Virginia Orton BTh, MA (Theol)
Virginia is animated by a desire for truth and reality. Having rejected Christianity in her teens and pursued alternative lifestyles in the quest for meaning, she ran headlong into God, discovering that he is real and that he answers the human cry for meaning—not just existentially, but also propositionally; providing a worldview that coheres with reality.
Thus she not only discovered the deep inner resonance and peace that comes from knowing God through Jesus, but also further discovered that biblical Christianity provides a world-and-life view that is intellectually coherent, possessing the answers for human flourishing.
Virginia’s desire to share her discoveries with others collided with her love of travel and the diversity of human culture, leading her to England, India, and Europe.
From the red-light district of Amsterdam to the drug centre of Athens and to the legendary home of Krishna in Gujarat, north western India she has shared her experiences and newfound answers to life.
After training and serving with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for 3 years she returned to Australia to pursue further training.
She obtained a BTh (Distinction) from St Marks Theological Centre, Canberra, Charles Sturt University, focusing her research on the biblical motif of covenant, progressively unfolding God’s creation purpose and the certainty of its completion. Covenant & Creation: Understanding God’s Eschatological Purpose for Creation and Our Genuine Hope, explored the biblical covenant as the basis for certainty concerning the ultimate restoration of this world in time-space history and what it means for the mission of God’s people in the world.
Following this she completed her MA (Theol) through Trinity College, University of Melbourne, with a final research dissertation, entitled The Death of Dignity: Children of Chance in an Impersonal Universe, exploring the relation between epistemology and ethics through the lens of a Van Tillian transcendental epistemology brought into dialogue with Immanuel Kant. By showing the latter’s flawed presupposition of human autonomy, the research explored the coherency of a Christian theistic worldview, in contrast to humanism, for understanding the human person and ethics—specifically in the realm of bio-ethics.
Virginia is currently completing a PhD while serving with Lifemessenger in a teaching and writing capacity, and also overseeing the website.
She is committed to speak into the spiritual and cultural malaise of this generation, showing the answer, not only in knowing God personally, but also in a biblical worldview that provides absolutes for human meaning and social relationships, a worldview that has historically been the DNA of the West’s sustained development of freedom, justice, education, science, and morality.
Read more: The Story
