A Century of Influence: The Australian Student Christian Movement, 1896-1996.

Boyd, Robin

A Century of Influence: The Australian Student Christian Movement, 1896-1996 By Renate Howe. Sydney: Univ. of New South Wales Press, 2009. Pp. 446. Paperback AU$69.95 / US$74.89.

The Australian Student Christian Movement (ASCM) is perhaps unique among national SCMs in being the subject of a major scholarly history. Renate Howe, associate professor at Deakin University in Australia, is a distinguished social historian with long involvement in the social, political, and religious life of Australia. The narrative begins with John R. Mott's visit to Australia in 1896 and the consequent missionary enterprise, especially in Korea, China, India, and the Pacific. It continues through the rise of the modern ecumenical movement, touches--perhaps too briefly--on the split between the SCM and the Evangelical Union, and describes the golden days of the ASCM (ca. 1930--65), followed by the stormy decade starting in 1968. For the next twenty years, although the movement had lost much of its influence in the university, many of its senior members exercised a remarkable influence in the public sphere.

We read the illustrious names of ASCM women and men who opposed the infamous "White Australia" policy. Others entered local, state, and federal politics and worked to provide universal health care and proper housing. Some established Australia's constructive presence in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Others promoted land rights for Australia's indigenous people. Still others became heads of universities and colleges. In recent decades the movement has sought to demonstrate gender equality and sexual inclusivity in its own life.

The word "influence" in the book's title is justified by the fact that the ASCM did indeed influence political and social justice issues to the point where many wrongs were righted by government action. For how many movements can a similar claim be made? It was a costly influence, possible only through the readiness of many people to suffer for their Christian political commitment--such as Herb Feith in Indonesia, Frank Engel in Aboriginal communities and in Southeast Asia, and Margaret Holmes pioneering a new life for political internees and refugees. For the influence, of which the movement was an effective public channel, was nothing other than the influence of Christ, "the inspiration of our political struggle" (p. 361). The chapter entitled "Lo, Here Is Felawschippe" recalls the worship, Bible study, fellowship--and silence--that were at the heart of the ASCM.

It was largely a lay movement, concerned with being "university within the university." A professional theologian might have told the story differently, but Howe's account is genuine lay theology. Her distinguished public profile will ensure that her book is studied in Australian corridors of power. But its message is for all who seek to practice the politics of informed Christian conviction.

Robin Boyd, a retired minister of the Uniting Church in Australia, has written on Indian Christian theology and on the Student Christian Movement.