod over human dignity, and exploits the resources ofthe many to enlarge the profits of the few. There is a way of walking through thislife that is driven by status anxiety that pits each person in competition with theother and views people and natural resources as a means towards a productivityand status goal. There is a way of walking through this life that is prayerless,58 See Richard Eckersley, ‘Never better – or getting worse? The health and wellbeing of young Australians’(Australia 21, 2008). Retrieved, November 16, 2008, fromhttp://www.australia21.org.au/pdf/Youth%20Health%20Text%2008.pdf59 See for example: L Martin, The invisible table (South Melbourne: Thomson/Dunmore Press, 2002); A.Fuller, From surviving to thriving – promoting mental health in young people (Camberwell, Vic: ACER,1998); P. Benson, ‘Developmental assets and asset-building community: conceptual and empiricalfoundations’, in Lerner, R. & Benson, P. eds., Developmental assets and asset-building communities (NewYork: Kluwer Academic, 2003), 19-43.60 Annual state chaplains conference hosted and facilitated by the Schools Ministry Group of SouthAustralia, Hahndorf Resort, Hahndorf, SA, May 2008.201