AustLit

'The Bible in Australia does a wonderful job of revealing the ubiquity of the Christian Bible in Australian history. Meredith Lake moves dextrously between temporal and geographical interactions with the biblical text. She understands the text read and worshipped by ‘bible-bashers’, but she also notices and taxonomises the scriptural references that infuse ostensibly secular cultural products, such as a Nick Cave song or a Tim Winton novel. That Lake’s book begins with the image of Koby Abberton emerging from the surf at Maroubra with the words ‘My brother’s keeper’ tattooed across his chest, tells us much about the range and the remit of this book. This is not a history of exegesis or of religious institutions. It is the history of the uses to which the Christian Bible has been put in the making of Australia. And she argues that ‘The Bible still gets under Australian skin’ (3).' (Introduction)