Abstract

What is the role of language in ethnic churches? This new and much needed account of the Australian experience examines the issues faced by sixteen congregations, together representing different periods of Australia’s migration history, as well as different languages, cultural backgrounds and Christian denominations. Drawing on the rich data provided by the study, the concept of “language–religion ideology” is developed to describe the nature of the relationship between language and religion which is exhibited by a denomination, with far-reaching implications for multilingual and multicultural societies.

Anya Woods is an Honorary Fellow in the Research Unit for Multilingual and Cross-Cultural Communication which is located in the School of Languages at the University of Melbourne, and is also engaged on an occasional basis in projects with the Linguistics Program in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at Monash University.