Since 2011 is going to be an Oxford year, it was decided to hold the sixth triennial Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church conference in 2010 instead of 2011, between 7 and 9 July. As the fifth conference was in January 2008, this made a respectable two and a half years between them. This was also the sixth APECSS conference. It was hosted as usual by

Australian Catholic University on its Melbourne campus. The theme was Politics and Religion, and the keynote speakers were Sarah Coakley, from Cambridge University, whose paper was “Prayer, Politics and the Trinity: Vying Models of Authority in 3rd-4th Century-Debates on Prayer and ‘Orthodoxy”, Sean Freyne, from Trinity College, Dublin, who spoke on “Jesus, Prayer, and Politics: ‘Contemplative Action for Justice,” and Hal Drake, from University of California, Santa Barbara  with "The Curious Case of George and the Camel”. A further 34 papers in 12 short sessions were also presented.

The conference dinner was held at the Melbourne Club, and we are grateful to Tom Hazel for inviting us there. Thanks to Dinah and Tom Buchanan for all their hard work in making things run smoothly. As well, our gratitude goes to Lawrence Cross as the convenor of the Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church conferences.