Australian Soul

Australian Soul
Author: Gary Bouma
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2007-03-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781139459389

Australian Soul challenges the idea that religious and spiritual life in Australia is in decline. This fascinating book describes the character of religious and spiritual life in Australia today, and argues that, far from petering out, religion and spirituality are thriving. Gary Bouma, the leading expert on the state of religious life in Australia, provides the most up-to-date facts and figures and compares the 'tone' of Australian religious practices with those of other countries. Australians might be less vocal and more reticent about their religion than Americans are, but their religious and spiritual beliefs are no less potent. Australian Soul describes and analyses our religious and spiritual life in detail as well as providing a series of case studies that illustrate the range of practices and beliefs in Australia today. Australian Soul predicts a vital future for religion and spirituality.

Australia's Religious Communities

Australia's Religious Communities
Author: Philip J. Hughes
Publisher: Christian Research Associati
Total Pages: 119
Release: 2012
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1875223711

An essential reference on Australia’s religious groups with the latest information from the Australian 2011 Census. Church leaders and everyone interested in the changing profile of Australia’s profile will find this invaluable. This book describes the changing profile and participation in each religious group.

Charting the Faith of Australians

Charting the Faith of Australians
Author: Philip Hughes
Publisher: Christian Research Associati
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2016-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1875223843

The last 50 years have seen more rapid change than at any time in human history. Changes in technology have changed every aspect of life: from contraception to computation, from communication to community formation. These changes have affected the ways in which Australians have sought meaning in their lives, from the fulfilment of duty to the maximisation of subjective wellbeing. They have affected deeply the role that religion has played in life with the focus moving from the preservation of tradition to personal spirituality. Over the past 30 years, the Christian Research Association has charted these changes. It has done so through the examination of census and survey data and through interviews with thousands of individuals. It has examined these changes in youth culture and rural culture and has explored the impact of migration and the rise of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements. It has suggested ways in which churches and schools might respond to these changes. Part 1 of this book tells the story of these changes and how the Christian Research Association has charted them. Part 2 contains contributions from various researchers discussing how the Christian Research Association has served the churches. Part 3 explores some extensions of and parallels to the work of the Christian Research Association in relation to religious institutions, migration and other research. The story told in this book is a personal story for Dr Philip Hughes, the senior research officer of the Christian Research Association from 1985 to 2016. But it is also a story of global significance as Christian and other religious institutions grapple with changes to their place in society and their roles in changing perceptions of life.

Life, Ethics and Faith in Australian Society: Facts and Figures

Life, Ethics and Faith in Australian Society: Facts and Figures
Author: Philip Hughes
Publisher: Christian Research Associati
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2014
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1875223770

A reference book from the Christian Research Association. Religion interacts with almost every aspect of life. Australian religious communities have grown through immigration, but have declined through cultural changes. These communities continue to educate almost 40 per cent of Australian students and provide many of Australia's welfare services and international aid. In turn, religious faith has an impact on the age at which young people get married, family size, the occupations their members go into, as well as how they spend their time and money, and their involvement in voluntary activities. Religious faith also has an impact on people's values: their attitudes to work and leisure, their sense of meaning in life, and their attitudes to the sacredness of human life and to expressions of sexuality. Drawing on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and several other major social surveys, this book explores not only the general impact of religion, but how that impact varies according to the extent of people's involvement in religion and the particular religious group in which people are involved. To understand Australian culture and society, one needs to understand the impact of the multiplicity of faiths that shape the lives of Australians.

Indigenous Australia and the Unfinished Business of Theology

Indigenous Australia and the Unfinished Business of Theology
Author: J. Havea
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2014-06-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1137426675

This book engages a complex subject that mainline theologies avoid, Indigenous Australia. The heritages, wisdoms and dreams of Indigenous Australians are tormented by the discriminating mindsets and colonialist practices of non-Indigenous peoples. This book gives special attention to the torments due to the arrival and development of the church.

Asking Big Questions

Asking Big Questions
Author: Grenville J. R. Kent
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2014-06-27
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1630873179

What do educated urban people think about God, and why? What factors--logical, emotional, experiential, or intuitive--incline them towards belief or towards unbelief? How do they balance these factors? Why do many seem to be "swing voters," comfortable sitting on the fence, unmotivated to move far either way? What common ground do they share with Christianity? What are their objections to Christian belief and practice, and their misunderstandings? Why do many people describe intuitive and emotional attraction to believing in God, but resist it intellectually? What apologetic approaches would make most sense, specifically to educated urban Australians? What media products do they enjoy and trust? And how should these insights influence apologetics? Grenville Kent asks these questions in one Australian demographic to help target Big Questions, a documentary film series for Christian apologetics. Anyone interested in apologetics, evangelical media, and the application of marketing research to evangelism will be interested in this study.

Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia

Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia
Author: Glen O'Brien
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 237
Release: 2018-04-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1351189212

Most Wesleyan-Holiness churches started in the US, developing out of the Methodist roots of the nineteenth-century Holiness Movement. The American origins of the Holiness movement have been charted in some depth, but there is currently little detail on how it developed outside of the US. This book seeks to redress this imbalance by giving a history of North American Wesleyan-Holiness churches in Australia, from their establishment in the years following the Second World War, as well as of The Salvation Army, which has nineteenth-century British origins. It traces the way some of these churches moved from marginalised sects to established denominations, while others remained small and isolated. Looking at The Church of God (Anderson), The Church of God (Cleveland), The Church of the Nazarene, The Salvation Army, and The Wesleyan Methodist Church in Australia, the book argues two main points. Firstly, it shows that rather than being American imperialism at work, these religious expressions were a creative partnership between like-minded evangelical Christians from two modern nations sharing a general cultural similarity and set of religious convictions. Secondly, it demonstrates that it was those churches that showed the most willingness to be theologically flexible, even dialling down some of their Wesleyan distinctiveness, that had the most success. This is the first book to chart the fascinating development of Holiness churches in Australia. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of Wesleyans and Methodists, as well as religious history and the sociology of religion more generally.

Rescripting Religion in the City

Rescripting Religion in the City
Author: Alana Harris
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2016-04-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1317065689

Rescripting Religion in the City explores the role of faith and religious practices as strategies for understanding and negotiating the migratory experience. Leading international scholars draw on case studies of urban settings in the global north and south. Presenting a nuanced understanding of the religious identities of migrants within the 'modern metropolis' this book makes a significant contribution to fields as diverse as twentieth-century immigration history, the sociology of religion and migration studies, as well as historical and urban geography and practical theology.

The ‘Crossed-Out God’ in the Asia-Pacific

The ‘Crossed-Out God’ in the Asia-Pacific
Author: Julian Millie
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2023-09-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9819933544

This book explores the evaluations made by religious groups and individuals about the potential of public spheres for religious practice, focussing upon public religion in societies of the Asia-Pacific. Across this region we observe a resurgence of religious traditions, increasing mediatisation of religion, and an inward turn toward conservative political programs. Against this background, relations between religion and public domains are critical influences upon civic inclusion and equal citizenship. In contrast to conventional approaches to religion and public life that focus upon the public potential of religion, chapter authors focus upon the religious potential of public domains, taking the perspectives of religious actors as their points of departure. The book’s chapters capture the dynamic nexus between religion and politics in Asia-Pacific public spheres: why would Indonesia’s minority Shiite movement strive to develop a public profile in a national environment where it attracts widespread disapproval? What constructions of religion and public space make Banaras so unconducive to female mobility? Why does the success of the social services wing of Australia’s Salvation Army create anxiety for its religious wing? What is at stake for followers of Australian Spiritualism when they attend spirit-medium sessions? How are popular Islamic preachers vulnerable to action from Indonesia’s civil society organisations? What do media representations of Hajj pilgrimage by Indonesia’s presidents have in common with middle-class representations of gender? Why did Indonesia’s traditionalist Muslim intellectuals draw heavily upon the ideas of Jürgen Habermas in their theorisations of state-society relations? An epilogue by the Indonesian neo-traditionalist intellectual Ahmad Baso, the most prominent theorist of state-religion relations in that country, overviews the issues against the background of that country’s religious and political histories.