Religion & Secular History

‘Religion & Secular History’ is a very large field, or, actually, the historical summation from many fields — religious history, studies of religion, philosophy of religion, world religions studies (anthropology and sociology), the psychology of religion, and so forth.

In exploring the almost-impossible question of ‘what is religion’. something of an answer can be formulated in ‘what is secularity’. The explanations are often too incomplete for the simple reason that the conceptions are highly conditioned by history and culture.
The common disposition is that the problem of religion, and the value of the secular, are too difficult areas to seek understanding. Wars, murders, hate crimes have been encountered in such debates and arguments. Here we have, in fact, the very reason why understanding should be sought. By ignoring the world of belief and doubt, and not having the conversation, we lock ourselves away into the abyss.

Dr Buch is the noted Queensland historian of Protestant and Catholic 20th century history. His doctorate is the most definitive history in the field of Protestant organisation and thought in Queensland. Dr Buch, however, is a scholar of both belief and doubt in a wider context of shifting organisation and thought in Queensland, including heterodoxy, rationalism, and skepticism.
Among his well-regarded publications in this area are:

• Knights of the Southern Cross: A New Story from the Old Days. Queensland 1921-2015. Proceedings of Brisbane Catholic Historical Society. Volume 15, 2016.
• ‘…many distractions confronting the Church’: The Responses of Protestant Religion to Popular Culture in Queensland 1919-1969. Everyday Wonders Popular Culture: Past and Present 10th International Conference, Crest Hotel, Brisbane, June 1997;
• (with Robert Long). The Americanisation of Christian Education in Queensland: A study of the Sunday School and New Christian School Movements 1945-96. Australian Religion Studies Review. Volume 9, No 2 (1996);
• Americanizing Queensland Protestantism, Studying Australian Christianity 1995 Conference, Robert Menzies College, Macquarie University, July 1995;
• The Significance of the American Invasion for Australian Churches: A Preliminary Examination, War’s End Conference (Queensland Studies Centre, Griffith University), University Hall, James Cook University, July 1995.

See also ‘Rationalism & Skepticism History’.

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