The fountain of public prosperity [electronic resource] : evangelical Christians in Australian history, 1740-1914 / Stuart Piggin and Robert D. Linder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Piggin, Stuart, author.

Linder, Robert Dean, author.

Series:

Fountain of public prosperity ; 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christianity--Australia--History.

Christianity.

Evangelicalism--Australia.

Evangelicalism.

History--Australian studies.

History.

Christianity--Australia.

Evangelicalism--Australia--History.

Australia--Church history.

Australia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 674 pages).

Place of Publication:

Clayton, Victoria : Monash University Publishing, [2018].

Summary:

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 --Cover.

Contents:

PART A: Experiment in Social Renovation, 1740

1835

1. From Private to Public Christianity, c. 1740

1788

2. The Anglican Chaplaincy, the New Jerusalem and the Continent of Sin, 1788

1822

3. Missions to the Pacific, Free Settlers, the Indigenous and the Poor, 1792

4. Getting out of both Gaol and the Establishment, 1823

5. Denominational Initiatives and Cross-cultural Missions, 1823

PART B: Christianity, Civilisation and Commerce, 1836

1870

6. Laying Firmer Foundations: Nation-builders, 1836

1850

7. Laying Broader Foundations: New Colonies, 1836

8. Consolidating the Denominations: The Plural Establishment, 1836

9. `Busy for both worlds': The Commerce of Godliness, 1851

10. `Alarming growth': Denominational Developments, 1851

11. Spiritual Giganticism: Revival and Cross-cultural Missions, 1851

PART C: Parallel Empires at High Noon, 1870

1914

12. Christian Feminism and Social Righteousness, 1871

1889

13. The Anatomy of Defence: Facing Challenges to Faith, 1871

14. Church Growth and Cross-cultural Missions at Home and Abroad, 1871

15. The golden days of church history': Evangelistic Missions, Revivals and Holiness, 1871

16. The Workingman's Paradise in a Christian Commonwealth, 1890

17. Defending the Truth: Resisting Modernism and Anglo-Catholicism, 1890

18. `Days of God's Right Hand': Missions and Revivals, 1890

19. Cross-cultural Missions at Home and Abroad, 1890

1914.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [584]-625) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781925523478

1925523470

9781925523485

9781925523461