Mosman home of late historian Barbara Thiering listed

Mosman home of late historian Barbara Thiering listed
Jonathan ChancellorFebruary 6, 2021

The long time Mosman home of the late historian, theologian and author Barbara Thiering has been put up for auction.

Barbara and her then husband Barry bought the three Wyong Road bedroom home in 1973 when they paid $62,500. 

Set amid established terraced gardens on an elevated 752 sqm parcel, the freestanding home offers views over Quakers Bay.

Known as "that radical Australian theologian woman" during her time at the University of Sydney in the 1970's, Thiering wrote Jesus the Man in 1992 which became an international best seller.

The book was a radical challenge to the established orthodoxy about historical Christianity and suggested Jesus was not of virgin birth, nor did he die on the cross.

She followed Jesus the Man with Jesus and the Riddle (1993), Jesus of the Apocalypse (1995) and THE BOOK THAT JESUS WROTE (1998).

The property has been listed by Nic Yates and Kingsley Yates of Ray White Lower North Shore and goes to auction April 30 with $2.4 million hopes. 

She was born Barbara Houlsby, in Sydney in 1930, the daughter of Jack Houlsby, an accountant, who, having become disillusioned with capitalism during the Great Depression, settled onto a small farm, called Woodlands, at Marsfield, an early exercise in self-sufficiency and alternate lifestyle, in an atmosphere of liberal intellectualism

After obtaining a Bachelor of Divinity from London University, Thiering became involved in the academic and intellectual challenges of the 1960s liberation movements

She completed her PhD on Asceticism in the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1972.

Thiering was an early member of the developing feminist movement in Australia and in particular highlighted the role of women in the modern Christian Church. 

She was appointed to the inaugural NSW Equal Opportunity Tribunal by Neville Wran serving from 1981 to 1993.

This article was first published in the Saturday Daily Telegraph.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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