William Emilsen

MA, BSc, BD, PhD Lecturer in Church History and World Religions
Phone:
02 8838 8925

William Emilsen is the lecturer in Church History and World Religions and Senior lecturer in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University. He has a B.Sc. (Hons) and Dip Ed. from the University of New South Wales and M.A., B.D (Hons) and PhD degrees from the University of Sydney. He was ordained as a Minister of the Word in 1980 and has served as a university chaplain and in several pastorates before entering full–time teaching in 1993. His major publications include Mapping the Landscape: Essays in Australian and New Zealand Christianity (Peter Lang, 2000), Gandhi's Bible (ISPCK, 2001), The Uniting Church in Australia: The First 25 Years, Armadale (Circa, 2003), and Pride of Place: A History of Pitt Street Congregational Church (Circa, 2008).

William is a founding and current editor of Uniting Church Studies, the chairperson of the Uniting Church’s Historical Reference Committee, and a member of the Journal of Religious History Association. He is the Course Coordinator for Charles Sturt University’s Doctor of Ministry program and offers courses including Uniting Church Studies, The Christian Church to 500CE, Church History Methodology, Australian Church History, and Reformation Church History.

Research interests

Uniting Church history; Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy; Aboriginal history; early church spirituality.

  • Publications


    Books
    Remodelling God: A Thematic Introduction to Metaphorical, ed. with Andrew Irvine, Theology, Joint Board of Christian Education and Desbooks, Melbourne, 1983.

    Winter Harvest, Australian and New Zealand Studies in Theology and Religion, Sydney, 1987.
     
    Violence and Atonement: The Missionary Experiences of Mohandas Gandhi, Samuel Stokes and Verrier Elwin in India before 1935, Frankfort am Main, Peter Lang, 1994.

    The India of My Dreams: Samuel Stokes’s Challenge to Christian Mission, Delhi, ISPCK, 1995.

    Cannibal Jack. The New Zealand Journal of William Diaper 1846–1847, ed. with Susan Emilsen, Colcom Press, Orewa, N.Z., 1996.

    O’Connor: Exploring the History of a Uniting Church Congregation, with Susan Emilsen, UTC Publications, Sydney, 1997.

    Marking Twenty Years. The Uniting Church in Australia 1977–1997, ed. with Susan Emilsen,  UTC Publications, Sydney, 1997.

    The Goldfields Journal of William Diaper, Perth, Hesperian Press, 1999.

    Mapping the Landscape: Essays In Australian and New Zealand Christianity, ed. with Susan Emilsen, Peter Lang, New York, 2000.

    Prayers of the Early Church, UTC, North Parramatta, 2000.

    Gandhi’s Bible, ISPCK, Delhi, 2001.

    The Uniting Church in Australia: The First 25 Years, ed. with Susan Emilsen, Circa, Armadale, Vic., 2003.

    Prayer and Thanksgiving: Essays in Honour of Rev. Dr Graham Hughes, ed. with John T. Squires, UTC Publications, Sydney, 2003.

    Pride of Place: The History of Pitt Street Congregational Church, ed. with Patricia Curthoys, Circa, Beaconsfield, Vic., 2008)

    Validating Violence—Violating Faith? (Studies in Scripture, Religion and Violence), ed. with John Squires, Adelaide, ATF, 2008.

    The Sapphire Blue Light: Prayers of the Early Church, Delhi, ISPCK, forthcoming in 2010.

    The Heretics Club 1916–2006: Ninetieth Anniversary Papers, ed. with Geoffrey R. Treloar, Sydney, Origen Press, 2009.


    Chapters

    “Remodelling faith: Models of God and the maturing of faith”, in Remodelling God: A Thematic Introduction to Metaphorical Theology, Melbourne, Joint Board of Christian Education and Desbooks, 1983, ch. 9.

    “On Exploring the History of a Congregation”, in O’Connor: Exploring the History of a Uniting Church Congregation, ed. William W. Emilsen and Susan Emilsen, UTC Publications, North Parramatta, 1997, ch. 6.
     
    “The Great Gulf Fixed’: Samuel Stokes and the Brotherhood of the Imitation of Jesus”, in Religious Traditions in South Asia. Interaction and Change, ed. Geoffrey A. Oddie, Curzon, Richmond, Surrey, 1998, pp. 91–106.

    “Gandhi and ‘Lead, Kindly Light’”, in This Immense Panorama. Studies in Honour of Eric J. Sharpe, ed. Carole M. Cusack and Peter Oldmeadow, (Sydney Studies in Religion 2), School of Studies in Religion, The University of Sydney, 1999, pp. 227–237.
     
    “‘The Origins of the Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress”, in Mapping the Landscape: Essays in Australian and New Zealand Christianity (Festschrift for Professor Ian Breward), Peter Lang, New York, 2000, pp. 62–86.
     
    “An American in India: Samuel Stokes’s Conversion in Reverse”, in The World of Religions: Essays on Historical and Contemporary Issues, ed. by Garry W. Trompf and Gildas Hamel, ISPCK, Delhi, 2002, pp. 226–247.
     
    “Introductory Interview with Graham Hughes”, in Prayer and Thanksgiving: Essays in Honour of Rev. Dr Graham Hughes, edited by William W. Emilsen and John T. Squires, UTC Publications, Sydney, 2003, pp. 1–15.
     
    “The North”, in The Uniting Church in Australia: The First 25 Years, ed. by William W. Emilsen and Susan Emilsen, Armadale, Vic., circa, 2003, ch. 3.

    “The Interdependence of Indigenous and multicultural Christian perspectives—a fading vision?” in Crossing Borders: Shaping Faith, Ministry and Identity in Multicultural Australia, ed. Helen Richmond and Myong Duk Yang, UCA Assembly and NSW Board of Mission, Sydney, 2006, ch. 21.

    “Gandhi, Scripture and Violence”, in Validating Violence—Violating Faith? (Studies in Scripture, Religion and Violence), ATF, Adelaide, 2008.

    “Ministry to the Wayfarer”, in Pride of Place: A History of Pitt Street Congregational Church, Beaconsfield, Vic., Circa , 2008, ch. 7

    “Chapel in the Sky”, Pride of Place: A History of Pitt Street Congregational Church, Beaconsfield, Vic., Circa , 2008, ch. 8.

    “The Heretics: An Anecdotal History”, The Heretics Club 1916–2006: Ninetieth Anniversary Papers, ed. William W. Emilsen and Geoffrey Treloar, Sydney, Origen Press, 2009, ch. 5.


    Refereed articles

    “Vivekananda and the Theosophists”, Journal of Indian History, Vol. LXII, April 1984, pp. 199–216.
     
    “Gandhi and Mayo’s Mother India”, South Asia, Vol. 10, No. 1, June 1987, pp. 69–82.
     
    “A Note on Mayo, Athiyaman and Venkatchalapathy: A Rejoinder”, South Asia, August 1990, pp. 89–90.
     
    “‘The Great Gulf Fixed’: Samuel Stokes and the Brotherhood of the Imitation”, Indo–British Review, Vol. 19, No. 1, 1993, pp. 83–98.
     
    “Wrestling the Serpent: Gandhi, Amritsar and the British Empire”, Religion, Vol. 24, 1994, pp. 143–153.

    “William Binnington Boyce”, in The Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, ed. Brian Dickey, Evangelical History Association, Sydney, 1994, pp. 47–48.

    “Witnessing to the Gospel in the Twenty-first Century”, St Mark’s Review, No. 165, Autumn 1996, pp. 28–30.

    “‘Testing the Spirit’: A Brief History of O’Connor Uniting Church Parish”, Uniting Church Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, August 1996, pp. 8–36.
     
    “The Legacy of Jack Winslow”, International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 1997, pp. 26–30.
     
    “Gandhi and ‘Lead, kindly Light’”, Pacifica, Vol. 10, No. 1, February 1997, pp. 84-92.

    “John Flynn”, in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson, Macmillan, 1998, New York, p. 217.
     
    “Does Hospitality begin at Home?” Journal for Case Teaching, No. 10, Fall 1999, pp. 93–96.
     
    “The Face of Christ: The Ministry of Deacons”, Expository Times, Vol. 110, No. 7, April 1999, pp. 216–217.
     
    “Gandhi, Scripture and the Bible”, Pacifica, Vol. 14, February 2001, pp. 71–86.
     
    “Gandhi and The Greatest Thing in the World”, Expository Times, Vol. 113, No. 4, January 2002, pp. 118–119.
     
    “Uniting Church Studies: the First Ten Years”, Uniting Church Studies, Vol. 10, No. 2, August 2004, pp. 1–10.
     
    “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A Case Study in Reconciliation”, Uniting Church Studies Vol. 10, No. 2, August 2004, pp. 37–47.

    “On Being President: An Interview with James Haire”, Uniting Church Studies, Vol. 11, No. 2, August 2005, pp. 1–17.

    “‘On Being Very Visible’: ‘Rollie’ Busch as a Public Theologian”, Uniting Church Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1, June 2008, pp. 43–53.

    “Gandhi on truth and truthfulness in public life”, Uniting Church Studies, Vol. 14, No.2, December 2008, pp. 39–50.

    “Teenage Suicide Missions: The Role of Religion in the Recruitment of Young Suicide Bombers”, Forum on Public Policy, Summer 2008.

     

    “Uniting Church: Formation and Character of the Uniting Church”, The Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia, ed. James Jupp, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 582–591.


Last modified by Ben Myers on December 08, 2009
William Emilsen, Lecturer in Church History and World Religions

William Emilsen, Lecturer in Church History and World Religions