Reverend Assoc. Prof. Matthew Anstey

Sessional Lecturer in Psalms, Pentateuch, and Biblical Languages (Hebrew)

PhD (Vrije Universiteit, The Netherlands), Master of Christian Studies (Regent College, Canada), BTh (Canberra College of Theology)

Profile

After completing his doctoral studies in Biblical Hebrew linguistics in 2005, Matthew was awarded an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at Charles Sturt University (2006-2009), and he has been on the ARC College of Assessors since then. He then moved to Adelaide with his family to become Principal of St Barnabas Theological College (2010-2017). Since September 2022, Matthew has been parish priest at St Theodore’s Anglican Church, Toorak Gardens, South Australia.

Matthew was on the Doctrine Commission for the Anglican Church of Australia from 2014 to 2022, contributing three chapters to book, Marriage, Same-sex Marriage and the Anglican Church of Australia: Essays from the Doctrine Commission, 2019.

Matthew has been prominent in the media as a straight ally for LGBTIQA+ Anglicans, appearing on The Project, ABC News (TV and Online), ABC Drive and ABC PM (Radio), and in articles in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, and The Rationalist.

Matthew is an honorary research fellow/doctoral supervisor at the University of Sydney, University of Queensland, University of Adelaide, and Charles Sturt University. He founded and co-chaired the Biblical Hebrew Language and Linguistics Unit, Society of Biblical Literature (International), and is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the National Association of Professors of Hebrew (USA). He is also a trustee of the Australian Research Theological Foundation Incorporated (ARTFinc), and on the of the National Comprehensive Anglicanism Network.

Matthew’s current scholarly work is on the Psalms – he is preparing a new translation of the Psalms for public worship, with an accompanying commentary. This combines his love of Biblical Hebrew, liturgy, poetry, theology, and music.

You can read more at www.matthewanstey.com.

Publications

Books

Daughtry, S. & M. Anstey. Where do we go from here? Missional Bible Studies based on the Book of Acts – for Lent or anytime. Anglican Board of Mission – Australia, 2020

Flourishing in Faith: Theology encountering Positive Psychology, G. Ambler, M. Anstey, M. White, & T. McCall (eds). Cascade Publications. http://wipfandstock.com/flourishing-in-faith.html, 2017

Anstey, M. P. & J. Lachlan Mackenzie (eds). Crucial Readings in Functional Grammar. (Functional Grammar Series 26.) Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2005

Book Chapters

Anstey, M. P. “Scripture and Moral Reasoning” in Marriage, Same-sex Marriage and the Anglican Church of Australia: Essays from the Doctrine Commission. Broughton Publishers, pp. 57-71, 2019

Anstey, M. P. “The Case for Same-sex Marriage” in Marriage, Same-sex Marriage and the Anglican Church of Australia: Essays from the Doctrine Commission. Broughton Publishers, pp. 267–284, 2019

Anstey, M. P. “A Response: An Alternative Reading of The Book of Common Prayer” in Marriage, Same-sex Marriage and the Anglican Church of Australia: Essays from the Doctrine Commission. Broughton Publishers, pp. 49–54, 2019

Ambler, G., Anstey, M. P., McCall, T. & White, M. A. “Introduction” in Flourishing in Faith: Theology encountering Positive Psychology, G. Ambler, M. Anstey, M. White, & T. McCall (eds). Cascade Publications, pp. xix-xxii, 2017.

Anstey, M. P. “’And God Saw it was Good’: The Creation of Wellbeing and the Wellbeing of Creation” in Flourishing in Faith: Theology encountering Positive Psychology, G. Ambler, M. Anstey, M. White, & T. McCall (eds). Cascade Publications, pp. 55–64, 2017.

Anstey, M. P. “A Lifelong Journey: Going Further in Theological Study” in God, By Degrees, J. Mathews (ed). Kainos Books, pp. 24–27, 2014

Clifton, S. & Anstey, M. P. “Flourishing in a Broken Body: An Interview with Professor Shane Clifton” in Flourishing in Faith: Theology encountering Positive Psychology, G. Ambler, M. Anstey, M. White, & T. McCall (eds). Cascade Publications, pp. 159–172, 2017

Anstey, M. P. “Sermon 15 – For the Anglican Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn Synod – Micah 6:1–8,” in ‘Better be a Good Sermon’: Preaching for Special Occasions and Contexts, K. Weller & A. Lee (eds), Brunswick East: Acorn Press, pp. 265-270, 2011

Journal Articles

Anstey, M. P. (2011) “How (not) to preach the Lectionary during ‘Ordinary Sundays’”, St Mark’s Review. 216:69–75.

Anstey, M. P. (2009) “The Biblical Hebrew Qatal verb: A Functional Discourse Grammar analysis”, Linguistics 47 (4), 825–844.

Anstey, M. P. (2009) “Becoming a public theologian: Jonah's journey to Ninevah”, St Mark's Review 207, 37–48.

Anstey, M. P. (2008) “Functional Discourse Grammar – Multifunctional problems and constructional solutions”, Linguistics 46 (4), 831–859.

Anstey, M. P. (2007) “Habakkuk the faithful dissident: A performative hermeneutic for Anglicans in Australia”, St Mark’s Review 203 (2), 47–60.

Anstey, M. P. (2006) “The grammatical-lexical cline in Tiberian Hebrew”, Journal of Semitic Studies 51 (1), 59–84.

Anstey, M. P. (2006) “Remembering Dinah: Genesis 34”, St Mark’s Review. 197:31–34.

Anstey, M. P. (2005) “Towards a typological presentation of Tiberian Hebrew”, Hebrew Studies 46, 71–128.

Return to the Academic Staff page


By subscribing I consent to my personal information being collected, used, disclosed, and stored in accordance with the Privacy Collection Statement.

We acknowledge all First Peoples of the land on which live, walk and work. We honour them and their Ancestors for their survival, continued traditions and spiritual connection to and caring of country, land, sky, water and sea. We pay respect to their Elders past and present and will continue to support their right to self-determination. We are committed to Reconciliation and respectfully recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded.