Under the Southern Cross

Semester 1

Day Class

This unit will explore a range of themes in the history of Australian churches from the early nineteenth until the late twentieth century. Themes will include community development and welfare, mission and evangelism, theological education, the role of women, and responses to war, injustice and indigenous encounter. Biographies and case studies will be used to illuminate these themes and will include the stories of Baptist leaders, Rev John Saunders and Margaret McLean, who engaged publically with issues of justice and equality for indigenous peoples and women. A focus will be the ongoing influence and impact of these themes upon Australian Christian identity.

Code

CT3017W – Undergraduate
CT9017W – Postgraduate
Unit offered alternatively as:
CH3017W – Undergraduate
CH9017W – Postgraduate

Level

Undergraduate and Postgraduate

Discipline

Christian Thought (CT)

Field

Christian Thought and History (C)

Prerequisites

One standard unit in CH and one standard unit in CT

Location

Whitley College view location >

Faculty

Marita Munro view profile >

Class Time

2019: Nine sessions of 4 hours each

Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this unit, it is expected that students will be able to:

Undergraduate
1. Identify and evaluate themes and challenges faced by Australia’s churches since white settlement.
2. Articulate the ways in which significant Christian individuals have engaged with and responded to these themes and challenges.
3. Describe the ongoing influence or impact of these responses upon the church and wider society.
4. Discuss critically the implications of the issues and responses considered for Christian identity in the Australian context.
Postgraduate
1. Identify and evaluate themes and challenges faced by Australia’s churches since white settlement.
2. Articulate the ways in which significant Christian individuals have engaged with and responded to these themes and challenges.
3. Describe the ongoing influence or impact of these responses upon the church and wider society.
4. Discuss critically the implications of the issues and responses considered for Christian identity in the Australian context.
Assessment
Undergraduate
- One tutorial paper (1,500 words) (25%)
- One book review (1,000 words) (25%)
- One essay (2,500 words) (50%)
Postgraduate
- One seminar paper (1,500 words) (25%)
- One project report (1,500 words) (25%)
- Essay (3,000 words) (50%)
Recommended reading
- Atkinson, Alan. The Europeans in Australia: A History (3 vols). Vol.1 Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997; Vols 2 and 3. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2014, 2016.
- Breward, Ian. A History of the churches in Australasia. Oxford: OUP, 2001.
- Broome, Richard. Aboriginal Australians: black responses to white dominance, 1788-2001 (4th revised edn). Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2010
- Cadwallader, Alan, ed. In the land of larks and heroes. Hindmarsh, SA: ATF, 2010.
- Carey, Hilary M. God’s empire: religion and colonialism in the British world. Cambridge: CUP, 2013.
- Costello, Tim. Streets of hope: finding God in St Kilda. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1998.
- Frame, Tom. Losing my religion: Unbelief in Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2009.
- Kenny, Robert. The lamb enters the dreaming: Nathaniel Pepper and the ruptured world. Melbourne: Scribe, 2007
- Linder, Robert D. ‘The long tragedy’: Australian Evangelical Christians and the Great War, 1914-1918. Adelaide: Open Book, 2000
- Maddox, Marion. God under Howard: The rise of the Religious Right in Australian politics. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2005.
- Manley, Ken R. with B Coe. ‘The grace of goodness’: John Saunders Baptist pastor and activist
  Macquarie Park: Greenwood Press, 2014.
- O’Brien, Anne. God’s willing workers: women and religion in Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005.
- Piggin, Stuart. Spirit, Word and world: Evangelical Christianity in Australia. Melbourne: Acorn, 2012
- Thompson, Roger C. Religion in Australia: a history (2^nd edn). Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Under the Southern Cross

Learning outcomes

Assessment

Recommended reading

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