Elaine Stuart Lindsay (born 1948) is an Australian academic whose work has focussed on literature and feminist theology. She was instrumental in the development of the ''Women-Church'' journal which provided publishing opportunities in

feminist theology Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Neopaganism, Baháʼí Faith, Judaism, Islam and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those religi ...

for Australian women.

Early life and education

Elaine Stuart Lindsay was born in 1948 in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. She studied at

St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School St Peter's Girls' School (commonly known as Saints Girls) is an independent Anglican early learning, primary and secondary day school for girls located in the Adelaide suburb of Stonyfell, in South Australia, Australia. Founded in 1894 and ...

in Adelaide. Lindsay has a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

and a

Postgraduate Diploma A postgraduate diploma (PgD, PgDip, PGDip, PG Dip., PGD, Dipl. PG, PDE) is a postgraduate qualification awarded after a university degree, which supplements the original degree and awards them with a graduate diploma. Countries that award postg ...

in Children's Literature from

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

. She has a Post-Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamatio ...

. She also has a

Master of Public Policy The Master of Public Policy (MPP), is one of several public policy degrees. An MPP is a master's-level professional degree that provides training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. The MPP program places a focus o ...

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

, and

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

from

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

. Her thesis was published as ''Rewriting God: Spirituality in Contemporary Australian Women's Fiction'' (2000).

Career

Lindsay began her career as a radio producer, announcer and interviewer. From 1974 to 1978, Lindsay worked as a broadcaster on

Radio Adelaide Radio Adelaide (call sign: 5UV) is Australia's first community radio station. The signal reaches across the Adelaide metropolitan area to the Mid North, the Yorke Peninsula and Fleurieu Peninsula, the southern Barossa, Kangaroo Island, Riverl ...

, with a focus on topics related to arts and literature. In 1978, she became the Senior Project Officer for the Literature Board of the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

, a role she held until 1994. Lindsay taught

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

at Australian Catholic University between 1996 and 1997. Between 1997 and 2009, she was a program manager for

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

and

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

for Arts NSW. From 2009, she was an executive officer at the Australian Catholic University (ACU). In 2011, Lindsay became the research development coordinator in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at ACU. She was appointed as senior lecturer in literature in the Faculty of Education and Arts in 2016. Lindsay retired from teaching in 2021. Lindsay taught feminist theology at the University of Sydney. She has been an active member of the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW) since the late 1980s, including as a member of the Sydney committee and, since 2018, National Secretary. In 2022 she was elected National President of MOW. Lindsay was also co-editor of the ''

Women-Church ''Women-Church: An Australian journal of feminist studies in religion'' was an Australian journal published by the Women-Church Collective. It was established in 1987 and ceased publication in 2007, with a total of 40 issues published over that t ...

'' journal from 1992 to 2007. In 1990 and 1992 Lindsay edited publications based on two national feminist theology conferences, Towards a Feminist Theology and

Women Authoring Theology ''Women Authoring Theology'' is the title of a publication based on a national Australian feminist theology conference held in Strathfied, Sydney in 1991. It was the second ecumenical conference of its type ever held in Australia, with attend ...

. These conferences were organised by MOW,

Women and the Australian Church Women and the Australian Church (WATAC) is an Australian ecumenical religious organisation that was founded in 1984. It was originally a Catholic initiative, being a national project of Australian religious men and women. It is now an ecumenic ...

, Women-Church, and the Feminist Uniting Network. Lindsay was co-editor of '' Preachers, Prophets and Heretics'' which detailed the history of the movement for the ordination of women in the Australian Anglican church. The book was shortlisted for the Australian Christian Book of the Year Awards in 2013. The book has been described as inspiring,Webster-Hawes, Anastasia. 2014. “Preachers, Prophets and Heretics: Anglican Women’s Ministry.” ''St Mark’s Review'' 230 (December) a well-presented and significant collection,Dawson, Jennifer. 2013. “Preachers, Prophets and Heretics: Anglican Women’s Ministry.” ''Colloquium'' 45 (1): 107–10. as well as well-researched and substantiated. Lindsay is praised personally for her introductory chapter which honours Patricia Brennan, the first president of the Movement for the Ordination of Women (MOW). Lindsay developed the AustLit service reselling books from publishers that were not stocked in bookstores. She has chaired the judging panel for the Voss Literary Prize for the best Australian novel since 2016. Lindsay also co-convened international conferences on Religion, Literature and the Arts at Australian Catholic University with Michael Griffith.

Select publications

* Lindsay, Elaine. "Barbara Hanrahan". ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', volume 19, 1991–1995 (ANU Press, 2021). * Lindsay, Elaine. "Fiction: Australian Fiction and Religion." In ed. Lindsay Jones et al., ''The Encyclopedia of Religion'' 2nd edition (Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, Thomson Gale, 2004). * Lindsay, Elaine. ''Rewriting God: Spirituality in contemporary Australian women's fiction''. No. 45. Rodopi, 2000. * Lindsay, Elaine. "Figuring the Sacred Geography, Spirituality and Literature." ''Kunapipi'' 17, no. 2 (1995): 15. * Lindsay, Elaine. "Reading Thea Astley: from Catholicism to post/Christian feminism." ''Antipodes'' 9, no. 2 (1995): 119–122. * Lindsay, Elaine. (1994). "A Mystic in her Garden: Spirituality and the Fiction of Barbara Hanrahan." In ''Claiming Our Rites: Studies in Religion by Australian Women Scholars''. Eds. Morny Joy & Penelope Magee (19–35).

Articles

* Lindsay, Elaine. "'As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.' Elizabeth Jolley's catalogue of consolation." ''Southerly'' 66, no.1 (2006): 52–65. * Lindsay, Elaine. "Sexing the Spiritual." ''Social Alternatives'' 24, no. 2 (2005): 32–35. * Lindsay, Elaine. "Deconstructing Jesus in recent Australian women's fiction", '' Women-Church: Australian Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion'', no. 37 (2005): 30-36
Digitised version of no. 37 (2005) available on JSTOR Open Community CollectionsUniversity of Divinity Digital Collections
 

Mannix Library Mannix Library is an academic theological library located in East Melbourne, Victoria, East Melbourne, Australia. The library specialises in the areas of theology, philosophy, biblical studies and associated disciplines, and supports teaching a ...

* Lindsay, Elaine. "Spiritual Subversions." ''Australian Feminist Studies'' 14, no. 30 (1999): 357–366. * Lindsay, Elaine. "Friend Death: Gendered Perceptions of Death in Australian Writing." ''Australian Religion Studies Review'' 10, no. 1 (1997): 28–37. * Lindsay, Elaine. "On First Looking into Barbara Hanrahan's Diaries: ‘The Terrible Creative Task'." ''Literature and Theology'' 10, no. 3 (1996): 230–237. * Lindsay, Elaine. "Reading Thea Astley: From Catholicism to Post-Christian Feminism." ''Antipodes'' 9, no. 2 (1995): 119–122. * Lindsay, Elaine. "Finding a Voice: From ''The Diaries of Barbara Hanrahan''." ''Southerly'' 55, no. 3 (1995): 114–130. * Lindsay, Elaine. "Figuring the Sacred: Geography, Spirituality and Literature." ''Kunapipi'' XVII, no. 2 (1995): 60–67.

Co-written and edited

* Lindsay, Elaine and Michael Griffith. (June 2017). ''Literature and Theology Special Issue: Grounding the Sacred in Literature and the Arts in Australia''. ISSN 0269-1205 * Phillips, Debra and Lindsay, Elaine. (2017). Using diary writing: a narrative of radical courage. ''TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Programs.'' * Phillips, Debra and Lindsay, Elaine. (2017). Be-yond becoming: the shared features of art-making and constructing a narrative of the imagined future. ''Life Writing.'' * Lindsay, Elaine and Michael Griffith. (2014). ''Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (JASAL), David Malouf'' 14 ''no. 2.'' * Lindsay, Elaine, and Janet Christine Scarfe. '' Preachers, Prophets and Heretics: Anglican Women's Ministry''. University of New South Wales Press Ltd, 2012. * Lindsay, Elaine. "The Diaries of Barbara Hanrahan." (1998). * Lindsay, Elaine, and John Murray (1997–98). "'Whether this is Jerusalem or Babylon we know not.': National Self-Discovery in ''Remembering Babylon''." ''Southerly'' 57, no. 4: 94–102. * Lindsay, Elaine. ''

Women authoring theology ''Women Authoring Theology'' is the title of a publication based on a national Australian feminist theology conference held in Strathfied, Sydney in 1991. It was the second ecumenical conference of its type ever held in Australia, with attend ...

: papers and proceedings from a national conference called together by MOW, National WATAC, Women-Church, Feminist Uniting Network, 24–26 May 1991''. Petersham, 1991. * Lindsay, Elaine. '' Towards a feminist theology: papers and proceedings from a national conference called together by MOW, National WATAC, Women-Church, 18–20 August 1989, Collaroy Centre, Sydney.'' Helensburgh, 1990. dited by Elaine Lindsay; illustrations by Bernice Moore; photos by Helen Leonard">Bernice_Moore.html" ;"title="dited by Elaine Lindsay; illustrations by Bernice Moore">dited by Elaine Lindsay; illustrations by Bernice Moore; photos by Helen Leonard

References

External links

Women-Church Complete Archive on JSTOR Open Community CollectionsUniversity of Divinity Digital Collections
 

.
Movement for the Ordination of Women on JSTOR Open Community CollectionsUniversity of Divinity Digital Collections
 

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindsay, Elaine 1948 births 20th-century Australian women writers Living people Academic staff of the Australian Catholic University Australian women academics Australian feminists Christian feminist theologians Flinders University alumni Macquarie University alumni University of Sydney alumni People from Adelaide 21st-century Australian women writers 20th-century Australian writers 21st-century Australian writers