Reverend Associate Professor
Ormond Rush

Associate Professor
Religion and Theology

ACU Researcher

Areas of expertise: hermeneutics; Vatican II; the sense of the faithful, sensus fidelium; Magisterium; biblical inspiration; historical Jesus; church-world relationship; theology of history; development of doctrine; theology of imagination; Trinity; Christology; ecclesiology; faith; theological method; foundational theology; theology of reception; pneumatology; Holy Spirit; revelation; tradition; theology of scripture.

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2091-6027

Phone: +61 7 3623 7568

Email: orm.rush@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU Brisbane Campus

Ormond Rush is a priest of the diocese of Townsville, Australia, with a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University, Rome. He taught theology at the former Pius XII Provincial Seminary in Banyo, Australia, from 1991 to 2000, was appointed Dean of the ecumenical consortium, the Brisbane College of Theology, from 1998 to 2001, and President of St Paul’s Theological College, Banyo, from 2001 to 2006. He was elected President of the Australian Catholic Theological Association for three terms from 2007-2010. He currently lectures in theology at the Brisbane campus of ACU.


Select publications

  • Rush, Ormond. The Vision of Vatican II: Its Fundamental Principles. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2019.
  • "Roman Catholic Ecclesiology from the Council of Trent to Vatican II and Beyond." In The Oxford Handbook of Ecclesiology, edited by Paul Avis, 263–92. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
  • "Inverting the Pyramid: The Sensus Fidelium in a Synodal Church." Theological Studies 78 no. 2 (2017): 299–325.
  • "Ecclesial Conversion after Vatican II: Renewing ‘the Face of the Church’ to Reflect ‘the Genuine Face of God'." Theological Studies 74 no. 4 (2013): 785–803.
  • "Toward a Comprehensive Interpretation of the Council and Its Documents." Theological Studies 73 (2012): 547–69.
  • The Eyes of Faith: The Sense of the Faithful and the Church's Reception of Revelation. Washington the Genuine Face of God'." Theological Studies 74 no. 4 (2013): 785–803., D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009.
  • Still Interpreting Vatican II: Some Hermeneutical Principles. New York: Paulist Press, 2004.
  • "The Offices of Christ, Lumen Gentium and the People’s Sense of the Faith." Pacifica 16 (2003): 137-52.
  • "Sensus Fidei: Faith 'Making Sense' of Revelation." Theological Studies 62 (2001): 231-61.

Editorial roles

  • Member of the Editorial Board of the Australasian Catholic Record
  • Member of the Editorial Board of the Eastern Journal of Dialogue and Culture (Calicut University, India)

International journal review panel

  • Theological Studies

ACU Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry

Mailing address

C/- 115 Victoria Pde
Fitzroy, VIC, 3065.