ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores some of the implications that changes in media thinking, research and practice have for religious institutions by tracing aspects of he own intellectual and professional journey, a journey that characteristically for the time is marked by significant changes in thinking and approach. He writes a guide for parents to assist them in mediating the influence of television on their children. Seeing media primarily as instruments is attractive to churches because it reinforces the importance of the church as an institution within a structured society, while at the same time hiding the vested interests of those who hold power within the institution. The power dimensions of theology and the church became apparent during a lengthy involvement as one of the early advocates for women who had been subject to violence or sexual abuse by clergy in Australia.
