The SparkLit Australian Christian Book of the Year for 2024 has been won by Sydney Anglican the Rev Dr Dani Treweek for her book The Meaning of Singleness: Retrieving an Eschatological Vision for the Contemporary Church.

Dr Treweek, who worked in parish ministry at Centennial Park from 2009-2015 before tackling a PhD on the topic that became her book, told those at the awards ceremony in Melbourne tonight that, in writing The Meaning of Singleness, she wanted to “start a conversation that I don’t think we had been having and that I thought was important for us to have... not just for single Christians but for who we are as God’s household – as brothers and sisters together.

“My hope is that people will pick up the book and engage with the ideas in it, percolate, discuss them with each other, particularly church leaders... and then just take it forward as we walk alongside each other as married and single Christians in the church community.”

A vision of church far more inclusive and faithful to Scripture

The award judges described The Meaning of Singleness as “a work of tremendous scholarship and intellectual acuity”, adding that Dr Treweek “demonstrates that in church history, in biblical exegesis and in Christian theology, singleness has the same eternal significance as marriage. She takes on sacred cows and names Christian leaders who have veered away from the Bible to privilege marriage and devalue singleness. Treweek presents us with a vision of the church that is far more inclusive and faithful to Scripture.

“Taken seriously, this book will change the way churches operate, preachers preach, Christian organisations act, friends befriend and, crucially, how we love and are loved.”

"This book will change... how we love and are loved."

A number of Christian leaders appeared by video at the event to express their admiration and appreciation for The Meaning of Singleness, including the former director of the St Mark’s National Theological Centre in Canberra, the Rev Dr Andrew Cameron, who said:

“In our church culture and our Christian culture, we are enslaved to a number of false narratives about singleness and about relationships in general. But, in this book, Dani Treweek... gives back to us both a biblical picture and a historical account, really, of how singleness was honoured in the church, and of how single and married people can respect each other’s vocations and work together differently. It’ll help you if you’re single, it’ll help you if you’re married and it’ll help us as a church. I couldn’t recommend it more highly.”
English pastor the Rev Sam Allberry also praised the book, saying that it helped him realise his singleness was “not just an incidental detail... There’s theological significance and, indeed, eschatological significance as well. We will all be single in the age to come, and our singleness now makes sense in the light of that. It has dignity in the light of that. It has consequence in the light of that. So, I’m so grateful for such a robust theological work as this.”