Michael Gladwin
I'm a historian with an interest in the cultural and religious history of Australia, within the wider context of the British empire and world. I am also interested in the relationship between religion and war in Australian history.
My current project is the first full-scale critical history of the Bible Society of Australia, which is Australia's longest-running organisation (founded in 1817) and a locus for Bible translation in Oceania, Bible distribution and promotion, and ecumenical partnership. Other projects include an intellectual history of religion and transcendence in Australian war commemoration, an edited history of preaching and sermons in Australia, and an intellectual history of Methodist missions and British anti-slavery, c.1800–1835.
In 2010 I completed my Cambridge doctoral dissertation, which was published in 2015 as part of the Royal History Society's 'Studies in History' monograph series. The book is entitled Anglican clergy in Australia, 1788-1850: building a British World. It is a study of a key figure in the Australian colonies between 1788 and 1850: the Anglican clergyman. 235 Anglican clergymen served in the Australian colonies during this period. By 1850 around 1,200 Anglican clergymen were serving in the wider empire, making them a significant but neglected presence in colonial and imperial endeavour. By mapping their recruitment, backgrounds, motivations and wider contribution to the formative phases of social, cultural, religious and intellectual life in the Australian colonies, I demonstrate that their influence radically transcended the common perception of them as little more than agents of the colonial and imperial state. For many clergymen the state's imperatives were secondary to a distinctly Christian and Enlightenment-inflected vision of the socio-political order, which underwrote protest against the state on various issues, especially among clergyman-journalists. The clergy's influence was further complicated by their social class and professional status, and notions of gentility, masculinity and a nascent muscular Christianity.
My previous monograph explored Army chaplaincy in Australia and the British Empire between 1788 and the present. It resulted in the first full-scale history of Australian Army chaplains and the Royal Australian Army Chaplains Department. Entitled Captains of the soul: a history of Australian Army chaplains, it was published in 2013. It was the winner of an Australian national book award in 2015. It can be purchased at: http://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/Military/Captains-of-the-Soul/1020/productview.aspx.
With a colleague from Deakin University (Australia), Dr Jo Cruikshank, I organised a conference in September 2013 which examined the history of religion and public conversation in Australia, with a particular focus on preaching and sermons. An edited book, incorporating revised versions of the excellent papers presented at the conference, is anticipated shortly.
Supervisors: Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh; David M Thompson, Emeritus Professor of Modern Church History, University of Cambridge
My current project is the first full-scale critical history of the Bible Society of Australia, which is Australia's longest-running organisation (founded in 1817) and a locus for Bible translation in Oceania, Bible distribution and promotion, and ecumenical partnership. Other projects include an intellectual history of religion and transcendence in Australian war commemoration, an edited history of preaching and sermons in Australia, and an intellectual history of Methodist missions and British anti-slavery, c.1800–1835.
In 2010 I completed my Cambridge doctoral dissertation, which was published in 2015 as part of the Royal History Society's 'Studies in History' monograph series. The book is entitled Anglican clergy in Australia, 1788-1850: building a British World. It is a study of a key figure in the Australian colonies between 1788 and 1850: the Anglican clergyman. 235 Anglican clergymen served in the Australian colonies during this period. By 1850 around 1,200 Anglican clergymen were serving in the wider empire, making them a significant but neglected presence in colonial and imperial endeavour. By mapping their recruitment, backgrounds, motivations and wider contribution to the formative phases of social, cultural, religious and intellectual life in the Australian colonies, I demonstrate that their influence radically transcended the common perception of them as little more than agents of the colonial and imperial state. For many clergymen the state's imperatives were secondary to a distinctly Christian and Enlightenment-inflected vision of the socio-political order, which underwrote protest against the state on various issues, especially among clergyman-journalists. The clergy's influence was further complicated by their social class and professional status, and notions of gentility, masculinity and a nascent muscular Christianity.
My previous monograph explored Army chaplaincy in Australia and the British Empire between 1788 and the present. It resulted in the first full-scale history of Australian Army chaplains and the Royal Australian Army Chaplains Department. Entitled Captains of the soul: a history of Australian Army chaplains, it was published in 2013. It was the winner of an Australian national book award in 2015. It can be purchased at: http://www.bigskypublishing.com.au/Books/Military/Captains-of-the-Soul/1020/productview.aspx.
With a colleague from Deakin University (Australia), Dr Jo Cruikshank, I organised a conference in September 2013 which examined the history of religion and public conversation in Australia, with a particular focus on preaching and sermons. An edited book, incorporating revised versions of the excellent papers presented at the conference, is anticipated shortly.
Supervisors: Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh; David M Thompson, Emeritus Professor of Modern Church History, University of Cambridge
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Books by Michael Gladwin
From the legendary William ‘Fighting Mac’ McKenzie, whose friendships with Australian soldiers in the trenches of Gallipoli and France made him a national figure in 1918, to Harold Wardale-Greenwood, who died caring for the sick while a POW on the brutal Sandakan ‘death march’ in July 1945, this book assesses the contribution of chaplains in conflicts and peacekeeping missions, in barracks and among service families.
Drawing on a wealth of original archival material and little known published sources, Captains of the soul represents the first comprehensive account of Australian Army chaplains. It surveys their changing role and experience from the Great War of 1914–18 to Afghanistan; charts the evolution of the Royal Australian Army Chaplains’ Department across its first century; and addresses the significance of Army chaplaincy for Australia’s military, religious and cultural history since 1788. """"
Papers by Michael Gladwin
From the legendary William ‘Fighting Mac’ McKenzie, whose friendships with Australian soldiers in the trenches of Gallipoli and France made him a national figure in 1918, to Harold Wardale-Greenwood, who died caring for the sick while a POW on the brutal Sandakan ‘death march’ in July 1945, this book assesses the contribution of chaplains in conflicts and peacekeeping missions, in barracks and among service families.
Drawing on a wealth of original archival material and little known published sources, Captains of the soul represents the first comprehensive account of Australian Army chaplains. It surveys their changing role and experience from the Great War of 1914–18 to Afghanistan; charts the evolution of the Royal Australian Army Chaplains’ Department across its first century; and addresses the significance of Army chaplaincy for Australia’s military, religious and cultural history since 1788. """"