About Us
Part of St James’ mission is to nourish the faith of our church members, to support those seeking God or questioning their faith, to facilitate debate, and to educate those who wish to be better informed about Christianity. This mission underpins much of the work of the St James’ Institute, involving topical seminars and discussion groups. We also seek to connect with organisations and businesses here in the city of Sydney by putting together an annual programme of events on a wide variety of topics to engage with questions of faith, belief, religion and spirituality in the public square.
St James’ Institute Director
Dr Aaron Ghiloni (BA, MA, PhD, GradCert) was commissioned as Director of the St James’ Institute on 1 November, 2020.
Dr Ghiloni is a teacher and scholar with interests in religious diversity, educational philosophy, and the intersection of religion and culture. He has taught religious studies at the University of Queensland and theology at Australian Catholic University.
Aaron is concurrently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Public and Contextual Theology (Canberra) and a Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Queensland.
Dr Ghiloni is the author of John Dewey among the Theologians (2012) and Islam as Education (2019), and the editor of World Religions and their Missions (2015, 2021). He is on the editorial team of Religious Education.
In previous roles, Dr Ghiloni served as Principal of Trinity College Queensland, Director of the Australia Studies Centre (Council for Christian Colleges and Universities), and Director of the Centre for Practical Spirituality. He has also worked within the Anglican Church in Queensland, the United Methodist Church (USA), and the Uniting Church.
Aaron has been a Visiting Scholar at York St John University (UK) and Point Loma Nazarene University (USA).
