Download or read book Australian Religious Thought written by Wayne Hudson and published by . This book was released on 2016-06-10 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides new perspectives on the relationship between religious thought and social reform in Australia. It argues that religious thought can be found in many intellectuals in Australia, both in the religiously inclined and in those who were not conventionally religious. Drawing together existing and new research, this book opens up new perspectives and re-thematises the field in six exploratory studies. Each study is revisionist in some respects. Shapes of disbelief are explored in intellectuals of many types. The concept of sacral secularity is used to complex and contest discussions of 'the secular' in Australia. Religious liberalism is interpreted as transnational and as often a source of social reform. Interactions between religious thought and philosophy are discussed in some detail, as is the development of theology, which has received relatively little attention from historians. Account is also taken of what might perhaps be called post-secular consciousness in many intellectuals. Taking religious thought more seriously suggests possible revisions to the way the national story has been told. There was more serious intellectual life in Australia than some historians have claimed, and a considerable part of it was in a broad sense 'religious'

Download or read book Australian Religious Thought written by Wayne Hudson and published by Monash University Publishing. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first major historical study of Australian religious thought, arguing that religious thought can be found in many of Australia's intellectuals, both in the religiously inclined and in those who are not conventionally religious. Drawing together existing and new research, the book opens up new perspectives and re-thematizes the field in six exploratory studies. Each study is revisionist in some respects. Shapes of disbelief are explored in intellectuals of many types. The concept of sacral secularity is used to promote and to contest discussions of 'the secular' in Australia. Religious liberalism is interpreted as being transnational and as often being a source of social reform. Interactions between religious thought and philosophy are discussed in some detail, as is the development of theology, which has received relatively little attention from historians. Account is also taken of what might perhaps be called post-secular consciousness in many intellectuals. Taking religious thought more seriously suggests possible revisions to the way the national story has been told. There has been more serious intellectual life in Australia than some historians have claimed, and a considerable part of it was in a broad sense 'religious.' The book provides new perspectives on the relationship between religious thought and social reform in Australia. *** "Learned and precise, this book shows what's wrong with the old boundary between secular and sacred in Australia. The implications for rethinking our past, present and future are enormous." -- Alan Atkinson *** Librarians: ebook available on ProQuest and EBSCO (Series: Monash Studies in Australian Society) Subject: History, Australian Studies, Religious Studies, Philosophy]

Download or read book The Fountain of Public Prosperity written by Stuart Piggin and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The official religion brought to Australia with the First Fleet was Evangelical Christianity, the 'vital religion' then shaping public policy through William Wilberforce and his fellow evangelicals. That it has shaped Australian history ever since, making a substantial contribution to the public prosperity of the nation, is an untold story. Christian values and identity were the main components of Australian values and identity. Evangelical 'moralising' may be understood as a concern to address the 'hard' cultures associated with convicts, the liquor industry, and male misogyny. The movement provided opportunities for women to work in reform, charitable, evangelistic and missionary organisations, thus laying strong foundations for feminism. In their concern for 'Christlike citizenship', evangelicals cared for the nation's children in Sunday schools and its youth in societies for young people such as the YMCA, YWCA, and Christian Endeavour. The major component of the humanitarian movement, evangelicals ensured that the convict settlement of Australia was more humane than is generally recognised. They did most of the all-too-little that was done to protect the Indigenous population and to educate settlers, keeping alive in the latter a conscience over maltreatment of the former. In a profusion of charities, evangelicals in the nineteenth century, as today, provided most of the welfare for the population's disadvantaged. The Fountain of Public Prosperity presents propositions which require a radical revision of received understandings, an appreciation of unmined riches in the Australian experience, and reconnection with an often buried past. Drawing on these untapped resources is the safest route to reimagining a future for Australia.

Download or read book The Australian Book of Atheism written by Warren Bonett and published by Scribe Publications. This book was released on 2010 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does the Anzac ethos have roots in atheism? Does prayer have a place in Parliament? Should 'creation science' be taught in Australian schools? The Australian Book of Atheism is the first collection to explore atheism from an Australian viewpoint. Bringing together essays from 33 of the nation's pre-eminent atheist, rationalist, humanist, and sceptical thinkers, it canvasses a range of opinions on religion and secularism in Australia.

Download or read book Ong on Estoppel written by Denis Ong and published by . This book was released on 2022-12-10 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Reason Religion and the Australian Polity written by Stephen Chavura and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-02-04 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the concept of the secular state emerge and evolve in Australia and how has it impacted on its institutions? This is the most comprehensive study to date on the relationship between religion and the state in Australian history, focusing on the meaning of political secularity in a society that was from the beginning marked by a high degree of religious plurality. This book tracks the rise and fall of the established Church of England, the transition to plural establishments, the struggle for a public Christian-secular education system, and the eventual separation of church and state throughout the colonies. The study is unique in that it does not restrict its concern with religion to the churches but also examines how religious concepts and ideals infused apparently secular political and social thought and movements making the case that much Australian thought and institution building has had a sacral-secular quality. Social welfare reform, nationalism, and emerging conceptions of citizenship and civilization were heavily influenced by religious ideals, rendering problematic traditional linear narratives of secularisation as the decline of religion. Finally the book considers present day pluralist Australia and new understandings of state secularity in light of massive social changes over recent generations.

Download or read book Attending to the National Soul written by Stuart Piggin and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this major new contribution Stuart Piggin and Robert Linder tell the story of how Australian evangelical Christians responded to the decline of the British empire and to the expanding international reach of their religious mission and beliefs, of how these Christians reacted to the challenges of secularism, and of how they have sought to 'attend to the national soul' sensitising the national conscience and helping to shape the national consciousness. The authors offer an extensive treatment of evangelical involvement in World Wars I and II and in the wars in Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. They consider Alan Walker and Billy Graham and the development of an energetic evangelism more calculated to address global fears and personal anxieties. And they show that by the beginning of the 21st century conservative, progressive and Pentecostal branches had each learned the necessity of bringing a prophetic ministry to bear on social issues. This ambitious study seeks to recognise the influence of 'the public opening up of the word of Christ to the world', 'to tell the truth about his influence' on Australia's social and cultural history, and to show that evangelical Christianity continues to be as much a public ethic as a personal credo.

Download or read book A History of Religious Ideas Volume 1 written by Mircea Eliade and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-02-14 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Everyone who cares about the human adventure will find new information and new angles of vision.”—Martin E. Marty, The New York Times Book Review This extraordinary work delves into the subject of religion in the prehistoric and ancient worlds—humankind’s earliest quests for meaning. From Neanderthal burials to the mythology of the Iron Age, to the religions of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Israel, India, and beyond, it offers both an appreciation of the wide-ranging diversity of religious expression—and a consideration of the fundamental unity of religious phenomena. “Will arouse the interest of all historians of western religion, since it includes chapters on the religions of Canaan and Israel. However, the book must be read cover to cover if one wants to grasp the significance of its gigantic historical scope.”—Church History

Download or read book Irony of Theology and the Nature of Religious Thought written by Donald Wiebe and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 1991 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donald Wiebe critically examines the pervasive assumption that theology is a form of religious thought that is both compatible with and supportive of religious faith. The irony, he argues, is that theology is in fact detrimental to religion and the religious way of life.

Download or read book The Good Book written by A. C. Grayling and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few, if any, thinkers and writers today would have the imagination, the breadth of knowledge, the literary skill, and-yes-the audacity to conceive of a powerful, secular alternative to the Bible. But that is exactly what A.C. Grayling has done by creating a non-religious Bible, drawn from the wealth of secular literature and philosophy in both Western and Eastern traditions, using the same techniques of editing, redaction, and adaptation that produced the holy books of the Judaeo-Christian and Islamic religions. The Good Book consciously takes its design and presentation from the Bible, in its beauty of language and arrangement into short chapters and verses for ease of reading and quotability, offering to the non-religious seeker all the wisdom, insight, solace, inspiration, and perspective of secular humanist traditions that are older, far richer and more various than Christianity. Organized in 12 main sections----Genesis, Histories, Widsom, The Sages, Parables, Consolations, Lamentations, Proverbs, Songs, Epistles, Acts, and the Good----The Good Book opens with meditations on the origin and progress of the world and human life in it, then devotes attention to the question of how life should be lived, how we relate to one another, and how vicissitudes are to be faced and joys appreciated. Incorporating the writing of Herodotus and Lucretius, Confucius and Mencius, Seneca and Cicero, Montaigne, Bacon, and so many others, The Good Book will fulfill its audacious purpose in every way.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Nineteenth Century Christian Thought written by Joel Rasmussen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-22 with total page 737 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through various realignments beginning in the Revolutionary era and continuing across the nineteenth century, Christianity not only endured as a vital intellectual tradition contributed importantly to a wide variety of significant conversations, movements, and social transformations across the diverse spheres of intellectual, cultural, and social history. The Oxford Handbook of Nineteenth-Century Christian Thought proposes new readings of the diverse sites and variegated role of the Christian intellectual tradition across what has come to be called 'the long nineteenth century'. It represents the first comprehensive examination of a picture emerging from the twin recognition of Christianity's abiding intellectual influence and its radical transformation and diversification under the influence of the forces of modernity. Part one investigates changing paradigms that determine the evolving approaches to religious matters during the nineteenth century, providing readers with a sense of the fundamental changes at the time. Section two considers human nature and the nature of religion. It explores a range of categories rising to prominence in the course of the nineteenth century, and influencing the way religion in general, and Christianity in particular, were conceived. Part three focuses on the intellectual, cultural, and social developments of the time, while part four looks at Christianity and the arts-a major area in which Christian ideas, stories, and images were used, adapted, changes, and challenged during the nineteenth century. Christianity was radically pluralized in the nineteenth century, and the fifth section is dedicated to 'Christianity and Christianities'. The chapters sketch the major churches and confessions during the period. The final part considers doctrinal themes registering the wealth and scope through broad narrative and individual example. This authoritative reference work offers an indispensible overview of a period whose forceful ideas continue to be present in contemporary theology.

Download or read book Nineteenth Century Religious Thought in the West Volume 3 written by Ninian Smart and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1988-07-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The successful three volumes of Nineteenth Century Religious Thought in the West provide a fresh appraisal of the most important thinkers of that time. Soames essays centre on major figures of the period; others cover topics, trends and schools of thought between the French Revolution and the First World War.

Download or read book Religion and Change in Australia written by Adam Possamai and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-30 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book offers a panoramic overview of the enduring significance of religion in modern Australian society. Applying sociological perspectives and contemporary theories of religion in society, it challenges conventional assumptions around the extent of secularisation in Australia and instead argues that religious institutions, groups, and individuals have proved remarkably adaptable to social change and continue to play a major role in Australian life. In doing so, it explores how religion intersects with a wide range of other contemporary issues, including politics, race, migration, gender, and new media. Religion and Change in Australia explores Australia’s unique history regarding religion. Christianity was originally imported as a tool of social control to keep convicts, settlers, and Australian Aboriginal peoples in check. This had a profound impact on the social memory of the nation, and lingering resentment towards the "excessive" presence of religion continues to be felt today. Freedom of religion was enshrined in Section 116 of the Australian Constitution in 1901. Nevertheless, the White Australia Policy effectively prevented adherents of non-Christian faiths from migrating to Australia and the nation remained overwhelmingly Christian. However, after WWII, Australia, in common with other western societies, appears to have become increasingly secularised, as religious observance declined dramatically. However, Religion and Change in Australia employs a range of social theories to challenge this securalist view and argues that Australia is a post-secular society. The 2016 census revealed that over half of the population still identify as Christian. In politics, the socially conservative religious right has come to exert considerable influence on the ruling Liberal-National Coalition, particularly under John Howard and Scott Morrison. New technologies, such as the Internet and social media, have provided new avenues for religious expression and proselytisation whilst so-called "megachurches" have been built to cater to their increasing congregations. The adoption of multiculturalism and increased immigration from Asia has led to a religiously pluralist society, though this has often been controversial. In particular, the position of Islam in Australia has been the subject of fierce debate, and Islamophobic attitudes remain common. Atheism, non-belief, and alternative spiritualities have also become increasingly widespread, especially amongst the young. Religion and Change in Australia analyses these developments to offer new perspectives on religion and its continued relevance within Australian society. This book is therefore a vital resource for students, academics, and general readers seeking to understand contemporary debates surrounding religion and secularisation in Australia.

Download or read book Religion for Atheists written by Alain De Botton and published by Signal. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The Architecture of Happiness, a deeply moving meditation on how we can still benefit, without believing, from the wisdom, the beauty, and the consolatory power that religion has to offer. Alain de Botton was brought up in a committedly atheistic household, and though he was powerfully swayed by his parents' views, he underwent, in his mid-twenties, a crisis of faithlessness. His feelings of doubt about atheism had their origins in listening to Bach's cantatas, were further developed in the presence of certain Bellini Madonnas, and became overwhelming with an introduction to Zen architecture. However, it was not until his father's death -- buried under a Hebrew headstone in a Jewish cemetery because he had intriguingly omitted to make more secular arrangements -- that Alain began to face the full degree of his ambivalence regarding the views of religion that he had dutifully accepted. Why are we presented with the curious choice between either committing to peculiar concepts about immaterial deities or letting go entirely of a host of consoling, subtle and effective rituals and practices for which there is no equivalent in secular society? Why do we bristle at the mention of the word "morality"? Flee from the idea that art should be uplifting, or have an ethical purpose? Why don't we build temples? What mechanisms do we have for expressing gratitude? The challenge that de Botton addresses in his book: how to separate ideas and practices from the religious institutions that have laid claim to them. In Religion for Atheists is an argument to free our soul-related needs from the particular influence of religions, even if it is, paradoxically, the study of religion that will allow us to rediscover and rearticulate those needs.

Download or read book A History of Religious Ideas Volume 2 written by Mircea Eliade and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-12-16 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In volume 2 of this monumental work, Mircea Eliade continues his magisterial progress through the history of religious ideas. The religions of ancient China, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Buddha and his contemporaries, Roman religion, Celtic and German religions, Judaism, the Hellenistic period, the Iranian syntheses, and the birth of Christianity—all are encompassed in this volume.

Download or read book Religion and Political Thought written by Michael Hoelzl and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2006-06-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an essential resource for studies in religion and politics. It is divided into three parts, beginning with an introduction outlining the contemporary relevance of reviewing the relationship between the two subject areas; a brief history of the interactions between religion and politics that have pertained both in East and the West, and the key concepts that relate these two fields. The second section comprises a selection of classic readings. This title is ideal for students of both religion and politics and general readers who are interested in the topics.

Download or read book Sydney s One Special Evangelist written by Baden P. Stace and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2022-08-04 with total page 543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark work is the first academic study of a figure who played a defining role in the Australian evangelical movement of the late twentieth century—the inimitable preacher, evangelist, and churchman John C. Chapman. The study situates Chapman’s career within the secularizing Western cultures of the post-1960s—a period bringing momentous changes to the social and religious fabric of Western society. At the same time, global Evangelicalism was reviving, bringing vitality to large swathes in the Global South and a re-balancing in Western societies as conservative religious movements experienced growth and even renewal amidst wider secularizing trends. Against this backdrop the study explores the way in which, across a wide array of domestic and international fora, Chapman contended for the soteriological priority of the gospel in Christian life, mission, and thought. Accomplished via an absorbing blend of personal wit, impassioned oratory, innovative missiological strategy, and striking theological perception, the result was a stimulating history of public advocacy that sought a revival of confidence in Evangelicalism’s message, and a constantly reforming vision of Evangelicalism’s method. Such a legacy marks Chapman as a central figure within the generation of postwar leaders whose work has given Australian Evangelicalism its contemporary shape and dynamism.