'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. ' (Publication summary)
'Any historian who researches the role of religion – particularly Christianity – in Australian history will be aware of the fundamental challenge of convincing audiences that this is an interesting topic. The importance of religious institutions in Australia, particularly prior to the 1970s, may go without saying. But in much contemporary historical analysis, religious belief and practice appear simply as the background noise of conservatism, an indistinguishable hum against which the important matters of politics and culture play out. In Australian history, as Phyllis Mack has written in relation to the field of gender history, religion is largely seen as ‘a secondary phenomenon’, in which religious belief and concepts are significant only as they point to the more profound categories through which hierarchies of power are maintained and expressed. Alternatively, accounts of religious history by confessional historians often go to the opposite extreme of interpreting theological debates and religious experience entirely on their own terms, with no wider critical frame of reference. These various approaches to religious history – some of which I have adopted myself – may have their uses, but they do not make for particularly interesting reading.' (Introduction)
'The Bible in Australia does a wonderful job of revealing the ubiquity of the Christian Bible in Australian history. Meredith Lake moves dextrously between temporal and geographical interactions with the biblical text. She understands the text read and worshipped by ‘bible-bashers’, but she also notices and taxonomises the scriptural references that infuse ostensibly secular cultural products, such as a Nick Cave song or a Tim Winton novel. That Lake’s book begins with the image of Koby Abberton emerging from the surf at Maroubra with the words ‘My brother’s keeper’ tattooed across his chest, tells us much about the range and the remit of this book. This is not a history of exegesis or of religious institutions. It is the history of the uses to which the Christian Bible has been put in the making of Australia. And she argues that ‘The Bible still gets under Australian skin’ (3).' (Introduction)
'With a fluent, anecdote‐punctuated style, Meredith Lake traces the history of the Bible in Australian culture from the colonial days, through the “Great Age of the Bible”, into the formation of “nationhood” and the two World Wars, and concluding in contemporary “secular Australia”. There are few surprises in this history; the author thinks the Bible is historically significant, and that it still makes a valuable contribution in contemporary Australian culture.' (Introduction)
'Did you know the anti-Christian slang, “Bible-bashers,” was coined by Australians? Or that the largest crowd ever to gather at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was for Billy Graham in 1959? There were an estimated 143,750 people in attendance. These are just a couple of the historical gems waiting to be discovered in Meredith Lake’s new book, The Bible in Australia: A Cultural History.' (Introduction)
'Biblical literacy is likely lower in Australia today than at any point since the convict era. General levels of familiarity with the Christian scriptures are difficult to plot precisely, but studies of Bible reading habits, and data on various forms of Christian socialisation, indicate a significant decline in Australians’ exposure to the Bible over the last half century.' (Introduction)
'The Bible in Australia does a wonderful job of revealing the ubiquity of the Christian Bible in Australian history. Meredith Lake moves dextrously between temporal and geographical interactions with the biblical text. She understands the text read and worshipped by ‘bible-bashers’, but she also notices and taxonomises the scriptural references that infuse ostensibly secular cultural products, such as a Nick Cave song or a Tim Winton novel. That Lake’s book begins with the image of Koby Abberton emerging from the surf at Maroubra with the words ‘My brother’s keeper’ tattooed across his chest, tells us much about the range and the remit of this book. This is not a history of exegesis or of religious institutions. It is the history of the uses to which the Christian Bible has been put in the making of Australia. And she argues that ‘The Bible still gets under Australian skin’ (3).' (Introduction)
'Any historian who researches the role of religion – particularly Christianity – in Australian history will be aware of the fundamental challenge of convincing audiences that this is an interesting topic. The importance of religious institutions in Australia, particularly prior to the 1970s, may go without saying. But in much contemporary historical analysis, religious belief and practice appear simply as the background noise of conservatism, an indistinguishable hum against which the important matters of politics and culture play out. In Australian history, as Phyllis Mack has written in relation to the field of gender history, religion is largely seen as ‘a secondary phenomenon’, in which religious belief and concepts are significant only as they point to the more profound categories through which hierarchies of power are maintained and expressed. Alternatively, accounts of religious history by confessional historians often go to the opposite extreme of interpreting theological debates and religious experience entirely on their own terms, with no wider critical frame of reference. These various approaches to religious history – some of which I have adopted myself – may have their uses, but they do not make for particularly interesting reading.' (Introduction)
'Biblical literacy is likely lower in Australia today than at any point since the convict era. General levels of familiarity with the Christian scriptures are difficult to plot precisely, but studies of Bible reading habits, and data on various forms of Christian socialisation, indicate a significant decline in Australians’ exposure to the Bible over the last half century.' (Introduction)
'Did you know the anti-Christian slang, “Bible-bashers,” was coined by Australians? Or that the largest crowd ever to gather at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was for Billy Graham in 1959? There were an estimated 143,750 people in attendance. These are just a couple of the historical gems waiting to be discovered in Meredith Lake’s new book, The Bible in Australia: A Cultural History.' (Introduction)
'With a fluent, anecdote‐punctuated style, Meredith Lake traces the history of the Bible in Australian culture from the colonial days, through the “Great Age of the Bible”, into the formation of “nationhood” and the two World Wars, and concluding in contemporary “secular Australia”. There are few surprises in this history; the author thinks the Bible is historically significant, and that it still makes a valuable contribution in contemporary Australian culture.' (Introduction)
