Table of Contents

• Introduction: Under the skin
• Part 1: Colonial foundations
• 1. In the beginning?
• 2. Indigenous encounters
• 3. God’s immigrants?
• Part 2: The great age of the Bible
• 4. Spreading the Word
• 5. Seeking the good society
• 6. Re-evaluating the text
• Part 3: Bible and nation
• 7. Advancing Australia Fair
• 8. Politics and the Bible
• 9. War and its aftermath
• Part 4: A secular Australia?
• 10. The turning point
• 11. Re-imagining Australia
• 12. The Bible in the new millennium
• Bibliography
• Notes
• Index

About the Author

Meredith Lake is a historian of religion, society and culture in Australia, with a PhD from the University of Sydney. She is the author of a highschoolers’ guide to The Bible Down Under (2016), and a study in social welfare from the Great Depression to the present, Faith in Action: Hammond Care (UNSW Press, 2013). She has also written articles on Christianity and colonialism, including a prize-winning piece in the Journal of Religious History.

Reviews

2018 Australian Christian Book of the Year

"The Bible in Australia is an unpretentious title for a remarkable book, and yet it is accurate enough. The Bible has been an ever-present aspect of life in Australia for 230 years, but no one has ever thought through its profound importance before." – Alan Atkinson, Australian Book Review

"Stunning, refreshing and original." - Julia Baird

"From the opening words about Bra Boy tattoos, this book had me gripped. It breathes colour, poetry and life into our understanding of the Bible in Australia. A vital, much-needed addition to our understanding of faith in our country." - Julia Baird

"Vivid story-telling and impossible to put down. Meredith Lake brings the Bible's chameleon-like presence in Australia's past alive. At last, this long-neglected yet profoundly important aspect of Australian history has found its true historian. A remarkable achievement." - Mark McKenna