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Stuart Piggin

Honorary Professor

Biography

Professor Stuart Piggin has taught history in King\'s College, London, Universities of Wollongong, Sydney, and Macquarie, and was Head of the Department of Christian Thought for the Australian University of Theology. In his capacity as Director of the Centre for the History of Christian Thought and Experience at Macquarie University from 2005 to 2016, he supervised 28 doctoral candidates, working principally on areas of Australian religious history and on the application of Classical and Christian thought to the modern world. He co-authored the prize-winning two-volume history of Australian Evangelical Christians, The Fountain of Public Prosperity (2018) and Attending to the National Soul (2020). Acclaimed a \u2018masterwork\', they are \u2018the fullest account\' yet written on the impact of Christianity on Australian history. The founding president of the Evangelical History Association of Australia, he is a committed Evangelical Anglican, with a special interest in Jonathan Edwards, the Church\'s foremost theologian of Revival, and the history of missions. He is the author of a biography of Archbishop Harry Goodhew and has also written major studies of the Australian experience of community disasters. He has been designated \u2018the historian of the Australian soul.\'

Qualifications

D.Th. (honoris causa) (Australian College of Theology) – 2023

Doctor of Letters (London School of Religion) – 1990

Ph.D. (University of London), Making Evangelical Missionaries, 1789-1858 – 1974

B.Div. (Melbourne College of Divinity) – 1984

B.A. (Hons in History, 1st Class) (University of Sydney) – 1966

Dip.Th. (Associateship of King's College) (University of London) – 1974

Dip.Ed. (University of Sydney) – 1967

  • Research Publications

    Books

    • 2021
      • Piggin, S. (2021). Harry Goodhew: Godly Radical, Archbishop, Dynamic Anglican. Morning Star Publishing.
    • 2020
      • Piggin, S. & Linder, R. (2020). Attending to the National Soul: Evangelical Christians in Australian History, 1914-2014. Monash University Publishing.
    • 2018
      • Piggin, S. & Linder, R. (2018). The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History, 1740-1914. Monash University Publishing.
    • 2000
      • Piggin, S. (2000). Firestorm of the Lord: The History of and Prospects for Revival in the Church and the World. Paternoster.
    • 1996
      • Piggin, S. (1996). Evangelical Christianity in Australia: Spirit, Word and World. OUP.
    • 1992
      • Piggin, S. & Lee, H. (1992). The Mount Kembla Disaster. OUP.
    • 1985
      • Piggin, S. & Roxborogh, J. (1985). The St. Andrews Seven: The Finest Flowering of Missionary Zeal in Scottish History. The Banner of Truth Trust.
    • 1984
      • Piggin, S. (1984). Making Evangelical Missionaries: The Social Background, Motivation, and Training of British Protestant Missionaries.. Sutton Courtenay Press.
      • Piggin, S. (1984). Faith of Steel: A History of the Christian Churches in Illawarra, Australia. University of Wollongong Press.

    Book Chapters

    • 2023
      • Piggin, S. (2023). Howard Mowll’s Bible In Erin Mollenhauer, .), Howard and Dorothy Mowll: Global Anglican Pioneers (pp. 236-251). The Latimer Trust.
    • 2022
      • Piggin, S. (2022). The First Australians and Australia First: The Story of Maria Yellomundee in Kevin Donnelly In Kevin Donnelly, Christianity Matters in these Troubled Times (pp. 17-30). Wilkinson Publishing.
    • 2021
      • Piggin, S. (2021). The Reception of Jonathan Edwards in Australia In Douglas Sweeney & Jan Stievermann, The Oxford Handbook of Jonathan Edwards (pp. 528-541). OUP.
    • 2017
      • Piggin, S. (2017). Jonathan Edwards and Terra Australis: His Perception of us and our Reception of him In Rhys S. Bezzant, The Global Edwards: Papers from the Jonathan Edwards Congress held in Melbourne, August 2015 (pp. 22-42). Wipf & Stock.
    • 2014
      • Piggin, S. & Lineham, P. (2014). Christianity in Australia and Oceania ca.1800–2000 In Lamin Sanneh & Michael J. McClymond, Blackwell Companion to World Christianity (pp. 575-587). Blackwells.
      • Piggin, S. (2014). Australasia and the Pacific Islands In Donald M. Lewis & Richard V. Pierard, Global Evangelicalism: Theology, History and Culture in Regional Perspective (pp. 232-254). IVP Academic.
    • 2012
      • Piggin, S. (2012). The Diocese of Sydney: This Terrible Conflict In Elaine Lindsay & Janet Scarfe, Preachers, Prophets and Heretics: Anglican Women’s Ministry (pp. 178-204). UNSW Press.
    • 2009
      • Piggin, S. (2009). Evangelical Christianity in Australia In James Jupp, The Encyclopedia of Religions in Australia (pp. 317-322). CUP.
    • 2006
      • Piggin, S. & Davidson, A. (2006). Christianity in Australasia and the Pacific In Sheridan Gilley & Brian Stanley, Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 8: World Christianities c.1815–c.1914 (pp. ch.33). CUP.
      • Piggin, S. (2006). Anglicanism and the Expansion of Christianity: Catholicity and Diversity In Tom Frame & Geoffrey Treloar, Agendas for Australian Anglicanism: Essays in Honour of Bruce Kaye (pp. 123-138). ATS Press.
    • 2004
      • Piggin, S. (2004). Domestic Spirituality: Jonathan Edwards on love, marriage and family life In Simon Holt & Gordon Preece, The Bible and the Business of Life: Essays in Honour of Robert J Banks’s Sixty-fifth Birthday (pp. 149-163). ATF Press.
    • 2003
      • Piggin, S. (2003). The Expanding Knowledge of God: Jonathan Edwards’s Influence on Missionary Thinking and Promotion In David W. Kling and Douglas A Sweeney, Jonathan Edwards at Home and Abroad (pp. 266-296). University of South Carolina Press.
    • 2002
      • Piggin, S. (2002). Australian Anglicanism in a World-Wide Context In Bruce Kaye, Anglicanism in Australia (pp. 200-222). Melbourne University Press.
    • 2000
      • Piggin, S. (2000). Jesus in Australian History and Culture In Susan & William Emilsen, .), Mapping the Landscape: Essays in Australian and New Zealand Christianity, Festschrift in Honour of Professor Ian Breward (pp. 150-167). Peter Lang.

    Journal Articles

    • 2024
      • Piggin, S. (2024). The Impact of John Stott on Australian Evangelicalism. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, Vol.3.3 5-27.
    • 2021
      • Piggin, S. (2021). On Writing the History of the Evangelical Experience in Australia: Secular Stereotypes and Spiritual Serendipities (2021 Annual Bishop Perry Lecture). Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, Vol.2.18 3-19.
      • Obituary: Robert (Bob) Dean Linder (6 October 1933-4 April 2021) (2021). Piggin, S.. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, Vol.2.17 3-16.
    • 2019
      • Piggin, S. (2019). Making the Best of Both Worlds: the Effect of the Gospel on Australian Public Life. The Reformed Theological Review, Vol.78.3 218-231.
    • 2018
      • The History of Evangelicalism in Australia: Address by Stuart Piggin (2018). Piggin, S.. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, Vol.2.12.
    • 2014
      • Piggin, S. (2014). Power and Religion in a Modern State: Desecularisation in Australian History. Journal of Religious History, Vol.38.3 320-340.
    • 2013
      • Piggin, S. (2013). God in History: Some thoughts on the recovery of a Useful Christian History. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, Vol.2.5 15-36.
      • Piggin, S. (2013). The Bible says and so say all of us: Decades of Equipoise or Entropy? Evangelical Currents in Australia, 1946-65. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, 17-37.
      • Piggin, S. (2013). Postscript 2013. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, Vol.2.5 37-45.
    • 2010
      • Piggin, S. (2010). 10 Maxims on Writing Religious History. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, New Series 2, 2010 5-13.
    • 2009
      • Piggin, S. (2009). James Stephen, John West and Thomas Holt: Three Evangelical Founders of Australian Nationhood. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, New Series 1, Autumn 2009 101-120.
      • Piggin, S. (2009). Piggin, S. Billy Graham’s 59 Southern Cross Crusade: Evangelistic Efficacy and Baptist Bonanza. The Baptist Recorder: Journal of the Baptist Historical Society of New South Wales, No.107 1-13.
      • Piggin, S. (2009). Preaching the New Birth and the Power of Godliness and not insisting so much on the Form: Recent studies of (mainly English) Evangelicalism. Journal of Religious History, Vol.33.3 366-376.
      • Our Heritage the best proof of Genuine Faith (2009). Piggin, S.. Church Heritage: Historical Journal of the Uniting Church in Australia, Vol.16.1 47-52.
    • 2007
      • Piggin, S. (2007). Two Australian Spiritual Awakenings: Moonta Mines 1875 and Loddon River 1883 Evangelical Review of Theology. Evangelical Review of Theology, Vol.31.1 60-70.
    • 2006
      • Piggin, S. (2006). The Properties of Concrete: Sydney Anglicanism and its recent critics. Meanjin, Vol.65.4 184-193.
    • 2004
      • Piggin, S. & Cook, D. (2004). Keeping alive the heart in the head: The Significance of Eternal Language in the Aesthetics of Jonathan Edwards and S. T. Coleridge. Literature and Theology, Vol.18.4 383-414.
    • 2001
      • Piggin, S. (2001). Bumper Harvest: Can we have More? Factors leading to Revival in Australia and their Lessons for Mission in Rural Australia today. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, 25 & 26, 1999.
    • 2000
      • Piggin, S. (2000). Evangelical Christianity in Crisis: Is there a need for a new paradigm?. Lucas: An Evangelical History Review, 23 & 24, December 1997/8 141-160.

    Edited Books

    • 2022
      • Mahlburg, K. & Marsh, W. (2022). Great Southland Revivals: Tracing the Spirit’s Flame from Acts to Australia.
    • 2014
      • Piggin, S. (2014). Engaging Rome and Jerusalem: Historical Essays for our Time by Edwin Judge.
    • 1994
      • Piggin, S. & Hutchinson, M. (1994). Reviving Australia: Essays on the History and Experience of Revivalism in Australian Christianity.
      • Piggin, S.; Diana Gammon, D. & Halloran, C. (1994). Taking up the Challenge: The External Factors Facing University Colleges and Halls.

  • Internal and External Grants

  • Presentations

  • Engagement Publications

  • Professional Memberships


    Australian Historical Association

    Australian Modern British History Association

    Ecclesiastical History Society

    Evangelical History Association (Founding President)

    International Commission for Comparative Ecclesiastical History (Australian National Commission)

    Royal Historical Society



  • Teaching

    Not currently teaching

  • Supervision

    • Completed
      • 2021
        • Peter Watson, Sidere Mens Eadam Mutato: The Scottish Youth and Australian Ministry of the Rev. Neil MacLeod (Doctoral Thesis)
      • 2020
        • Lynne Gray, The Visitation in Australia: A Social History of a Christian Prophetic Movement (Doctoral Thesis)
      • 2018
        • Ruth Lukabyo, Protestant Youth ministry in Sydney 1930-1950 (Doctoral Thesis)
        • Rory James Wilson Shiner, Reading the New Testament in Australia: An Historical Account of the Origins, Development and Influence of D. W. B. Robinson’s Biblical Scholarship (Doctoral Thesis)
      • 2017
        • Michael Petras, Can the star-spangled banner advance Australia fair? Baptist growth in America and Australia (Doctoral Thesis)
      • 2016
        • Paul James Roe, Making the Invisible Story Visible: An argument for publicly articulating the neglected Christian chapter of Australia’s modern history through a story¬telling, teaching sanctuary in the national capital (Doctoral Thesis)
        • Irene Petrou, From North Africa to Byzantium and to New England: Augustine, Maximus and Jonathan Edwards on the meaning and shape of Christian Salvation (Doctoral Thesis)
        • David Pettett, Samuel Marsden, Blinkered Visionary: A re-examination of his character and circumstances through the study of his sermons (Doctoral Thesis)
        • Mersina Papantoniou, Multiculturalism’s challenge to Sydney Anglican Identity: The study of a Minority Radical Tradition (1987 – 2000) (Doctoral Thesis)
      • 2014
        • Resurrection and Eschatology in the Reformation Formularies of the Church of England, 1536-1571, Tim Patrick (Doctoral Thesis)
        • Donald George Anderson, Teach the Children: a History of the School Education Work of the Sydney Anglican Church with special reference to the Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation, 1788 to 1991 (Doctoral Thesis)
        • Bruce Albert Ballantine-Jones, Changes in Policy and Practices in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney 1966-2013: the political factor (Doctoral Thesis)
        • James Edward Gibson, The Development of the Sensus Divinitatis and its Application to the Propagation of the Christian Gospel: Case studies in Western Christian History (Doctoral Thesis)
        • Damon Adams, The Wind Blows Where It Lists’: An Account of the Arrival & Early Establishment of Pentecostalism in Tasmania: Along with the Theological & Ecclesial Tributaries & Obstacles to the Movement (Doctoral Thesis)