The Baptists in Australia.

By Philip J. Hughes. South Carlton, Victoria, Australia: Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research, 1996. 86 pages.

The Baptist denomination in Australia, although comparatively small, is a vigorous evangelical body. The author, a former Baptist pastor now serving in the Uniting Church, has provided an excellent survey of its life and work. Besides a summary of Australian Baptist history, he has included chapters on their beliefs, practices, and church organization. The volume also incorporates a glossary of terms and a bibliography.

The Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research, an independent research body within the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs in the Commonwealth of Australia, is the publisher. Besides data from Baptist sources and material from the National Church Life Survey, in which Baptists participated, important data also came from the 1991 National Population and Housing Census, a government source. In the 1991 census, around 280,000 Australians identified themselves as Baptists, although Baptists recorded only 65,000 members in the mid-1990s. Because of the sources, the work is replete with tables and charts which show not only areas with high concentration of Baptists but also their age and gender distribution, language, income, occupation, attendance, and the like.

After perusing this volume, this reviewer regrets even more the discontinuance by the U.S. Bureau of the Census of its publication each ten years of a religious census of the U.S.A., which also provided valuable material not generally found elsewhere. In any case, Australian Baptists and others who are interested in Baptist life on this continent are fortunate to have at their disposal this excellent compendium--well organized, clearly written, and full of valuable information.--Reviewed by Albert W. Wardin Jr., Retired History Professor, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee.