Ross Clifford
Encyclopedia
Ross Clifford is an Australia
n Baptist theologian, political commentator, radio personality and author. A former lawyer who later joined the ministry, Clifford became a campaigner on moral issues while a suburban Sydney
pastor in the 1980s. He has since become a prominent figure in the broader Christian community, serving as a head of several religious organisations and serving as an occasional media spokesperson. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council
in 2003. Until mid-2010 had a successful radio program on Sydney station 2CH
.
Clifford was born and raised in the northern suburbs of Sydney, and had a private school education. His conversion to faith in Christ occurred at the 1959 Billy Graham
crusade in Sydney. Clifford initially studied law and obtained the Diploma of Law from the Solicitors Admission Board of NSW. He worked as a solicitor in the infamous inner Sydney suburb of Kings Cross
and then served as a barrister specialising in family law in the Northern Territory
and New South Wales
.
Although he had trained as a lawyer, Clifford decided to enter the Christian ministry, and studied for the BTh at Morling Baptist Theological College in Sydney. He initially served as pastor at South Windsor Baptist Church, and first became involved in public life in the 1980s, when he became a campaigner for moral standards in advertising and publications while pastor of the Gymea Baptist Church. He also contributed to church and public discourses concerning right-to-life issues, and the proposed Australian Bill of Rights that was debated and defeated during Bob Hawke
's term as Prime Minister of Australia
.
In the early 1980s he took a sabbatical from his preacher's post to study apologetics
at the Simon Greenleaf School of Law in Anaheim
, California
. Clifford's writings place him within that school of thought known as evidentialist apologetics. His MA thesis examined the apologetics arguments of eight lawyers concerning the resurrection of Christ
. The thesis, which was originally published in Russian
in 1991 by Missionswerk Friedensstimme, was released in Australia under the title Leading Lawyers Look at the Resurrection (1991). It has been subsequently published in Arabic
. On the strength of the Russian version of the book he was invited to speak in the Soviet Union where he met some of the personal staff of Mikhail Gorbachev
, various members of the Soviet legal profession, and pastors of Baptist churches. He made a follow-up visit to some of the republics of the former Soviet Union, dialoguing about legal reforms, church issues, and spoke in a number of Soviet prisons.
He served as Senior Pastor at Gymea Baptist Church from mid-1985 until late 1991. He also became involved with the Sports and Leisure ministry in Australia, and eventually co-wrote two books recounting the spiritual conversions of Australian and International sports-stars such as Nick Farr-Jones
, Wes Hall
and Bernhard Langer
.
During 1991 he co-founded with Philip Johnson a para-church ministry known as The Community of Hope, which began developing exhibitor's booths as a form of dialogue and witness in alternate spiritual festivals in Sydney. Their collaborative venture became the basis for the book Shooting for the Stars, which recreated encounters between the authors and new spirituality seekers in festivals. This dialogical and apologetic activity in New Age
festivals spanned the years 1991–2003, and has been the subject of much discussion in most of his publications released between 2001-2004.
He was invited to deliver the annual Leonard Buck lecture in Missions at the Bible College of Victoria in 1995, and chose as his topic The Mission of the Church and the New Age Movement. In recent times the apologetic work on alternate spirituality has continued in books concerning the Christian symbolism of tarot
cards (Beyond Prediction), and contextual apologetics with new age (Jesus and the Gods of the New Age). He was one of several Australian contributors to the ground-breaking book Encountering New Religious Movements, which was awarded Christianity Today's Book of the Year 2005 award in the "missions" category of literature.
In 1992 Clifford assumed the post as lecturer in theology at Morling Baptist Theological College. He also enrolled at the University of Sydney
and completed by coursework a Master of Theology degree. He later undertook doctoral studies through the Australian College of Theology
, and was awarded a ThD for his dissertation on the legal apologetic of John Warwick Montgomery
. In 1997 Clifford was appointed the Principal of Morling Baptist Theological College.
He served as President of the New South Wales Council of Churches throughout the late 1990s, during which time he oversaw an apology to the state's indigenous population for harm caused by the activities of early missionaries, vocally supported gun control in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre and resisted a push from the hotel industry to put poker machines in hotels across the state. In early 1999 Clifford became a Sunday evening radio announcer, being appointed to fill a talkback vacancy on Sydney easy listening station 2CH
.
In 2003, after several years of juggling his educational and radio commitments, Clifford attempted to make a move into politics, nominating as a Christian Democratic Party
candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Council
at the 2003 state election
. He received the second position on the CDP ticket behind incumbent member Reverend Gordon Moyes
, and took a significant role in the party's campaign. At the time, the CDP was trying to rebuild itself after the 1999 election
, when leader Fred Nile
nearly lost his seat to the fledgling Registered Clubs Party. Though they had hopes of improving their vote enough to elect two members at the one election (as members serve eight-year terms) for the first time since the early 1990s, these proved unfounded, and only Moyes was ultimately elected.
Clifford looked set to receive a second chance at a political career in late 2004, when Nile resigned from the Legislative Council to run for a seat in the Australian Senate
. As the party's highest unelected candidate at the previous state election, he was the obvious choice to replace Nile in the Legislative Council, and was ultimately nominated to fill the casual vacancy. However, he again missed out when Nile lost the election, and to the surprise of much of the parliament, nominated himself for his own vacancy. This caused some protest from the Greens
as well as several independent members, who walked out in protest at Nile's move. However, Nile appears to favour the election of Clifford to any second CDP Member of the Legislative Council seat vacancy, given that Clifford was visibly feted at the CDP's 2011 advance campaign launch.
Clifford remains active in the Australian Christian community, and has served as the head of the Baptist Union of Australia
, having been appointed to that role in December 2005. He continues as Principal of Morling College, and was also appointed in late 2004 as the Australian Chairman of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization
, and was a group coordinator at the 2004 Lausanne Forum in Pattaya, Thailand, dealing with alternate spiritualities and new religions.
He is occasionally asked for comment by the media, and has most recently spoken out against the industrial relations changes introduced by the Howard
government in 2005. In addition to his own talk-back show on 2CH, Clifford is interviewed once a week by the Western Australian radio station Sonshine-FM. He is married and is the parent of two adult children. The Australian Commonwealth Government bestowed on him the Centenary Medal (January 2001) in recognition of his ministry.
Ross has a family of 4. two children, Joel and Briony.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Baptist theologian, political commentator, radio personality and author. A former lawyer who later joined the ministry, Clifford became a campaigner on moral issues while a suburban Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
pastor in the 1980s. He has since become a prominent figure in the broader Christian community, serving as a head of several religious organisations and serving as an occasional media spokesperson. He unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Council
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
in 2003. Until mid-2010 had a successful radio program on Sydney station 2CH
2CH
2CH is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia, at 1170 kHz AM. It broadcasts an oldies format, and is aimed to an older age demographic...
.
Clifford was born and raised in the northern suburbs of Sydney, and had a private school education. His conversion to faith in Christ occurred at the 1959 Billy Graham
Billy Graham
William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr. is an American evangelical Christian evangelist. As of April 25, 2010, when he met with Barack Obama, Graham has spent personal time with twelve United States Presidents dating back to Harry S. Truman, and is number seven on Gallup's list of admired people for...
crusade in Sydney. Clifford initially studied law and obtained the Diploma of Law from the Solicitors Admission Board of NSW. He worked as a solicitor in the infamous inner Sydney suburb of Kings Cross
Kings Cross, New South Wales
Kings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
and then served as a barrister specialising in family law in the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
and New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
Although he had trained as a lawyer, Clifford decided to enter the Christian ministry, and studied for the BTh at Morling Baptist Theological College in Sydney. He initially served as pastor at South Windsor Baptist Church, and first became involved in public life in the 1980s, when he became a campaigner for moral standards in advertising and publications while pastor of the Gymea Baptist Church. He also contributed to church and public discourses concerning right-to-life issues, and the proposed Australian Bill of Rights that was debated and defeated during Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
's term as Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
.
In the early 1980s he took a sabbatical from his preacher's post to study apologetics
Apologetics
Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...
at the Simon Greenleaf School of Law in Anaheim
Anaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Clifford's writings place him within that school of thought known as evidentialist apologetics. His MA thesis examined the apologetics arguments of eight lawyers concerning the resurrection of Christ
Resurrection of Jesus
The Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus states that Jesus returned to bodily life on the third day following his death by crucifixion. It is a key element of Christian faith and theology and part of the Nicene Creed: "On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures"...
. The thesis, which was originally published in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
in 1991 by Missionswerk Friedensstimme, was released in Australia under the title Leading Lawyers Look at the Resurrection (1991). It has been subsequently published in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. On the strength of the Russian version of the book he was invited to speak in the Soviet Union where he met some of the personal staff of Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, various members of the Soviet legal profession, and pastors of Baptist churches. He made a follow-up visit to some of the republics of the former Soviet Union, dialoguing about legal reforms, church issues, and spoke in a number of Soviet prisons.
He served as Senior Pastor at Gymea Baptist Church from mid-1985 until late 1991. He also became involved with the Sports and Leisure ministry in Australia, and eventually co-wrote two books recounting the spiritual conversions of Australian and International sports-stars such as Nick Farr-Jones
Nick Farr-Jones
Nicholas Campbell Farr-Jones is a former Australian rugby union footballer. His position was scrum-half. He attended Newington College and St Andrew's College within the University of Sydney...
, Wes Hall
Wes Hall
Wesley Winfield Hall is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bowl long spells. Hall played 48 Test matches for the West Indies from 1958 to 1969...
and Bernhard Langer
Bernhard Langer
Bernhard Langer is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion, and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 90s, being the first official number one ranked player in 1986...
.
During 1991 he co-founded with Philip Johnson a para-church ministry known as The Community of Hope, which began developing exhibitor's booths as a form of dialogue and witness in alternate spiritual festivals in Sydney. Their collaborative venture became the basis for the book Shooting for the Stars, which recreated encounters between the authors and new spirituality seekers in festivals. This dialogical and apologetic activity in New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
festivals spanned the years 1991–2003, and has been the subject of much discussion in most of his publications released between 2001-2004.
He was invited to deliver the annual Leonard Buck lecture in Missions at the Bible College of Victoria in 1995, and chose as his topic The Mission of the Church and the New Age Movement. In recent times the apologetic work on alternate spirituality has continued in books concerning the Christian symbolism of tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
cards (Beyond Prediction), and contextual apologetics with new age (Jesus and the Gods of the New Age). He was one of several Australian contributors to the ground-breaking book Encountering New Religious Movements, which was awarded Christianity Today's Book of the Year 2005 award in the "missions" category of literature.
In 1992 Clifford assumed the post as lecturer in theology at Morling Baptist Theological College. He also enrolled at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
and completed by coursework a Master of Theology degree. He later undertook doctoral studies through the Australian College of Theology
Australian College of Theology
The Australian College of Theology is an Australian theological education provider. The college was one of the first Australian non-university providers to offer an accredited bachelor's degree and a research doctorate. Over 15,000 people have graduated since the foundation of the college,...
, and was awarded a ThD for his dissertation on the legal apologetic of John Warwick Montgomery
John Warwick Montgomery
John Warwick Montgomery is a noted lawyer, professor, Lutheran theologian, and prolific author living in France. He was born October 18, 1931, in Warsaw, New York, United States. In 2007 he was named "Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and Christian Thought" at Patrick Henry College...
. In 1997 Clifford was appointed the Principal of Morling Baptist Theological College.
He served as President of the New South Wales Council of Churches throughout the late 1990s, during which time he oversaw an apology to the state's indigenous population for harm caused by the activities of early missionaries, vocally supported gun control in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre and resisted a push from the hotel industry to put poker machines in hotels across the state. In early 1999 Clifford became a Sunday evening radio announcer, being appointed to fill a talkback vacancy on Sydney easy listening station 2CH
2CH
2CH is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia, at 1170 kHz AM. It broadcasts an oldies format, and is aimed to an older age demographic...
.
In 2003, after several years of juggling his educational and radio commitments, Clifford attempted to make a move into politics, nominating as a Christian Democratic Party
Christian Democratic Party (Australia)
The Christian Democratic Party is a right-wing political party in Australia. Its leader is Fred Nile, a Congregational Church minister and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.-Formation:...
candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Council
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
at the 2003 state election
New South Wales state election, 2003
Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
. He received the second position on the CDP ticket behind incumbent member Reverend Gordon Moyes
Gordon Moyes
Gordon Keith Mackenzie Moyes AC is an Australian Christian evangelist, broadcaster and former politician.-Early life and career:...
, and took a significant role in the party's campaign. At the time, the CDP was trying to rebuild itself after the 1999 election
New South Wales state election, 1999
Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
, when leader Fred Nile
Fred Nile
Frederick John "Fred" Nile is an Australian politician and clergyman. Nile has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 1981, except for a period in 2004 when he resigned to contest the Australian Senate at the 2004 federal election...
nearly lost his seat to the fledgling Registered Clubs Party. Though they had hopes of improving their vote enough to elect two members at the one election (as members serve eight-year terms) for the first time since the early 1990s, these proved unfounded, and only Moyes was ultimately elected.
Clifford looked set to receive a second chance at a political career in late 2004, when Nile resigned from the Legislative Council to run for a seat in the Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
. As the party's highest unelected candidate at the previous state election, he was the obvious choice to replace Nile in the Legislative Council, and was ultimately nominated to fill the casual vacancy. However, he again missed out when Nile lost the election, and to the surprise of much of the parliament, nominated himself for his own vacancy. This caused some protest from the Greens
Greens New South Wales
The Greens New South Wales is the state Greens party in New South Wales. It is a member party of the Australian Greens. The Greens NSW have one member in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly , five members in the New South Wales Legislative Council...
as well as several independent members, who walked out in protest at Nile's move. However, Nile appears to favour the election of Clifford to any second CDP Member of the Legislative Council seat vacancy, given that Clifford was visibly feted at the CDP's 2011 advance campaign launch.
Clifford remains active in the Australian Christian community, and has served as the head of the Baptist Union of Australia
Baptist Union of Australia
The Baptist Union of Australia is the oldest and largest national cooperative body of Baptists in Australia. Its current National President is Reverend Dr John Beasy. The BUA is now known as Australian Baptist Ministries - ABM...
, having been appointed to that role in December 2005. He continues as Principal of Morling College, and was also appointed in late 2004 as the Australian Chairman of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization
The Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, abbreviated LCWE, is an Evangelical Christian movement that grew out of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization and promotes active worldwide evangelism. LCWE is also known as The Lausanne Movement...
, and was a group coordinator at the 2004 Lausanne Forum in Pattaya, Thailand, dealing with alternate spiritualities and new religions.
He is occasionally asked for comment by the media, and has most recently spoken out against the industrial relations changes introduced by the Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
government in 2005. In addition to his own talk-back show on 2CH, Clifford is interviewed once a week by the Western Australian radio station Sonshine-FM. He is married and is the parent of two adult children. The Australian Commonwealth Government bestowed on him the Centenary Medal (January 2001) in recognition of his ministry.
Ross has a family of 4. two children, Joel and Briony.
Books
- Leading Lawyers Look at the Resurrection (Sutherland: Albatross Books, 1991). ISBN 0 86760 127 2
- and Philip Johnson, Shooting for the Stars (Sutherland: Albatross Books, 1993). ISBN 0 7324 1024 X
- and Philip Johnson, Sacred Quest (Sutherland: Albatross Books, 1995; a revised edition of Shooting for the Stars). ISBN 0 7324 1024 X
- and Ric Chapman, The Gods of Sport (Sutherland: Albatross Books, 1995). ISBN 0 7324 1049 5
- The Mission of the Church and the New Age Movement (Lilydale: Bible College of Victoria, 1995).
- Leading Lawyers' Case for the Resurrection (Alberta, Canada: Canadian Institute for Law, Theology and Public Policy,(1996). ISBN 1-896363-02-4
- and Philip Johnson, Riding the Rollercoaster: How The Risen Christ Empowers Life (Sydney: Strand, 1998). ISBN 095 868 6661
- and Ric Chapman, The International Gods of Sport (Sydney: Strand, 1999). ISBN 187 682 5367
- and Philip Johnson, Jesus and the Gods of the New Age (Oxford: Lion, 2001/Colorado Springs: Victor, 2003). ISBN 0 7459 5060 4 ISBN 0 7814 3943 4
- and John Drane and Philip Johnson, Beyond Prediction: The Tarot and Your Spirituality (Oxford: Lion, [2001]). ISBN 0745950353
- "Reframing a Traditional Apologetic to Reach 'New Spirituality' Seekers," in Encountering New Religious Movements: A Holistic Evangelical Approach, Irving Hexham, Stephen Rost and John Morehead, eds. (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2004)pp 193-208. ISBN 0-8254-2893-9
- John Warwick Montgomery's Legal Apologetic: An Apologetic for all Seasons (Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft/Culture and Science Publishers, Bonn, Germany, 2004). ISBN 3938116005
External links
- Biography page from Morling College
- Clifford's CV at the Christian Democratic Party site http://www.cdp.org.au/fed/cv_rrc.asp
- Clifford's bio at radio station 2CH http://2ch.com/2005/rossclifford.shtml
- Lausanne Occasional Paper no. 45, Religious and Non-Religious Spirituality in the Western World ("New Age") http://www.lausanne.org/lcwe/assets/LOP45_IG16.pdf
- Ross Clifford, "Christians in Conflict: Should Christians Go To Court?" delivered at the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, March 1992.http://www.lcf.pnc.com.au/christianconflict.htm
- Ross Clifford, "Justification of the Legal Apologetic of John Warwick Montgomery," Global Journal of Classical Theology, 3/1 (2002).http://www.trinitysem.edu/journal/cliffordpap.html
- Craig Seaton, book review of Shooting for the Stars, Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, 46 (September 1994), p. 196 http://www.asa3.org/ASA/book_reviews/9-94.htm
- On Clifford's contributions to legal apologetics see
-
- Philip Johnson, "Juridical Apologists 1600–2000 AD: A Bio-Bibliographical Essay," Global Journal of Classical Theology, 3/1 (2002).http://www.trinitysem.edu/journal/philjohnsonpap.html