Christianity in Australian History (CH2125B)

Content

This religious history unit introduces students to the place of the Christian churches in Australian society from the colonial period to the present. It considers a number of methodological approaches and the work of a range of representative historians. Themes covered include sectarianism, church-state relations, denominational histories, ecumenism, migration and changing religious demographics.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

CH129B Introduction to Christian History or equivalent (18points)

Pedagogy

Lectures (text and video), online tutorials, discussion, forum engagement, videos, web links, reading.

Indicative Bibliography

• Breward, Ian. A History of the Churches in Australasia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Carey, Hilary M. God’s Empire: Religion and Colonialism in the British World c. 1801-1908. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
• Jupp, James, ed. Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
• Kaye, Bruce, ed. Anglicanism in Australia: A History. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002.
• Lake, Meredith. The Bible in Australia. Sydney: New South, 2018.
• O’Brien, Anne. God’s Willing Workers: Women and Religion in Australia. Sydney: University of Sydney Press, 2005.
• O’Brien, Glen. Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia. London and New York: Routledge, 2018.
• O’Brien, Glen, and Hilary Carey (eds). Methodism in Australia: A History. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015.
• Piggin, Stuart and Robert D. Linder. The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740–1914 Melbourne: Monash University Press, 2018.
• Piggin, Stuart and Robert D. Linder. Attending to the National Soul: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1914–2014. Melbourne: Monash University Press, 2019.

Assessment