Divine horizons: religion and social class in the lives of two leading Australian women, Betty Archdale and Kylie Tennant

Abstract

In this chapter I examine the experiences of two influential twentieth-century women, Betty Archdale (1907–2000) and Kylie Tennant (1912–1988), through the lenses of social class and religion. Both women were born into middle–upper-class families and both had mothers who continued to identify as Christian Scientists until they died. Archdale and Tennant, however, both converted to the Anglican Church as adults, sharing this as well as their ongoing critiques of the Australian establishment. Despite their conversion to mainstream Christianity, I argue that some aspects of Christian Science doctrine influenced both women in their public lives.