By: Joni Boyd
Is Christian singleness a burden to be endured or a God-ordained vocation?
Might singleness here and now give the church a glimpse of God’s heavenly promises?
We chatted to Danielle (Dani) Treweek (PhD, St Mark’s National Theological Centre and Charles Sturt University), founding director of the Single Minded Ministry and an adjunct teacher at Moore Theological College, about this important topic.
Why, you may be asking, is Dani so passionate about being single as a Christian?
“I’m not only I’m a doctor of singleness, I’m a reverend doctor of singleness,” she said. “Well, I’m ordained as a deacon in the Anglican diocese of Sydney, which is unrelated to my doctoral work.
“But, yes, I’m a doctor of philosophy, but I do kind of joke that it was never my lifelong dream to become a doctor of singleness, but here I am!”
Dani, who is single, explained that despite enjoying celebrating with friends who were “going out on dates, finding a boyfriend, getting engaged, getting married, getting [to] have children… particularly [in] the church, that kind of signals a failure to launch.”
Dani’s book The Meaning of Singleness offers biblical, historical, cultural, and theological reflections to retrieve a theology of singleness for the church today.
Drawing upon both ancient and contemporary theologians, including Augustine, Ælfric of Eynsham, John Paul II, and Stanley Hauerwas, she contends not only that singleness has served an important role throughout the church’s history, but that single Christians present the church with a foretaste of the eschatological reality that awaits all of God’s people.
Far from being a burden, Dani says, Christian singleness is among the highest vocations of the faith.
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Photo by leah hetteberg on Unsplash
About the Author: Joni Boyd is a writer, based in the Hawkesbury Region of NSW. She is passionate about the power of stories shared, to transform lives.