ABOUT

Sarah Irving-Stonebraker is Associate Professor of History and Western Civilisation at Australian Catholic University in North Sydney, which is part of the Ramsay Centre’s Western Civilisation Program.

She is an intellectual historian of early modern Britain with a particular interest in the intersections of theology, natural philosophy, and historical writing. She was awarded her BA with First Class Honours and the University Medal from the University of Sydney, and her PhD in History from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Commonwealth Scholar at King's College. She then held a Junior Research Fellowship in History at Wolfson College, Oxford University.

Her first book, Natural Science and the Origins of the British Empire (London: 2008, reprinted 2016) was awarded the Royal Society of Literature and Jerwood Foundation Prize for Non-fiction. Her most recent book is Priests of History: Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age (Zondervan/HarperCollins, 2024), which was awarded The Gospel Coalition's 2024 Book of the Year (Culture Category) and shortlisted for Australian Christian Book of the Year.

In 2026 during her sabbatical leave she is a Visiting Scholar at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge University, and an Academic Visitor for Michaelmas term at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University.

Latest Book

Her latest book is Priests of History: Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age
(Zondervan, September 2024)

Awarded:

The Gospel Coalition 2024 Book Award - Culture category

Outreach Magazine's 2025 Resource of the Year- Culture category

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Other Publications

Her first book, Natural Science and the Origins of the British Empire (Routledge: 2008; paperback 2016), investigates the way that England’s colonial empire became tied to the Protestant redemptive project of restoring humanity's original dominion over nature. It was awarded The Royal Society of Literature and Jerwood Foundation Award for Non-fiction.

She has published her research extensively in academic journals including: History of European Ideas; The Oxford Journal of Law and Religion; Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies; Hopos: Journal of the History and Philosophy of Science; The Journal of Early Modern History; Pacific History; History of the Human Sciences; Atlantic Studies; Missiology: an International Review; Journal of Early Modern Studies; Journal of Religious History; American Theological Inquiry; The Seventeenth Century; Britain and the World; Itinerario: Journal of Imperial and Colonial Interactions; Eighteenth Century Studies; Early American Literature; Australian Journal of Politics and History.

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PURCHASE HERE

Natural Science and the Origin of the British Empire

Sarah and her husband, Johnathan, have three children and live in the Hawkesbury region outside of Sydney, where her husband practises law at Stonebraker Lawyers, and they are active members of a Sydney Anglican Church.