Thoughts on Reading “The Bible in Australia” by Meredith Lake

First of all, this is not a review. It’s more a reflection on the experience of reading the book itself. A book-reflection then? Probably not a good idea to redefine established formats just yet. Call it what you will, I read a book and now I’m thinking about it and sharing my thoughts with you. So what was that book? It was, “The Bible in Australia – a cultural history” by Meredith Lake.

I wanted to read this book for a little while now but hadn’t quite got round to buying it. The solution to this problem was my friend Tim. He simply told me to borrow the book from him, which meant I had no choice but to read it in order to get it back to him in a respectable and timely manner. This in itself is no small feat because the book was like a 350-page tome! (Perhaps that says more about my reading habits than anything else) But Tim’s actions forced my hand. I read the book. I loved the book. Let us begin our little journey on the book.

Many of you will have experienced the life-changing effects of reading the Bible. Consider that you are one person in time. Consider that the Bible has been around throughout the centuries. Think about how much the Bible has changed history, nations, communities and individuals. If that thought is enthralling, then you should read ‘the Bible in Australia’ because you will see the way that the Bible has shaped the Australian nation, its migrant communities, its indigenous communities, and certain people important to our collective history. It’s a mind-bending thought to consider that so many individuals’ lives would be shaped and changed by the Bible that each individual then shaped and changed their community which in turn shaped the nation through time. Meredith Lake’s book is like sitting on an inflatable bed with a beer as it floats down a river which is twisting and turning before your eyes and you are watching the riving shape the landscape around itself and around you (But sometimes you spill the beer because it’s a rough ride. History is like that).

There are so many stories to tell, and Meredith does a great job at it. As you read you’re really taken on a journey. I don’t know if you’ve driven through the countryside, or gone for a really long hike through the mountains, but the terrain changes so much in the Australian landscape even on one drive or hike. That’s what reading this book is like. You get a glimpse as you walk through the centuries at the different landscapes in the Australian history.

Personally, it’s not until these last few years that I’ve come to appreciate history. Yet it has taken some time still to appreciate my own history, that is, Australian history. The history of the Bible in Australia is not black and white. You’d be forgiven for thinking that it was. After all, tertiary institutions are doing a pretty poor job at providing a balanced education regarding certain topics. Which then of course leads to tertiary-educated journalists in the media writing pretty unbalanced depictions and assessments regarding those topics – of which the Bible is one such topic. This we all know because we experience it today – we can’t help that. That sort of naivety was what was shaping my understanding of Australian history. But the Bible’s history in Australia is a complex one. Coming to appreciate that is special and all the more because of my ignorance regarding its cultural power (here I am speaking as a Christian!). I’ve always known that the Bible has shaped Australian culture (because it shaped British culture immensely) but there is really something special to the intricacies woven into history.

Now I am pretty old, 28 years old in fact (well nearly… My birthday is in November) and so my perspective on life is obviously broad and sweeping, encompassing nearly three decades of experience! That’s huge! … Nah. It’s very easy for me to feel like my experience in life is a normative experience by which I measure and assess all other experiences and viewpoints through history. I’m not saying I want to do this, I’m just saying that’s what naturally happens and I must actively fight against this inclination of mine. A surprising tool to this end was reading this book. Let me just name a couple of examples that made me feel very small (helpfully) in the grand scheme of things.

It was fascinating to read about how Charles Darwin and his research was shaping the debates in the 1800s. The science verse faith debate is nothing new to our age (which sounds so obvious). But as they dealt with it then, so we continue to do so today. It’s a funny thing to realize (or even be reminded again) that many people before us have dealt with many of the same things that we deal with. Another example is liberalism. Around the same time as the science verses faith debate, German theologians were pumping out their critical theologies and histories of the Bible and unravelling many people’s faith. Again, this continues to be our experience or at least we feel the hangover of these debates. All that to say, what we struggle with today can be remedied by the fact that we have been struggling with these topics for generations. Being so individualistic and disconnected from our own history is a lonely place to be and in a strange way reading ‘the Bible in Australia’ was like a weird antidote. At least that was my personal experience.

As a Christian, I primarily see my citizenship as a heavenly one. I think this is a good and right perspective. Yet sometimes this unhelpfully overshadows the fact that I am currently an Australian and have been all my life. It’s kind of weird having not known my own history for so long. But I’m very glad to have read the book because it does give me an appreciation of my Australian heritage. More importantly, it gives me a better perspective of my Christian heritage. And should you read the book, I hope that is your experience too.