From Cambridge to Colony: Charles Simeon's Enduring Influence on Christianity in Australia

Simeon's magnum opus, his Horae Homileticae, famously contains the three questions by which Simeon hoped all his preaching would be judged: 'Does it uniformly tend to humble the sinner? To exalt the Saviour? To promote holiness?' The copy in Oxford's Bodleian library also contains this inscription: 'To the Chancellor and Scholars at Oxford for the Bodleian Library. A present from the Author in the humble hope, and with earnest prayer to God, that his efforts to diffuse the knowledge of Christ with all the wonders of Redeeming Love may not be in vain. Ch. Simeon, King's College Cambridge 1833'. In the essays which follow you will find ample evidence to conclude that his hope was realised and his prayers answered with a resounding 'yes'. 'The essays in this little volume are a welcome addition to the steadily growing study of Simeon, his faith, his methods and his influence. That they should emerge from a conference in a small evangelical Anglican theological college on the other side of the world from Simeon's most direct arena of activity is a further testimony to his influence.'(Mark Thompson) The contributors are David Furse-Roberts, Edward Loane, Grant Maple, David Pettett, Craig Schwarze and James Snare, with a preface by Mark Thompson.

Grant Maple has recently retired as Academic Dean, School of Christian Studies, Robert Menzies College, Macquarie University. He was the Editor of the Journal of Christian Education before it amalgamated in 2015 to become the International Journal of Christianity and Education. On top of his BA and BD, Grant has completed an MA and PhD in the discipline of Australian church history.

David Furse-Roberts holds a PhD from the University of New South Wales where he wrote a thesis on the British social reformer, Lord Shaftesbury (1801-1885), and the evolving character of Victorian Evangelicalism. His thesis explored how the tradition of Anglican Evangelicalism contributed to the life and work of this eminent Victorian statesman. Current research interests include Evangelical church history together with broader religious and political movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Rev Dr Ed Loane lectures in Theology and Church History at Moore Theological College, Sydney and is the Warden of St Paul's College, University of Sydney.