| Research Field: | Sociology, Religion & migration, Religion settlement |
| Office: | Dept.of Anthropology & Sociology, Monash Univ. |
| Office Address: | Clayton, Victoria,3168 |
| Country: | Australia |
| Office Phone: | 61-3-9905-2982 |
| Office Fax: | 61-9905-2993 |
| E-Mail: | G.Bouma@Arts.Monash.Edu.Au |
(Apr 1, 1998)
I am the Professor of Sociology at Monash University and an Anglican priest in the Diocese of Melbourne. I was educated at Calvin College (BA) and Princeton Theological Seminary (BD) and at Cornell University ( M.A. and Ph. D in sociology). My research has primarily focused on the interaction between religion and society in Western societies including Canada, The United States, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. My current work includes an attempt to describe Australian Religion, a major study of religious diversity in multicultural Australia focusing on the religious settlement of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists in Australian society and a consideration of Post-Modernity as a context for doing theology and the discovery of Christian spirituality. Doing this has lead to an interest in Japanese new religions in Australia, as well as in the settlement of Buddhism in Australia. As Australia's economic ties with Asia increase there will also be an increase in religious interaction with our neighbours.
I am the author of many books and articles including Religion: Meaning, Transcendence and Community in Australia (Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1992); Mosques and Muslim Settlement in Australia (Canberra: AGPS, 1994); "The Emergence of Religious Plurality in Australia: A Multicultural Society," Sociology of Religion 56 (1995), 285-302; The Research Process (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1996); "The Settlement of Islam in Australia," Social Compass 44 (1997), 75-86; and "Japanese Religion in Australia: Mahikari and Zen in a Multicultural Society" (forthcoming).
I have also worked extensively in the areas of family and human relationships. My work with religions and families has provided a great appreciation for human and social diversity as well as an abiding concern for those marginalised by the whims of the powerful, the comfortable and the smugly respectable.