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An Antipodean Establishment: Institutional Anglicanism in Australia, 1788–c. 1934

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Rowan Strong
Rowan Strong
Affiliation:
strong@socs.murdoch.edu.au
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Abstract

This article argues that the Church of England in Australia maintained for most of this period a culture of conservative political and social values. This conservative culture was a consequence of the Church of England being a subordinate partner in the hegemony of the ruling landed classes in England. In Australia, the Church of England, while never legally established, continued to act as though it was, and to strongly uphold conservative political and social values long after its monopolistic connection with the state had any practical reality. Consequently, the Church of England in Australia supported conventional values and solutions to social problems and marginalized Anglicans who challenged its prevailing conservatism. The catalysts for a change in this prevailing institutional culture were the First World War and the Great Depression. These challenges prompted the emergence within the institutional church of the beginnings of a more cautiously critical outlook towards the social status quo.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Anglican Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , August 2003 , pp. 61 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore) and The Journal of Anglican Studies Trust 2003

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