Well, its just been confirmed. In case I didn't already have enough to do, I'm going to be teaching a new survey course on the history of Christianity in Australia course at Wesley Institute this semester. I'm excited by the opportunity to put together my own course for the first time, but a bit daunted by the work involved (especially given my other projects).Anyway, here's the briefest of outlines. Is there anything you think I really should cover that I haven't made room for? Would would you like a course on the hsitory of chirstianity in Australia to explore? Suggestions and comments very welcome!
Introduction (week 1): Religious background to 1788
Unit one (weeks 2 to 5): Faith and colonial foundations
- colonising the country
- convicts and chaplains
- mission to Aborigines
- sectarianism in colonial society
Unit two (weeks 6 to 9): Church and nation
- legislating morals
- religion and federal politics
- Christians and the first world war
- charity and the challenges of the Depression
Unit three: (weeks 10 to 12): Christianity in contemporary Australia
- world war two and post-war migration
- unity and adversity
- seeking justice
Course conclusion (week 13): is Australia a Christian nation today?
Pic: the old church at Silverton, NSW
3 comments:
sounds brilliant - hope you have a ball teaching it :)
Hi Meredith, sorry not to be emailing you about the course, but all the best for that! I am sure Stuart Piggin, Mark Hutcheson and Ian Breward between them will help in different ways.
I am interested in your 2004 paper on the ACC and Asia. It is great you capture the material from John Garrett. I wonder if you can add anything to a couple of references:
p.7 WCC visit. I am puzzled I cannot find any reference to this meeting in the WCC archives as listed online, but it is corroborated by a reference in Time 2 days later (13 Feb 1956): World Council of Churches met in Sydney, Australia, to weigh a similar subject: Christianity's plans and strategy for Southeast Asia. In the night sky, during the meeting, big searchlights formed a luminous cross, but the council's mood was less glowing. A note almost of supplication toward Asians and of stern self-criticism were evident. Said Yale's Dean Listen Pope: "Divided and rent asunder in its own life, the church itself speaks in broken accents and sometimes seems to add to the confusion of tongues. The nations of the world might understandably reply to the church's plea for international unity and peace: 'Physician, heal thyself.' " Nevertheless, the council mapped out a huge task: "We believe that Christianity in southeast Asia may well prove the pacemaker in international diplomacy in the next ten years."
I would love to have more information as both your paper and this quote relate to a paper I am writing on the place of SEA in world Christianity.
On page 10 note 22 you refer to Charles Gribble - is there anything more on what he said or when this was. Is this to the Sydney meeting?
Thanks,
John
john@roxborogh.com
Hi Meredith, can you tell me if your paper has been published and what I should use for a citation.
I also found reference to the meetings in Sydney and Melbourne in 1956 in the Ecumenical Review for April 1956: World Council Diary. Ecumenical Review 8, no. 2: 332-334.
Thanks
John
John Roxborogh
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