Vale Dear Elaine Wainwright

Elaine arrived in New Zealand from Brisbane in 2003 as the newly appointed Richard Mclaurin Goodfellow Professor in Theology at the University of Auckland to head the newly established School of Theology. The School took over from the Auckland Consortium for Theological Education (ACTE) and offered undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. At the time there were 154 students taking the Bachelor of Theology, 19 the Graduate Diploma in Theology or the Master of Theology, and 12 PhD students. The student numbers are given in EFTS (equivalent full-time students) whereas, in fact, there were many students studying part-time.

Elaine was an able and insightful leader of the School for the next 12 years. She worked well with former members of ACTE — Carey Baptist College, the Catholic Institute of Theology, the College of St John the Evangelist (Anglican) and Trinity Methodist Theological College. The faculty of the School was appointed from among the lecturers in the Colleges. Elaine was an internationally recognised Scripture scholar with expertise in the Gospel of Matthew. She had studied Scripture at the École Biblique in Jerusalem and gained a PhD from the University of Queensland. She has published at least five books on the Gospel and many book chapters and articles. She was always generous with her scholarship at University, in parishes and church groups, in the media and particularly with students.

Elaine was an encouraging teacher and mentor. The many tributes to her now online from students and colleagues attest to her teaching and thesis supervising. She was a giant in the School and a loved teacher and colleague.

Earlier this year her former students and colleagues published a festschrift Habitats of the Basileia in her honour. Elaine was well enough to enjoy the book launch which was held on zoom and she expressed her love and gratitude to all those involved.

Elaine retired from the University at the end of 2014 and moved to Sydney to work in the Mercy Congregation but her influence in Aotearoa continued. In 2015 she began contributing an ecological reading of the Scriptures each month in Tui Motu magazine and continued writing for us until the beginning of 2021 when ill health caused her to give up. A collection of her articles is available on our website.

The loss of Elaine, her warmth and friendship, her keen intelligence, phenomenal work ethic and huge generosity, gives us deep sadness and deep gratitude for having known her and worked with her. She has gone before us into the Mystery of Love beyond death and we have her words and our memories to keep loving her and to continue our own theological journeys.