EVENT: Lecture

This is one of a series of six lectures on various aspects of religious studies and theology being offered jointly by the UWA Religion and Globalisation Initiative, Murdoch University (Theology) and the University of Notre Dame Australia (Philosophy and Theology). The lecture will be followed by opportunity for questions and refreshments will be served. All finished by 6pm.

In the present-day Solomon Islands, evangelism is so prominent that members of different denominations—and even non-Christians—interact with one another through what we might call proselytism. In examining how this generalized “evangelical public culture” has emerged, I pay close attention to the Solomons’ civil conflict of 1998-2003 and also to transnational movements of religious innovation such as Billy Graham’s historic crusade to Australia and New Zealand in 1959. I describe the distinct experiences of two men: Jeremiah, who has tried many churches but settled nowhere, and Akmad, who has converted decisively to Islam but still speaks of Jesus more than Muhammad and refers to the Bible more than the Quran.