A History of the Churches in Australasia

Author: Ian Breward
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191520381
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 497

A History of the Australian Churches

Author: Ian Breward
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1743432348
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 519

Book Description
Although there is a popular understanding that Australia is a secular society, religion and the churches have played a critical historical role in the shaping of the nation. A History of the Australian Churches is the first general history about the role of churches in Australian society. This is a broad canvas covering all of the Australian states and territories. It offers a balanced and thoughtful historical analysis of how the Christian churches have shaped and been shaped by a number of key issues including church-state relations; the churches and education; responses to the stubborn secularity of Australia; and the search for a distinctive Australian Christianity. This book deals with theological, liturgical and constitutional changes in the major churches and relates them to changes in Australian history. It breaks new ground in comparing denominations - Protestant, Roman Catholic and the Orthodox - as well as setting the development of Aboriginal and Islander Christianity in context.

A History of the Churches in Australasia

Author: Ian Breward
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 9780199275922
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 474

Book Description
This pioneering study of Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Christianity opens up new perspectives on Christianization and modernization in this richly complex region. The reception of Christianity into Pacific cultures has produced strongly Christian societies. Based on research in widely scattered archives, this book not only deals with regional interactions but pays careful attention to developments in microstates, and to the variety of indigenous religious movements, which were earlier regarded as deviations from Christian orthodoxy but are now seen as significant adaptations of Christian teaching. In Australia and New Zealand too, European Christian beginnings have been given local emphases, producing Churches with distinctive identities. Lay leadership is emphasized - not only in the Churches but as part of the Christian presence in the realms of politics, business, and culture. The broad liturgical, theological, constitutional, and pastoral developments of the 19th and 20th centuries are mapped, as a context for the striking changes which have taken place since the 1960s. The dynamics of religious change and conflict, the ambiguities of religious authority, and the destructive effects of Christian colonialism on indigenous communities, especially Australian aborigines, are all frankly dealt with. The decline of the institutional impact of the Churches in Australia and New Zealand is explored, as is the growth of partnership between government and Churches in education, social welfare, and overseas aid and development. Interchange in personnel and ideas is strikingly illustrated in the missionary activities of the regional Churches and their cultural impact. The author's involvement in Church and community leadership, ecumenism, and theological education makes this volume in the Oxford History of the Christian Church a valuable addition to the series, describing both continuities with world Christianity and little-known local developments. * The first comprehensive history of the Christian Church in Australasia and the Pacific * Of interest to lay Christians, as an aid to understanding their heritage * Explores in detail the interaction of Christianity and local culture Review from previous edition 'a scholarly work of immense scope that explores the distinctive features of Christianity in this part of the world.' (The Age ) 'illuminating... [a] splendid book.' (Journal of Theological Studies ) 'a work which makes intelligible and accessible a great variety of scholarship... It will clearly be the standard work on the subject for years to come.' (Colloquium ) Contents: Chapter 1 From Missions to Churches Chapter 2 Organizing Christian Churches from the 1830s to the 1870s Chapter 3 The Making of Christian Societies Chapter 4 New Opportunities for Mission and Service Chapter 5 Wars and Depression Chapter 6 Creating New Societies Chapter 7 Searching for Credibility Conclusion Bibliography Glossary Index

The History of the Russian Church in Australia

Author: Michael A. Protopopov
Publisher: Holy Trinity Publications
ISBN: 1942699468
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 872

Book Description
In the pages of this book the history of the Russian Orthodox Church in Australia is diligently chronicled within the wider context of the place of ethnic Russians in a dominantly anglophone society: that of what was at first a British colony and later became an independent state. It begins with the first contact of Russian naval ships with the Australian continent in the early nineteenth century and progresses through to the establishment of the first parish of Orthodox believers in Melbourne in the 1890s, the establishment of further churches, and ultimately the creation of a diocese. The catalyst for much of this was the arrival of thousands of Russians fleeing their homeland via Siberia after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. For these newly dispossessed, Australia and New Zealand became havens of safety and the Russian Orthodox Church an echo of the Motherland they had lost. They were later joined by successive waves of fellow Russians after the end of World War II in 1945 and again after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Together these refugees and their descendants created a unified organism that retained a sense of shared heritage and purpose, and in turn provided a home to spiritual seekers who were not of their ethnic lineage.In writing this work the author has drawn on extensive archival sources spread over several continents together with his own life experience, having arrived as a small boy in Australia over six decades ago. First published in 2006 this new edition includes an added chapter recounting the ongoing story from the beginning of the twenty-first century through to the end of 2020, covering the effects on the Church in Australia of major world events as diverse as the reunification of the Russian Church Abroad with the Patriarchate of Moscow in 2007 and the global coronavirus pandemic that arrived in Australia in 2020.

Methodism in Australia

Author: Glen O'Brien
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317097084
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 350

Book Description
Methodism has played a major role in all areas of public life in Australia but has been particularly significant for its influence on education, social welfare, missions to Aboriginal people and the Pacific Islands and the role of women. Drawing together a team of historical experts, Methodism in Australia presents a critical introduction to one of the most important religious movements in Australia's settlement history and beyond. Offering ground-breaking regional studies of the development of Methodism, this book considers a broad range of issues including Australian Methodist religious experience, worship and music, Methodist intellectuals, and missions to Australia and the Pacific.

Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia

Author: Glen O'Brien
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351189212
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Book Description
Most Wesleyan-Holiness churches started in the US, developing out of the Methodist roots of the nineteenth-century Holiness Movement. The American origins of the Holiness movement have been charted in some depth, but there is currently little detail on how it developed outside of the US. This book seeks to redress this imbalance by giving a history of North American Wesleyan-Holiness churches in Australia, from their establishment in the years following the Second World War, as well as of The Salvation Army, which has nineteenth-century British origins. It traces the way some of these churches moved from marginalised sects to established denominations, while others remained small and isolated. Looking at The Church of God (Anderson), The Church of God (Cleveland), The Church of the Nazarene, The Salvation Army, and The Wesleyan Methodist Church in Australia, the book argues two main points. Firstly, it shows that rather than being American imperialism at work, these religious expressions were a creative partnership between like-minded evangelical Christians from two modern nations sharing a general cultural similarity and set of religious convictions. Secondly, it demonstrates that it was those churches that showed the most willingness to be theologically flexible, even dialling down some of their Wesleyan distinctiveness, that had the most success. This is the first book to chart the fascinating development of Holiness churches in Australia. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of Wesleyans and Methodists, as well as religious history and the sociology of religion more generally.

The Bible in Australia

Author: Meredith Lake
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781525274077
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 726

Book Description
The revelatory story of the Bible in Australia, from the convict era to the Mabo land rights campaign, Nick Cave, the Bra Boys, and beyond. Thought to be everything from the word of God to a resented imposition, the Bible has been debated, painted, rejected, translated, read, gossiped about, preached, and tattooed. At a time when public discussion of religion is deeply polarised, Meredith Lake reveals the Bible's dynamic influence in Australia and offers an innovative new perspective on Christianity and its changing role in our society. In the hands of writers, artists, wowsers, Bible-bashers, immigrants, suffragists, evangelists, unionists, Indigenous activists, and many more - the Bible has played a defining and contested role in Australia. A must-read for sceptics, the curious, the lapsed, the devout, the believer, and non-believer.

Christian Politics in Oceania

Author: Matt Tomlinson
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 0857457462
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Book Description
The phrase "Christian politics" evokes two meanings: political relations between denominations in one direction, and the contributions of Christian churches to debates about the governing of society. The contributors to this volume address Christian politics in both senses and argue that Christianity is always and inevitably political in the Pacific Islands. Drawing on ethnographic and historical research in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji, the authors argue that Christianity and politics have redefined each other in much of Oceania in ways that make the two categories inseparable at any level of analysis. The individual chapters vividly illuminate the ways in which Christian politics operate across a wide scale, from interpersonal relations to national and global interconnections.

The Anglican Eucharist in Australia

Author: Brian Douglas
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004469273
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 357

Book Description
This book examines the history, theology and liturgy of the Eucharist in the Anglican Church of Australia from its earliest foundation after the arrival of British settlers in 1788 to the present.

Rediscover Church

Author: Collin Hansen
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433579596
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 149

Book Description
"A Christian without a church is a Christian in trouble." Since a global pandemic abruptly closed places of worship, many Christians have skipped church life, even neglecting virtual services. But this was a trend even before COVID-19. Polarizing issues, including political and racial strife, convinced some people to pull away from the church and one another. Now it's time to recommit to gathering as brothers and sisters in Christ. In Rediscover Church, Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman discuss why church is essential for believers and God's mission. Through biblical references and personal stories, they show readers God's true intention for corporate gathering: to spiritually strengthen members as individuals and the body of Christ. In an age of church-shopping and livestreamed services, rediscover why the future of the church relies on believers gathering regularly as the family of God. Published in partnership with the Gospel Coalition and 9Marks.