Short description:

Queer Omissions uses biographical case studies of two unmarried, childless women, Frances Levvy (1831-1924) and Constance Duncan (1896-1970), to critique the writing of Protestant religious histories in Australia, asking why those outside a heteronormative framework have been relegated to the margins.

Long description:

Protestant Christian historiography has persistently erased unmarried, childless women from the story of faith in Australia. When women are mentioned, they are judged according to a heteronormative, maternalist framework built upon the ideology of separate spheres. This paradigm creates a lopsided picture, whereby women are celebrated for their social and moral influence, but are absent from rational, intellectual discourse. This book asks the question, why have unmarried women who devoted themselves to social justice activism motivated by their Christian faith been erased from the pages of Australian religious histories? It does this through biographies of two unmarried women, each engaged in very different work aimed at creating a more just and equitable Australia.

Queer Omissions uses biographical case studies of two unmarried, childless women, Frances Levvy (1831?1924) and Constance Duncan (1896?1970), to critique the writing of Protestant religious histories in Australia, asking why those outside a heteronormative framework have been relegated to the margins. Motivated by their faith, Duncan and Levvy engaged in social justice activism that left an indelible mark on Australian society. Yet, they remain absent from the histories of their own faith communities. Queer Omissions seeks to tell a bigger story, of women who chafed against their contracted sphere yet ? motivated by their faith ? impacted their world for good. In doing so, it uniquely expands the categories of those who see themselves in the story, finding hope in the process.

This book will be of great interest to scholars of religion, gender, and sexuality, as well as people of faith trying to understand and reclaim their place in the story.

?Queer Omissions introduces two largely-forgotten Protestant women whose faith led them into public, activist roles that profoundly affected national and international affairs, but flouted church and societal expectations. It asks why these women, household names in their day, have been lost from the history books. And it connects their stories to those of single and gender-non-conforming women in Evangelical and Pentecostal churches today. Queer omissions indeed!?

Marion Maddox, PhD, PhD, FAHA Honorary Professor of Politics, Macquarie University, widely-published on religion and politics, including the ground-breaking God Under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics (2005)

?By authentically offering her own positionality alongside the history she is meticulously uncovering, Pack demonstrates poignantly how Protestant Church history has too often been hindered by patriarchal, heteronormative impulses that hamper engagement with marginalised voices. These impulses serve, as Dr Pack argues, to erase key voices from the narrative. Such erasure inevitably echoes into present realities, shaping current discourse and perpetuating vilification and marginalisation of minorities within faith communities. Every Church leader and historian seeking to understand the how and why of centring marginalised voices should read this significant and timely book?.

Dr Joel Hollier Author of Religious Trauma, Queer Identities: Mapping the Complexities of Being LGBTQA+ in Evangelical Churches (2023)

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Written Out of the Story 1. ?A Propaganda of Kindness?: Frances Deborah Levvy (1831?1924) 2. Gendered Mercy 3. A Reasoned Faith 4. A Force for Change: Ada Constance Duncan (1896?1970) 5. Women?s Pages and Men?s Spaces 6. Faith, Hope . . . and Love 7. Connections Through Time Conclusion: Finding My Place in the Story Bibliography