Binding or Loosing in Australasia: Some Trans‐Tasman Protestant Connections

In the context of recent moves to develop a shared history of Australia and New Zealand (Australasia), this paper identifies a religious dimension in the re‐emerging shared history that is connected with other dimensions of the relationship. Building on this recent work, it uncovers the interconnectedness of Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists and Baptists on opposite sides of the Tasman and finds some strength and consistency in the connections over the last 150 years. Starting with an examination of the denominations' attempts at institutional connection and cooperation, the paper moves onto an analysis of the exchange of personnel and ideas between them. It will also argue that these “religious” links strongly imply the existence of substantial “secular” links at both institutional and grass‐roots levels. Finally, other areas for future research into trans‐Tasman Christian linkages are briefly proposed and introduced.     

BATHS OR BAPTISTERIES? HOLCOMBE,LUFTON AND THEIR ANALOGUES

Summary. Prominent octagonal buildings in the fourth-century villas at Holcombe (Devon) and Lufton (Somerset) have usually been interpreted as bath-suites. This paper questions this view and suggests that they were linked with early Christian ritual, probably baptism. The exceptional character of these structures in the context of bathing is underlined. Their analogues are most evident in early Christian baptisteries of fourth- and fifth-century date in Gaul and Italy, offering support for linkage between Christian communities in late Roman Britain and those in the adjacent western provinces. Other possible sites of baptisteries in Britain are noted.     

Both Ends of the Telescope: New Perspectives on FDR and American Entry into World War II

Review in this Article
Michael Barnhart. Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919–1941 . Ithaca
Waldo H. Heinrichs. Threshold of War: Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Entry into World War II . New York Oxford University Press, 1988. x + 279 pp.
Akira Iriye. The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific . New York Longman, 1987.
Frederick W. Marks III. Wind over Sand: The Diplomacy of Franklin Roosevelt . Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1988. xiv + 444 pp. Notes, bibliography, index.
Jonathan G. Utley. Going to War with Japan, 1937–1941 . Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985. xiv + 238 pp. Maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index.