Marita Munro (born 1955) is an Australian minister and academic who was the first Baptist woman to be ordained in Australia.[1][2]

Marita Munro
Born1955
NationalityAustralian
Occupation(s)academic, church historian
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisA Struggle for Identity and Direction: A History of Victoria Baptists (c. 1960-c.2000) (2010)
Academic work
DisciplineChurch history
Sub-disciplineBaptist studies
InstitutionsUniversity of Divinity
Main interestsBaptist history and Australian religious history
Websitewww.whitley.edu.au/about/our-staff/faculty/rev-dr-marita-munro/

Early life and education

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Munro was born in Queensland.[3] She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland.[3] In 1975, she moved to Victoria to study theology at Whitley College. She graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity from the Melbourne College of Divinity (now known as the University of Divinity).[3]

Munro has a Diploma of Education from La Trobe University. She has a Masters in Theology from the International Baptist Theological Studies Seminary in Switzerland. Her thesis was titled The Theology and Practice of the Lord's Supper in the Writings of Balthasar Huebmaier.[3]

Munro also has a Master of Arts from the University of Melbourne. Her thesis is titled A History of the House of the Gentle Bunyip, 1975-1996.[4][3]

Munro completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral thesis was titled "A Struggle for Identity and Direction": A History of Victoria Baptists (c.1960-c.2000).[3]

Career

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Munro was ordained at Collins Street Baptist Church on 1 October 1978 at age 23, making her the first woman Baptist minister ordained in Australia.[2] She pastored at the House of the Gentle Bunyip Christian Community and Clifton Hill Baptist Church.[3] She also taught at two Melbourne high schools.[3]

Munro joined the faculty of Whitley College in 1995 and is a lecturer in Baptist Studies and Church History.[3][5] She is the President of the Victoria Baptist Historical Society.[6]

Publications

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  • Marita Munro and Roslyn Otzen, eds. ‘Doing What Comes Naturally,’ Baptcare, Vic., December 2017.
  • ‘“A Debt of Gratitude”: Martin Luther, Anabaptists and Baptists’.  134 (Autumn 2017): 16–18.
  • Biographical essay. In Frank Rees, ed. . Melbourne: Whitley College, 2016, 9-24.
  • “Making Connections”: Australian Baptists and the Public Sphere in the Twentieth Century’. In Douglas Weaver, ed. . Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2015, 188–204.
  • ‘Brunswick Baptist Church: the first fifty years, 1862-1912’.  22 (2014): 26–55.
  • ‘No Plaster Saints.’ In Alan Cadwallader, ed. . Adelaide: Australian Theological Forum: 2010, 157–74.
  • ‘ “A Struggle for Identity and Direction”: A History of Victoria Baptists, c. 1960-c.2000’. Peter Lang, Berlin.

References

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  1. ^ "Women's Museum of Australia". kiosk.pioneerwomen.com.au. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Reverend Miss Munro". Canberra Times. 2 October 1978. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Rev Dr Marita Munro". Whitley College. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  4. ^ Munro, Marita. "A History of the Gentle Bunyip" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Marita Munro Archives". South Yarra Community Baptist Church. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Victorian Baptist Historical Society – Baptist Union of Victoria". www.buv.com.au. Retrieved 24 September 2021.