Katharine Massam is a historian of religion, with particular interests in cultural and theological understandings of prayer and work. Her most recent book A Bridge Between: Spanish Benedictine Missionary Women in Australia (ANU Press, 2020) is recognised as a ‘model of how religious history, in its broader bearings, can be written’. It was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award in Australian History in 2021.
Katharine moved to Melbourne to take up a position in ‘Church History’ at what is now Pilgrim Theological College within the University of Divinity in 2000. She was previously a lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Adelaide (1996-2000), and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University (1994 – 1996). Originally from Perth, Katharine’s doctoral work at the University of Western Australia was supervised by Tom Stannage and Patricia Crawford. Her early article in the premier journal Australian Historical Studies, on Marian devotion in Cold War Australia (1991) and her book Sacred Threads (UNSW Press, 1996) pioneered approaches to the ‘lived experience’ of religion, bearing fruit especially as her interdisciplinary research profile has developed to include theology more explicitly. She was elected as a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATIS) in 2017, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2022.
Attention to the ‘lived experience’ of faith and belief remains a strong feature of Katharine’s research. She is author of 4 books (3 monographs with University presses and an edited collection) and over 40 other refereed scholarly works. She has published on Australian religious experience, monastic theology, the history of education and on the experience of religious communities. Her collaboration from 1993 with the Aboriginal Corporation of New Norcia and the Benedictine communities of that former mission town has been formative of her research agenda. With colleagues internationally she held a collaborative grant from the American Academy of Religion in 2022 for a project on the theological method of Joseph Cardijn and its transformative potential for women. The connection between theology and participative economics is an emerging field of interest. She also continues to publish on the ‘lived experience’ of faith and belief and her account of the vision and mission of the Presentation Sisters in Victoria since Vatican II is forthcoming in 2024.
Katharine teaches in the areas of history and spirituality, with upper-level units focussed on developing a community of research practice. Through 2022 she played a key role within an ecumenical team to design and accredit a collaborative unit in the history and theologies of the 16th century Reformation. The Cracking of Christendom was offered for the first time in semester 2, 2023. She has also worked with others to develop subjects in feminist theology, and will co-convene ‘Thinking Otherwise: An Introduction to Feminist Theologies’ in October 2024. She welcomes discussion with potential research students.
Katharine is Chair of the Academic Board at the University of Divinity. She previously served as Academic Dean at Pilgrim (June – December 2016; January 2018 – 2020 and January – June 2023), and as Research Co-ordinator 2021 – January 2024. She is also secretary of the Religious History Association, a member of the international advisory board of the Journal of Ecclesiastical History and a founding member of the Australian Collaborators in Feminist Theologies.
University Appointments
- Chair of the Academic Board
University of Divinity - Associate Teacher
Pilgrim Theological College
Teaching disciplines
Church History; SpiritualityResearch areas
Recent Publications
All publicationsUniversity Memberships
External Affiliations
- Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (Member)
- Religious History Association (Secretary)
- Australian Cardijn Institute (Leadership)
- Royal Historical Society (Fellow)