John Dickson

John Dickson is an Australian Christian apologist, historian, and founder of the Centre for Public Christianity. In the 1980s and 1990s he was singer-songwriter in the Christian rock band In The Silence. Since completing his PhD in Ancient History at Macquarie University (2001) focusing on the birth of Christianity in its Jewish and Graeco-Roman contexts, Dickson continues to write and teach in both popular and academic settings.After several years as an Honorary Associate of the Department of Ancient History at Macquarie, he received Honorary Fellow status in 2010.He has taught Advanced Topics in Ancient History and Early Christianity Historiography, semester-long courses for the Masters program at Macquarie University. Since 2011 Dickson has been sessional staff at University of Sydney's Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies teaching From Historical Jesus to Written Gospels, a semester long course focused on the historiography of the figure of Jesus in the Roman East. On 6 May 2015, Dickson's book A Sneaking Suspicion (1995) was banned from state schools by the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities on the basis of a "potential risk to students in the delivery of this material, if not taught sensitively and in an age appropriate manner."The ban was lifted May 18, 2015.