About Stuart

Stuart is a teacher, practitioner and researcher in the field of Christian spirituality. He has served as pastor, missionary and theological educator across a forty-year career in Christian ministry in Australia and Southeast Asia. He holds a PhD in the meaning of Christian faith-experience and is the author of a number of books on the topic. He lives with his wife Ros and family in Whittlesea in the beautiful northern Dandenong Ranges, near Melbourne, Victoria.

Picture taken by Ros Devenish.

Bio Overview

Stuart Devenish has served as pastor in a variety of Churches and States in Australia, as missionary in the Philippines with OMF International, and as a theological educator in Colleges across Australia, teaching in the fields of theology, missiology and spirituality.

His PhD (Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, 2001) explored the meaning of religious experience arising from Christian conversion, using phenomenology as his research methodology. Stuart is semiretired, and lives with his family in Melbourne where he functions as an independent scholar, researching, writing, teaching and practising in the fields of Christian spirituality and pastoral ministry.

Education

1992 - Bachelor of Theology, Vose Seminary/Murdoch University, Perth

1994 - MA Theol ACT, Melbourne School Theology/Australian College of Theology

‍2002 - PhD (Religious Studies), Edith Cowan University

Recent Appointments

From 2014 - 2018 Stuart served as the Director of Postgraduate Studies at Tabor College in South Australia, and in 2022 was the Academic Director at Citipointe Ministry College (now School of Ministries, Christian Heritage College, Brisbane).

An extended professional CV is available on request.

Values

Stuart’s core values in writing this text are:

The importance of a direct encounter with God

The text emphasizes the unique ability of Christianity to provide individuals with a direct experience of God through faith in Christ.

The significance of Christianity's spiritual tradition

The text recognizes the value of Christianity's 2000-year-long language of spiritual encounter as a valuable resource for understanding and engaging with the inner life.

The value of a language for the soul

The text highlights the need for an accessible and usable language to discuss and explore the inner life and the human person's engagement with the Divine life.

The relevance of spiritual exploration in the post-secular age

The text acknowledges the renewed interest in spirituality in the contemporary world and the opportunity for Christians to offer its unique perspective.

Overall, these core values reflect a belief in the transformative power of spiritual experience, the importance of language and understanding in spiritual growth, and the enduring value of Christianity's spiritual tradition in the modern world.