Evangelicals & Nation-Building

The Evangelical History Association
2021 Biennial Conference

9:00am-5:00pm, Saturday 14 August 2021
Alphacrucis College, 30 Cowper St, Parramatta NSW (Venue TBC)

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Keynote speakers

Dr Meredith Lake, host of Soul Search on ABC Radio National, and author of The Bible in Australia: A cultural history (2018 Christian Book of the Year, 2019 NSW Premier’s History Award: Australian History Prize, 2019 Prime Minister’s Australian History Prize).

Conjoint Associate Professor Stuart Piggin, co-author of The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740–1914 (2019 Christian Book of the Year) and Attending to the National Soul: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740–1914.

Plus panel discussion on Teaching History for Evangelicals

Register for the conference

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Call for papers

The Evangelical History Association of Australia is pleased to call for papers to be presented at its forthcoming annual conference, ‘Christianity and Nation-Building’.

Evangelicals have always had a keen interest in the nation, but the nature of that interest has been remarkably diverse. Evangelicals have taken different sides on most debates about what it means to be Australian, or British, or Chinese, and have been both ardent advocates and persistent critics of the nation-building project. In only the most recent and prominent of examples, American evangelicals have rallied behind Donald Trump’s call to ‘Make America Great Again’, but also gathered to protest against this vision
for the nation.

In a time of significant divides, not only along nationalist lines, but between the particularist ‘somewheres’ and the universalist ‘anywheres’, how ought we understand the way Christians relate to the nation? In what ways has the ‘nation-building’ project mobilised their energies, either in support of it or in critique of it? And what lessons might evangelicals draw for wise engagement with this nation and a world of nations today?

We welcome papers of 20 minutes’ length on all areas of the history of evangelical Christianity or an evangelical approach to history that address the theme of Christianity and the nation in the widest terms.

Topics might include (but are not limited to) evangelical Christianity and:
- civic and political institutions and leaders
- church and state
- pluralism and globalisation
- charity and philanthropy
- war and remembrance
- eschatology and apocalypticism
- theological and ecclesial debates
- missions and missionary movements
- cross-cultural and indigenous issues

We also invite—separate to the standard 20 min historical papers invited above—shorter 10 minute papers (1000-1200 words) that address the brief: ‘The Nation Today: Applying Perspectives from the Past’. These shorter papers are to address a contemporary issue and reflect on what resources the history of Christianity offer us for understanding or responding to it. Depending on uptake, we plan to arrange a special publication venue for these shorter papers. Longer papers will be welcomed for submission to the EHA’s peer-reviewed journal, Lucas: An Evangelical History Review.

Please send abstracts of 250 words and a brief bio to Dr Paul Cooper by 3 April 2021 at secretaryeha@gmail.com
*Note: All presenters are required to be financial members of the EHA. To become a member, click here.