Revision or re-branding? The plymouth Brethren christian church in Australia under Bruce D. Hales 2002–2016

Since at least the 1950s, the Brethren have been a subject of episodic negative attention from the news media, politicians, and regulatory bodies in a number of countries, and the way in which the Brethren have expressed and lived their beliefs has undergone a number of changes over their history – often as the result of changing social conditions, both internal and external to the Brethren community. More recently, changes within the Brethren have again become particularly visible and highly publicized since Bruce D. Hales replaced his late father, John S. Hales, as worldwide leader of the group in early 2002. It is this recent period of revision which we focus on in this chapter, and in analysing this example we focus both on the changes involved in Brethren approaches to ‘the Review’, politics, education, technology, and charity, and how these changes have been interpreted.