Church and State
The Religious History Society is sponsor of the upcoming Workshop: Church and State in Old and New Worlds in association with the Research Group on Religion and Intellectual Traditions and the Institute for the Advanced Study of Humanity at the University of Newcastle, NSW to be held 11–13 December 2008 at Newcastle City Hall.
This workshop brings together national and international scholars to consider one of the central issues in Western historiography – the relationship between church and state. This classic theme has never really gone away but is emerging to engage scholars in new ways in the wake of the colonial and postcolonial critique of the long history of the west and its imperial expansion from early modern times to the present. Within the West changing conceptions of the state, of marriage and family life, and the aftermath of 9/11 with an increase in Western–Islamic tension and the renewal of ‘evangelical atheism’ have all recently served to bring the issue into renewed focus.
The workshop will open on the evening of Thurs. 11 December with a keynote address from Frank Lambert (Purdue) on Church and State in the US.
Friday 12 Dec will be devoted to papers on the European background with the following speakers: Claire Walker (Adelaide): Early Modern England; David Cahill (UNSW): Early Modern Spain and Spanish America; David Garrioch (Monash): Old Regime France; Steward J. Brown (Edinburgh): Modern Scotland and England; Jennifer Ridden (Latrobe): Modern Ireland; and Judith Keene (Sydney): Modern Spain. There will be a workshop dinner in the evening.
The Sat. 13 Dec will focus on Church–State relations in colonial and post-colonial perspectives with papers by Rowan Strong (Murdoch) on Western Australia; Hilary Carey (Newcastle) on Colonial Missions; John Stenhouse (Otago, NZ) on New Zealand; Bruce Kaye (UNSW) on the Anglican Church in Australia; John Murphy (Melbourne) on the Australian churches and welfare; and Troy Duncan (Newcastle) on Bishop Batty of Newcastle.
The workshop convenors are Hilary Carey and John Gascoigne
Could those interested in attending contact Troy Duncan
- Check out the Society’s Draft Constitution. The Draft Constitution has been drawn up by Bruce Kaye in consultation with the RHS executive. The Constitution was endorsed by the Adelaide biennial meeting.