Karen Pack: Historian,
Speaker, Author, celebrant.
Queer omissions book
Growing up in evangelical churches in Australia, Karen was taught a curated version of history in which women who love God were expected to marry and have children. Thus, the histories she read and absorbed did not reflect her own reality.
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 creates a lopsided picture, whereby women are celebrated for their social and moral influence, but are absent from rational, intellectual discourse.
Using biographical case studies, Queer Omissions seeks to tell a bigger story, of faithful women who resisted their contracted sphere and impacted the world for good. In doing so, it allows people like Karen to see themselves in the story, finding hope in the process.
Praise for Queer Omissions
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)
Karen offers a much-needed reappraisal of Australian religious history and provides a way forward to a more inclusive and honest account of our past. In a world in which truth is often obscured and equality under siege, there is no better time for such a study. Queer Omissions is not just a book; it is a call to action, urging us to recognise and honour voices that have been unjustly silenced.
A/Prof Karen McCluskey, Fellow, Research Council of Finland Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences
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This book is a vital contribution to the story of Christianity in Australia. It’s time, argues Dr Karen Pack, for Australian Protestant historians to create a new narrative. And that is what this book offers.
Given the indelible contributions Constance Duncan and Frances Levvy have had on the Australian (and indeed international) landscape, it is remarkable that their stories have not, until now, been told. Driven by a deep engagement with faith, both women fought in their respective spheres for equality, humanity, and justice. And yet both their names have, largely, been absent from the history books. Dr Pack’s work thus deserves to be read for these stories alone.
But more than a weaving together of their lives, Dr Pack has offered here an insightful and incise critique of the way history is written in the Australian Protestant movement. 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)
Congratulations on such a fine publication. You have a really good writing style. It kept my interest right through to the end. And your depth of research is amazing. I have read a lot of biographies and I put your scholarly study of Frances Levy and Constance Duncan among the best. I particularly noted and identified with your statement on page 141: 'This led to a schism within evangelicalism. Liberals saw these debates as enriching (rather than undermining) their faith, while conservatives were suspicious of 'progressive biblical scholarship' and tended to withdraw their efforts to reform society in favour of focusing on evangelism, prayer and personal holiness'. This was the clear division between SCM and the Evangelical Union at Sydney University in my student days. Congratulations on your book. May there be many more.
Ron Inglis, Educator and amateur historian
This is a riveting read that brings to life the unique stories and time of two women of Christian faith who have largely been forgotten by history. It is well written and highlights a "pattern in which women can be excluded from the public narrative when discussion turns to more intellectual matters of doctrine, biblical interpretation, or the application of scripture to public morality." I enjoyed reading the unique insights of this author and the fact that these stories are Australian.
Amazon review