Academic literature on the topic 'Australian Presbyterianism'

Since the beginning of Anglican missionary activity in the southwest Pacific in the mid-nineteenth century, fifteen European missionaries and at least seven Pacific Islanders have died violently in the course of their work. In that same region, comprising island Melanesia and New Guinea, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, and the London Missionary Society [L.M.S.] have each had their honour roll of martyrs. Three of these have achieved a measure of fame outside the Pacific and their own denomination: John Williams of the L.M.S., killed at Erromanga in Vanuatu (formerly the New Hebrides) in 1839; James Chalmers, also of the L.M.S., killed in New Guinea in 1901; and John Coleridge Patteson, Missionary Bishop of Melanesia and head of the Melanesian Mission, killed in 1871. Patteson has been the subject of more than fifteen biographies (several of them in German and Dutch), in addition to essays in collections on English missionary heroes, scholarly articles, and pamphlets for popular consumption. In Anglican churches in England, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and elsewhere he is commemorated as missionary hero in memorial tablets and stained-glass windows.

The latter half of the 19th century was a time of immense change in Presbyterianism worldwide in respect of the role of music in worship. Within this period the long tradition of unaccompanied congregational psalmody gave way to the introduction of hymnody, instrumental music (initially provided by harmoniums and later by pipe organs) and choral music in the form of anthems. The Presbyterian Church of Victoria, formed in 1859 as a union of the Church of Scotland and the majority of the Free Presbyterian and the United Presbyterian churches and numerically the strongest branch of Presbyterianism in Australia, was to the forefront in embracing this tide of change. Beginning in 1861with the proposal for the compilation of a colonial hymnbook, issues associated with musical repertoire and practice occupied a prominent place in discussions and decision making over the next 30 years. Between 1861 and 1901 hymnody was successfully introduced into church worship with the adoption of three hymnals in 1867, 1883 and 1898. Programs of music education were devised for the teaching of the new repertoire and for improving the standard of congregational singing. A hallmark tradition of Presbyterianism was overturned with the introduction of instruments into worship, initially as a support for congregational singing but in time as providers of purely instrumental music also. The profile of the choir changed dramatically. Making extensive use of primary sources, this study aims to document the process of change in Victoria between 1861 and 1901, exploring the rationales underlying decisions taken and historical factors facilitating change. Musical developments in Victoria are viewed in the context of those elsewhere, especially Scotland and of general changes in aesthetic taste. The study concludes that the process of musical change shows the Presbyterian Church of Victoria to have been a forwardlooking and well-endowed institution with the confidence to take initiatives independent of Scottish control. It is also concluded that changes in musical practice within the worship of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria reflect developments taking place in other denominations and the changing aesthetic tastes of the Victorian era.

This study covers the period from arrival of the first minister to union of most congregations in a Church unconnected with the Scottish parent Churches. My thesis is that reliance on the Scottish Churches was a necessary condition for establishment of the Presbyterian Church in the Colony but also the principal cause of failure to attempt to become a major religious force. Equality with the Church of England was conceded gradually and, initially, reluctantly and from the first State aid and religious rights derived from adherence to the Church of Scotland. Almost the entire ministry derived from Scotland or, to a lesser extent, Ulster, and both the Established and Free Churches of Scotland resisted recruitment of outsiders. Consequently, the ministry remained Scotland-oriented and imbued with all the passions of divided Scottish Presbyterianism. Control over State aid and recruitment assisted the Scottish Churches in forcing a disruption in 1846 and for a generation the Church remained weak, fragmented and in conflict over alleged erastianism in the Church of Scotland, indiscriminate aid and voluntaryism. These Churches involved themselves in local ecclesiastical contentions and were used against opponents by Colonial ministers with influence in Scotland. Colonial Presbyterianism was introverted, backward-looking, unassimilated holding to Scottish standards and to concepts inappropriate for the local environment. The Church appeared a sect for expatriate Scots and Ulstermen. Others, ministers and lay people, felt rejected. The native-born saw the Church as an exotic institution which did not relate to them. Some ministers espoused the Church ideal, but made little headway. Others were concerned only to retain the Established Church connection or the purity of 'Free Church principles' and some resisted accommodation of divergent viewpoints. Eventually compromise, unity, independence and assimilation were accepted as essential to progress.

Presbyterianism has a rich, robust, resilient history. Since Presbyterianism began in Scotland in the early 1560s, its adherents have spread to Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand. In some locales and eras, Presbyterians have flourished; in others, they have struggled; in still others, they have experienced both triumphs and defeats. The essays in this handbook explain the historical roots and development, challenges and problems, and successes and failures of Presbyterians all over the world. During their history, Presbyterians have developed a distinctive theology, style of worship, and polity. As a body influenced by John Calvin and other Swiss Reformers, Presbyterianism has emphasized the sovereignty of God, the election of individuals for salvation and service, and the necessity of continual reform to remain faithful to the Scriptures and to adapt the gospel message to various cultural settings. Presbyterian worship has centered around the preaching of God’s word, typically based on the exposition of Scriptural passages, and the celebration of the sacraments of communion and baptism. Presbyterian polity establishes three officers—pastors (teaching elders), ruling elders, and deacons—to lead the church and a series of graded courts to govern their ministry. Differences over doctrine, polity, liturgy, and social issues, as well as ethnic, racial, class, and gender issues, regional factors, and personal conflicts have often produced controversy and even schism among Presbyterians. Presbyterians have also adopted differing theological positions based on their understanding of Scripture, natural theology, philosophy, and life experiences. Throughout their history, Presbyterians have often had an influence in society that exceeds their numbers because of their generally high levels of education, wealth, and status. This continues to be true today for the world’s thirty-three million Presbyterians who belong to hundreds of denominations in more than seventy-five nations.

Ministerial training throughout the nineteenth century was dogged by persistent uncertainties about what Dissenters wanted ministers to do: were they to be preachers or scholars, settled pastors or roving missionaries? Sects and denominations such as the Baptists and Congregationalists invested heavily in the professionalization of ministry, founding, building, and expanding ministerial training colleges whose pompous architecture often expressed their cultural ambitions. That was especially true for the Methodists who had often been wary of a learned ministry, while Presbyterians who had always nursed such a status built an impressive international network of colleges, centred on Princeton Seminary. Among both Methodists and Presbyterians, such institution building could be both bedevilled and eventually stimulated by secessions. Colleges were heavily implicated not just in the supply of domestic ministers but also in foreign mission. Even exceptions to this pattern such as the Quakers who claimed not to have dedicated ministers were tacitly professionalizing training by the end of the century. However, the investment in institutions did not prevent protracted disputes over how academic their training should be. Many very successful Dissenting entrepreneurs, such as Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Thomas Champness, William Booth, and Adoniram Judson Gordon, offered unpretentious vocational training, while in colonies such as Australia there were complaints from Congregationalists and others that the colleges were too high-flying for their requirements. The need to offer a liberal education, which came to include science, as well as systematic theological instruction put strain on the resources of the colleges, a strain that many resolved by farming out the former to secular universities. Many of the controversies generated by theological change among Dissenters centred on colleges because they were disputes about the teaching of biblical criticism and how to resolve the tension between free inquiry and the responsibilities of tutors and students to the wider denomination. Colleges were ill-equipped to accommodate theological change because their heads insisted that theology was a static discipline, central to which was the simple exegesis of Scripture. That generated tensions with their students and caused numerous teachers to be edged out of colleges for heresy, most notoriously Samuel Davidson from Lancashire Independent College and William Robertson Smith from the Aberdeen Free Church College. Nevertheless, even conservatives such as Moses Stuart at Andover had emphasized the importance of keeping one’s exegetical tools up to date, and it became progressively easier in most denominations for college teachers to enjoy intellectual liberty, much as Unitarians had always done. Yet the victory of free inquiry was never complete and pyrrhic in any event as from the end of the century the colleges could not arrest a slow decline in the morale and prospects of Dissenting ministers.