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.
Description: Harold Wood (1896-1989) - Methodist minister, educator, hymnologist, ecumenist, author - was one of the most celebrated churchmen of his generation whose life story spans the significant years of Protestant Church history in Australia in the twentieth century. Born into a Salvation Army family, constantly moving from citadel to citadel across the Eastern States, he was eventually ordained a Methodist minister and sent to Tonga where he developed exceptional skills in education and leadership. He was Principal of Methodist Ladies College in Kew, Melbourne, from 1938 until 1966, a period of extraordinary growth in the history of the College. He was President-General of the Methodist Church and active in the movement towards the establishment of the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977. His final ministry was St Paul's Uniting Church in Deepdene. This new biography traces his life and work in the context of family, school and church. It recalls his skills as teacher and preacher, author and musician, theologian and visionary. It records his life as husband and father, his commitment to the missionary activity of the churches, his attention to prayer and devotion, his deep concern for the teachers and ministers in his care, his wise advice, his sound judgment, his measured counsel. This was no ordinary life, but one notable for many things - above all his faithful following of the Methodist tradition he embraced and loved.
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